Friday Flash is here again, like Christmas extended long past the usual twelve days. It's the nineteenth day of Christmas, and your true love can send you whatever you want. Me, I'm sending you some Flash games.

Every Friday, I provide links to three or more online games, all of which require Adobe Flash Player. I test each game on both Mac and Windows, and I'll warn you about the sound or music content of each game, in case you're trying to play in a quiet environment. Or on the sly, like at work or school.

Hey, I write these articles on Fridays, so you can play them on the weekend. It's not my fault if you try to get a head start on things!

Speaking of getting a head start, on December 22 I linked to Tower Defence by Roman Sanine, a great Flash implementation of Warcraft Tower Defence from Warcraft III. This week, David Scott released his own implementation of the same game, Flash Element TD. I was three weeks too early to include them both!

It's amazing to see how the same concept, with the same inspiration, can be implemented in two very different ways. This new game has better graphics, better sound, and is more complex overall, but lacks the time pressure of the previous game. It certainly is more polished, and yet I think there will be people who prefer the first game for its simplicity.

There is sound — great sound — but there's also a mute button in the upper-left.

If you miss the element of speed, try Catch 33. Your score is simply how many seconds it takes you to "catch" all of the numbers up to 33 in order. You catch them by simply touching them with your mouse. Easy, right?

Of course, the numbers are constantly moving, and sometimes they hide behind other numbers. At least that's what I'm blaming for my score of 34 seconds!