[erickhill]

I know it isn't exactly the same - to be fair it's quite simplistic in many ways - but the fast-paced maps of Populous 2 (amiga) hit me in a very similar way. With 1,000 possible levels it's almost a form of mental solitaire. With all the clicking you can't exactly zone out completely (this is where Civ's keyboard driven model is quite nice). But since the maps only take around 10 minutes to play on average, there is this addicting sensation to play "just one more" to get to the next level and see what the new puzzle will be. Then you realize an hour has gone by. Then another.