I tend to play basic solitaire games, to the point where I have 2 on my kindle, 2 on my 3DS, and 1 on my ipod. Very very basic stuff, not very taxing on your mind and concentration, and very easy to put down. It actually helps, just gotta find something that's not taxing at all on your mental well being.

I've found that FTL is a great game to play when I am ridiculously tired.

Pretty much any single player game on a console, preferably a handheld so you can lay down. That is the reason I have converted to console gaming - I sit by pc all day at work and when come home the thought alone of continuing sitting in 90 degrees by keyboard and mouse make me feel sick. Of course you can play many games on pc with a gamepad.

If you are really tired and have problems sleeping, listen to music or read instead of playing games. Games are too stimulating and won't let you relax properly.

Thanks to everyone for your nice input and I will keep them in mind for the next time when I can't sleep. So thanks guys!

Normally when i'm tired i'll go to sleep. But when you can't sleep; well, try some game which you put into sleep. Something repetetive then and where you don't have to think. Some casual game, such as need for speed or the sims.
If you need to stay up, then go for one which is quite addictive, like Morrowind for example or Neverwinter Nights or Myst or Age of Empires.

When i'm tired I just fire up one of the hundreds of mobile freemium games. Most of them require zero skill or effort, just some planning and tapping. Pixel People is my latest sleeping pill.

while i agree gaming when you can't sleep may not be the best idea. gaming when your tired is another matter. it happens to me way too much and lately that is why i haven't gamed any where near as much as i would like in the last few years. so its GREAT to find i am not the only one (thankyou!).

i tend to use mario on the nes / snes or donkey kong etc on an emulator or original console and that is why i tend to have not played anything ive purchased in the last few years on pc or xbox!!

i do tend to go for the arcade games on the xbox market place as im determined to try play something using my xbox! splosion man, mercury hg, marble etc.

or something like bejewled / wall of words / jewel quest (*hides* i know there not games!)

Lol, I wanted to start the exact same kind of thread a few weeks ago.

Ever play Rad Racer drunk? I know this post probably belongs in the drunk thread but that goddamn thing depresses the hell out of me so I avoid it. Rad Racer either really tired or drunk; you 'd be amazed how hard it is just to maintain a strait line. When the curves hit, forget about it! It also doesn't help when you get the Greece levels and keep ogling the ruins in the background rather than watching the road.

Bought Proteus based on this post. :)

I'm actually immensely tired right now. I might play a bit of a point-and-click adventure (Cognition perhaps).

A while ago, when I was sick and tired, I played a hidden object game ("Elizabeth Find"). Those usually bore me immensely when I'm fully operational, but my mind was working at 30% capacity at most, and in that state the game was okay (the dialogue was actually fun).

Trouble is, I don't think I'll be able to focus on the screen for long at the moment. So if playing "Cognition" doesn't work, I may just head over to librivox.org, and get myself a nice bedtime story. I think there are some works of Poe or Lovecraft that I haven't heard yet.

What would be nice, actually, for the state I'm in right now, is a game that's basically an audiobook version of one of those old "Choose your own adventure" books. As a computer game (purely vocal, no display), and ideally controlled controlled exclusively with the mouse, so that I don't have to move my hand ("If you want to kiss the beautiful zombie, click once. If you want to run away, click twice. And so on.)

But I don't think such a game exists. So, Cognition it is ...

You know, this "games" exists, they're called Visual Novels. :D

Doesn't the "visual" imply a slight requirement to keep one's eyes open?

Sorry, I overlooked this part "purely vocal, no display" :D But there are also co called Sound Novels. ;)