Welcome back, kiddies: It's been a full month since our last spin around the block, but as always, it's a great pleasure to see you. Sorry to get all heavy on you right off the bat, but today's deep thought won't stop spinning around my head, just like one of those annoyingly vague clues in Pogo.com's Word Riot.

Ready? Here goes? The million-dollar question: What, precisely, defines a game as casual, per se? Is it instant playability? Theme? Depth? Audiovisual style? Ability to be enjoyed in short spurts vs. marathon sessions? The presence of bubbly cartoon waitresses or squeaky-voiced imps named Giggles? Oh sure, you might know one when you see one, but attempting to definitively quantify the precise characteristics that single out this type of title on paper is quite the stumper, I know.

My personal spin -- casual games are merely titles that are simple, fun and accessible, and appeal to an audience of all ages and interest types. But really, that's kind of a cop-out.

After all, despite its medieval trappings, strategy-minded play and hyper-competitive nature, doesn't popular Xbox Live Arcade outing Carcassonne -- based on the ultra-addictive board game -- qualify to some extent? What about Portal? Valve's latest masterpiece is short, sweet, funny and engaging, but hardly the sort of outing you'd immediately picture lil' sis or grandma sitting down to play. How about Tower Defense, Eye of Judgment, Scene It?, Pok?mon Mystery Dungeon or arcade classics like Galaga and Pac-Man? And that's before we even get into the whole debate over publishers like The Adventure Company and Legacy Interactive rereleasing aging CD-ROM point-and-click outings as super-sized try-before-you-buy downloads.

Rather than go around in circles, however -- and honestly, who wants to spend hours wrestling about how much Dad's really going to dig Myst DS or Space Ace -- I thought I'd go straight to the source: Today's most successful casual game creators. Following are three of the market's most outspoken champions' thoughts on what it takes to qualify as a title with true mass appeal, let alone one worthy of making the rounds on millions of PC or consoles worldwide.

Arthur Humphrey
Co-Founder, Last Day of Work

"Casual games are titles that bring new gamers into the industry and introduce them to new types of play and game mechanics. It's a relatively new, but extremely exciting concept -- just look at what it's done in terms of bringing more women and seniors into the market. We're finding that these people, like most well-adjusted adults, really are gamers deep down, they just don't know it yet. Once exposed to titles that are accessible and interesting to a wide range of people, they end up loving casual games and spending huge amounts of time with them.

"People enjoy our games like Fish Tycoon and Virtual Villagers because they're very easy to get into, quick to pick up and start, and aren't just fun, but also have emotional attachment involved. Characters evolve in a way that's very intimate for the player, so they actually care about these individuals' fates, and can relate to their predicament. Really though, a casual game is any game that helps expand the market and exposes untraditional fans to new styles of play and different topics. I think it's wonderful that the industry is finally opening up and broadening its horizons, and these these titles are playing a role in that process.

"We're seeing men and women, young and old gravitating to gaming as a result. So truthfully, any title that speaks to any demographic besides the traditional 18- to 34-year-old male qualifies. However you choose to define casual games, though, they're obviously a welcome addition to the industry."

Kenny Dinkin
VP and Creative Director, PlayFirst

"To me, a casual game is anything that's innovative and really pushes the envelope? titles that use narrative, gameplay mechanics and fresh topics in original ways. Storytelling is really what it comes down to, as you see with games like Dream Chronicles 2. Making everything in a game have meaning and fit in with the player's general context is what separates the good casual games from the bad. Unlike traditional or hardcore games, a casual game actually tries to reach out and make sense to players who don't have a past gaming frame of reference on which to draw.

"Look at mediums like film and television -- they don't set out to create 'casual' properties, just tell good stories that people can relate to. What we're really looking at here with any game is its ability to spin a decent yarn (even simple ones like 'recover your lost pets' or 'save your failing restaurant'). Casual games just happen to be the kind of games that do a better job in this area. They don't have to be downloadable. They don't have to be puzzlers. They don't have to be made to appeal only to women. They just have to have something to say, and do so in a way that everyone can comprehend.

"Look at Diner Dash: It stars this everyday, almost flawed type of character with whom you can easily identify -- fans of all types have really connected with that. As it clearly shows, casual games are just games that speak to a broad range of players in a language that they can understand."

Margaret Wallace
CEO, Rebel Monkey

"It's a common misconception? Games don't necessarily have to be simple or lack depth to qualify as casual. Honestly, they just have to cater to new and larger markets, consisting of more everyday people versus the type of person you'd consider a core gamer. We have fun just making these things as compared to traditional games, because they're so immediately engaging and easy to pick up and play and become immersed in. It's all about being able to jump right in and have fun with the title, whatever subject or gameplay style you choose to explore.

"Casual game audiences are smarter than many developers give them credit for, too. A casual game can have lots of depth and complexity to it and still instantly catch the player's interest and draw them in. We're not talking full-blown RPGs here, but genres like real-time strategy, adventure and sports have all already been successfully simplified and adapted to work in this format. You just have to understand that casual audiences aren't going to have as much patience as core gaming audiences, and aren't going to be as willing to put up with high difficulty levels or frequent setbacks.

"I'd say a casual game is any game that doesn't assume much foreknowledge on the part of the player and introduces new rules or controls in a natural, intuitive manner. Some can be competitive, but most help players relax, provide lots of helping hands, and offer ongoing encouragement, something most games fail to consider when reaching out to non-gaming audiences."

And with that, I'll leave you to ponder the topic further for a few more weeks -- which, going on the above, likely still won't be enough time to scratch the surface of where the proverbial rabbit hole leads. But on the bright side, with so much great reference material to study up on lately -- e.g. CLUE Classic, First Class Flurry and The Lost Cases of Sherlock Holmes -- heck? I've no doubt you'll wholeheartedly relish researching and debating the issue in the interim.