Could it be "the concept of speed runs"? It's obvious, anyone could come up with the idea of trying to play faster. It doesn't require any research to start doing it (beyond knowing how the game works). And yet, the fun of speed running a game is often completely separate from the game you're speed running.

i think this is my favorite answer so far lol

If you took Peggle or Peglin and stripped out all the gimmicks and flashing lights, then...

well I suppose it would just be upside-down breakout.

But as far as a simple physics game where you're trying to control a chaotic gravity/ball situation, a game that can be quickly intuited by anybody but then when they realize the "gravity" of the task everything becomes much harder, and (again assuming no gimmicks and flashing lights) how quickly I get bored of either? I gotta leave the obvious answer of Peggle and leave it at that.

Crusader Kings 3

found it https://authentic-items.offersupermarket.com/Game_Poke_Mini_classic_handheld_LCD_tetris_brick_retro_game_console_With_brick_breaker_tanks_arkanoid_and_other_free_amazing_classic_games/p6630326_20043927.aspx

Ball-in-a-cup presents an obvious objective with a clear way to obtain it. Crucially, most people can look at it and see what the point is. It has centuries of history and is a craft that someone can replicate it without having to do any research on it. It relies mostly on skill, with most "randomness" being attributed to the inherently chaotic system. It has myriad variations.

I imagine now those myriad, ultra-shitty Game-and-Watch esque games. You know the ones, which can be replicated on the cheapest LCD display the world has to offer.

But which game meets all these factors, while also being so ubiquitous and important? Which videogame has been used as a courtship device, a gambling device, a competitive device, while also being an absolutely leisurely and mindnumbing activity?

Which game deserves the title of Contendor to Ball in a Cup?

It has to be Tetris.

oh you havent played Cup and Ball Simulator 2023?

Video games are real universes and if you reset them that means what you did didn't happen. I've only seen two endings of Undertale

Outside Peach's Castle in Mario 64

either you get to know about these things or you get to go out and touch grass every once in a while it's a strict either or you cant have both

lol

Holy fucking shit

was hoping this would feature the rare crew, not the doofuses at NoA

oh this is a really fun idea. $179 far too rich for my blood though

not a fan of unreal engine's default shadow rendering but aside from that this looks sick as hell

Might I interest you in Big's Big World?

thinking of all the weird photoshops people will make with fishing cap jokes

russian fishing 4 big the cat expansion

100% agreed. Big the cat needs their own game. The fact that a tense boss fight in Sonic Adventure was a fishing minigame still baffles and tickles me to this day.

Never, no :(

the can't even launch problem that people know about has to do with anti-cheat and steam accounts with multi-byte unicode characters, not sure if that applies to you. They mentioned it in a blog post

Yeah :\

The Steam reviews are poor because of performance, and those don't include the people who can't even start the game. But I am happy it works for you on PC though!!

Not sure what the common denominator is. (I'm running this on Windows, I refunded before trying on Linux.)

oh no ;___;

On my side it does not even start :(

aside from some stuttering (likely poorly optimized shader caching) the game works fine for me and several people i know and i'm having a blast. i'd say my pc specs are about mid, cpu is on the weak side. a game this big and complicated it's unsurprising that there are issues with some configurations and Gamers are known to be a little obsessive about things.

yeah