This is the most addictive game you can play in your browser

I spent most of this past Saturday  reclined on a couch with an ice pack on my head, trying to ease a splitting headache. It was one of those days where you cast about for any inane thing to distract you from the throbbing pain.

And boy, did I discover a great inane thing: "Slither.io."

Playable in your web browser, or through apps for Android and iOS, "Slither.io" is a kind of souped-up, massively-multiplayer version of that old dumbphone game "Snake." 

You start out as a little worm, collecting orbs to slowly grow your size. Run over your own body all you like, but collide head-on with another player's worm and you explode in a flurry of extra-huge orbs. There are speed boosts, a leaderboard showing the 10 largest worms in the space, and attractive (if simple) animations.

This game is incredibly addictive, with simple rules and controls that produce tense, exciting gameplay.

Worms zip and churn, conniving to cut off or encircle one another, desperately seeking those juicy, extra-large death orbs. When you're tiny, and one of the giant worms slithers past bloated on the remains of its enemies, it's as epic and terrifying as Godzilla wandering past through the streets of New York. You just hope you're too small to catch its attention. And when you do grow big and powerful yourself, you'd better watch out. Everyone else will be coming for you.

Though "Slither.io" derives its look and feel most directly from the old "Snake" games, it's more closely an evolution of the browser game "Agar.io" which follows similar rules. But "Slither.io" is better looking, easier to learn, and a lot more fun.

Agar.io

Fair warning though: This is one of those games with no victory. You just grow and grow until you die. And then you probably start over again from scratch, frustrated you didn't grow even more.