While most video games thrive on murder, mayhem and finely rendered goblins, a handful of coders and artists from Japan to Eastern Europe are building whimsical, hand-drawn games, often with no competition at all. (Thanks to Paul N for the tip.)

Line Rider: This was released in September 2006 by Boštjan Cadez, a Slovenian art student, as a project for his illustration course. He posted it on the internet, and within weeks it was attracting tens of millions of players. The concept is deceptively simple: you draw a track, then a little boy with a red scarf rides down it on a sledge. Strange as it sounds, it's very addictive, with users drawing hugely complicated tracks and posting them on YouTube. Cadez has now been set to work in the US, developing the game for Nintendo DS and Wii.

Fly Guy: Created by illustrator and artist Trevor Van Meter from North Carolina, Fly Guy is not really a game, but a charming, dreamy, relaxing experience. You play a bald guy who can fly, floating around the clouds, doing some photocopying, rescuing a maiden or meeting a space monkey.

Double Wires: If you're of a nervous disposition, avoid Double Wires, designed by Japanese designer DOFI. You play a floppy-limbed stick figure who fires Spider-Man-type ropes from his hands as you swing through a Matisse-style cut-out landscape of brightly coloured blobs on a blue background. Because you're constantly about to fall, it's both addictive and really stressful.

SketchFighter 4000: While the other games on this list are simple, free, web-based games, this is the real thing – a $20 commercial game for the Mac. It's a simple arcade set-up, but appears to have been sketched on graph paper. When you blow up a baddy, they're rubbed out and a smudge is left behind.