It is the last day of the school and work week, so it is time for Friday Flash Games. This week, as promised, we are going to explore the corners of the recent rage: Tower Defense.

Every week, except when I do not, I present at least three games, and often more. The games all depend on the Adobe Flash Player and your web browser. I let you know about sound and music for each game, in case you are playing when you should be doing something else, and do not want to draw attention to yourself. All games work on both Mac OS X and Windows, or (theoretically) any environment that support Flash.

Let's go!

Go virtual with VR Defender Y3K, a game that asks you to imagine that you're defending a computer against an onslaught of virii and spyware. You are a network administrator, armed with machine guns and plasma cannons, and... wait a minute! Those weapons don't sound anything like the ipchains or packet rejection that characterize firewalls I know of. Perhaps things really will change a lot in the next 993 years, and battling vector-style creeps in virtual reality will be the most logical thing in the world. Sure.

In the meantime, you get to choose how simple or complex a pathway the creeps must take to get to their target, and you've got seven weapons to place along the way, with the expected power-ups and prices.

There is sound even at the splash screen, and music throughout the game, though you can choose Options from the menu menu and switch to a more pleasant song and adjust the volume.

For something a little more in the here and now, try Picnic Panic, in which you defend a picnic lunch against invading ants with the help of magical woodland friends.

What's not realistic about that?

The most interesting thing about this variant is that it takes place on a large surface, so large you must switch between four screens to see it all. The second most interesting thing is the ability to recycle towers, so any bugs that escape the first screen will face the same towers again, rebuilt by you, quickly.

There is music and sound, though you can switch some of it off in-game with the musical note icon in the upper right. The easy level is labeled "toddlers," but don't be fooled. You'll need to be at least four to really master this game.

You can also recycle (sell) towers in Flash Circle TD, which is sponsored by a popular candy normally associated with children. I'd say more, but I seem to remember lawsuits over some domain name or another, so I'll keep mum. Whew! Sometimes my memory can be a real life saver.