Cookie Clicker is a free flash game where you click a cookie… to get more cookies.

The game starts with a single, large cookie sitting on the screen, floating in midair. With each click, a single cookie is added to the cookie bank at the top left of the screen. After 15 clicks on  this cookie, an extra cursor can be bought, that awards a cookie every 10 seconds.

The next purchase is a grandmother, who bakes cookies faster than the cursor. Soon there are cookie farms, factories, mines and rocket ships that bring in cookies from distant planets, alchemists who turn gold to cookies, portals bridging dimensions to bring in cookies, time machines bringing cookies from the past, future and present, and anti matter condensers to make cookies from nothing, just so some more upgrades can be bought with cookies, for things that will make  more cookies.

As far as I can see, there is one objective. Get more cookies. There is no end to the madness, but I am kept in front of my laptop, eyes glued to the screen by a force far greater than the human will, daring me to bake more cookies. I manage to pull myself away from the computer and I’ve missed 10 day’s worth of homework, six tests and my social life is a distant memory.

But hey, at least I have cookies. Lots and lots of cookies.