Game: "Feeding Frenzy."

Platform: Windows, Macintosh.

Developer/publisher: GameHouse.

Genre: Action.

Number of players: One.

ESRB: Unrated but similar to E for Everyone (fish are shown being swallowed).

The premise: Imagine one of those classic screensavers with aquarium fish, but one where the big fish really do eat the little fish.

Game play: You control a fish's movements in a quest to eat smaller fish while avoiding being eaten by larger ones. When enough fish are eaten, you get bigger and can dine on the larger fare in the level. There two game types, each with 40 levels with an ever-changing and colorful cast of underwater creatures, keeping the concept fresh.

Progressing through the game will reveal creative powerups, bonus levels and new dangers, and will also unlock fun screensavers for your operating system. The game works well with a mouse and better with a trackball. Even a laptop trackpad will work perfectly fine, although it may tire your finger in longer sessions.

The good/bad: This game is a member of what is known as the "casual gaming" genre — in other words, a small game intended to be played for a five-minute break, which often seems to extend to an hour or more!

"Feeding Frenzy" somehow gets all the elements right. The music is soothing and merges magically with the subtle sound effects and underwater graphics. The animation of the fish is charming, and the entire package falls together as a relaxing, clean and good-natured break from whatever else you had been doing on your computer.

This convergence of overall design values with true replay value is rare, and doesn't occur by accident. When I asked Sprout Games, which wrote the game for publisher GameHouse, they confirmed my suspicions, saying, "We designed 'Feeding Frenzy' to be simple, fun and relaxing, and we hoped it would do well." How well has it done? This title quickly exceeded their expectations with more than 10 million downloads already, and no wonder.

Tips: On the harder levels, stay away from the top and side edges of the screen, where larger fish and mines appear without warning. Staying on the bottom while waiting for clams with pearls to open is often a safe way to grow, but if you prefer risk, try to earn points by attempting tail bites on the huge predators. More practically, keep this game handy on your desktop, or better yet your Windows Quick Launch toolbar or Macintosh Dock, and when everyone else wants to play, remember to share.

My Take: "Feeding Frenzy" is the exception that lives up to the marketing motto "Fun for the entire family," and its universal appeal is real: Working moms and dads, college students, grandparents, teens, and 6-year-olds all seem to enjoy this game. "Feeding Frenzy" would be an ideal small gift for home use or even a stealth installation at the office, and is available for purchase via download or CD from www .gamehouse.com. A demo also is available at www.sproutgames.com.

Robert Uyeyama, a University of Hawai'i-Manoa graduate student, is the founder of the Macintosh game site Macologist.org.