Every college student has been in the following situation: class is winding down, the silent ticking of the seconds on your watch seem synchronized with your heartbeat, and the professor is talking nonsense.

Thanks to the laptop initiative, all St. John’s students are equipped with a decent laptop, save for the meager battery life. Classroom boredom plus 21st century technology can prove a most dangerous combination.

Though we do not condone using laptops for non-educational purposes during class, the act of merely informing students about fun flash games available online breaks no ethical boundaries.

With that flimsy disclaimer in place, the following list of games can be used for whatever entertainment purposes at any time you feel appropriate.

N-game is the perfect game in any situation in which laptop use is expected, since it takes quite a bit of attention in order to successfully complete. Utilizing only the arrow keys and Shift key, N-game is easy to control but incredibly deep.

You control a ninja-like stick figure who defies the laws of gravity by scaling unfathomably tall walls collecting gold dots and hitting triggers to open up the next part of the puzzles within each level. The levels can get quite challenging as you progress, but the game is flat out fun.

Tadpole borrows its gameplay from the classic Helicopter flash game popularized on flash game Web sites like eBaum’s World and Addicting Games.

In fact, choosing a game so derivative of that classic was difficult, but the vibrantly colorful graphics and challenging obstacles proved that Tadpole was indeed a worthy and superior revision.

Swoopa2 is ironically another aquatic game, which again uses just one button. By using only the mouse pad, you’re tasked with eating a certain amount of fish within a 45-second time span.

The game starts out easy enough, but devouring 150 fish in less than a minute can make even the savviest gamer sweat under the pressure. The game is straightforward enough, but you might end up wondering why you’ve been playing it for 15 minutes.

Crazy Pool only resembles billiards because it uses balls, a stick, and a cue ball. Instead of trying to knock balls into holes, the objective is to hit like-colored balls into each other in order to eliminate them.

The shots become harder as you continue through the tournament, with magnets and bumpers strategically placed to make you kick the chair in front of you in frustration.

The last two games, Curve Ball and Pac Xon, are extremely simple but entertaining. Curve Ball is a steroid-induced 3D version of Pong, while Pac Xon takes the classic game Jezz Ball and inserts the famed pellet gobbler, Pac Man.

So whether you’re killing time in Marillac or taking notes, pull up your Web browser and visit torchonline.com for links to all of the games featured.