Do you sometimes feel like your Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulation just needs a little nudge to do the right thing? Well I'm sure you'll appreciate (need even!) some light relief with the fluid-based video game Puddle. Puddle is all about nudging and manipulating the world so your precious fluid gets to its destination through a fiendish puzzle-like maze.

Puddle For Xbox Live

While the Konami version (shown in the video above) is only available on Xbox Live and PlayStation Network, the original student project version (shown in the video below) is freely available for Windows.

Puddle for Windows

The game represents the fluid as a series particles that merge together to form more of a stream than a puddle. Under the action of gravity the stream descends through a maze of platforms and mechanisms. The player rotates the game world to change the direction of gravity and, in theory (tricky in practice), encourage the fluid toward the exit.

And remember, as I've said before, games are good for you.