There was a period of my life during which I spent all of my time either playing pen-and-paper role-playing games or running from Wal-Mart to Wal-Mart in search of the hottest toys. This Week in Gaming Apps is dedicated to that guy. He would have loved this.

Sometimes there's so much beauty in Google Play, iTunes and the Windows Phone Marketplace I feel I can't take it; like my heart's going to cave in.

Each week dozens of new gaming apps are released across the various mobile platforms, imaginative original works trying to build a name for themselves in a crowded market. I'm not saying Zaxxon Escape and Super Bunny Breakout aren't fresh and entertaining—they've just got a bit of an unfair advantage.

What a long, strange trip the past five days in gaming apps has been, beginning with a big-eyed passionate plea for healthy exercise and ending in a strange world of shadow sea creatures, with a little LEGO thrown in for good measure.

The iPhone 5 started dropping into the eager fans of people that like to play games and make phone calls across the country, and those people need gaming apps. We've got your gaming apps right here, buddy.

There's a brand new iPhone selling out all over the world today. If I ordered one right now, I wouldn't receive it until January2016. I guess I'll keep myself occupied with this week's gaming apps.

I take four days off and what do I return to? We've got Marvel's mightiest mashing things up, a creepy citrus fruit, a flatulent cat (had that anyway), a PC puzzler gone iOS and one hell of a hexagon. That's one pretty damn strange Week in Gaming Apps.

It's Labor Day weekend in the U.S., a time for sitting around reflecting on all things labor-related and the contributions workers have made to our country. Contributions like sitting on the can at work playing some gaming apps instead of working. Games like this week's five Gaming Apps of the Day!

One of our writers has been deathly afraid of moles all of his life. He says one of this week's Gaming Apps 'o the Day cured him of that fear. I say no so fast.

When an official video game based on the most successful mature animated series in the history of television is one of the least exciting items on the list, you know you're in for one hell of a Week in Gaming Apps. What's better than Homer Simpson?

This highly educational Week in Gaming Apps is brought to you by the letter T, the number 10,000,000, the sounds of jazz and the culture of Mexico.

Two iOS games, one iOS / Android combo, an Android exclusive and a special Windows Phone 7 version of a game that's now out on all three. How's that for diversity? Shut up, Blackberry.

"Diversify!" the people cried, and so our normal weekly roundup of five mostly iOS titles was invaded by a tiny ball of fluff only available on Microsoft-powered smart phones. What, you want Android games? I'm not even sure that's a real thing.

There are many ways to celebrate the anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence. Some people host massive cookouts. Some shoot off fireworks. Others still throw parades. Here at Kotaku, we celebrate by limiting our daily gaming app spotlight to only four amazing games.

After years of smaller collectible card game publishers porting their decks to iOS and Android devices, enjoying a relatively Wizard-free reign, Magic: The Gathering swoops in and plucks mobile victory from their hands. On the bright side, we've got a game called Velocirapture. Velocirapture!

Heeding Luke Plunkett's warning from Monday, I'm going to talk about The Act, Centipede Origins, and WarGames: WOPR, purposefully avoiding any mention in this week's roundup of the insanely addictive Pocket Planes.

Now that E3 2012 is slowly fading to bitter, disappointing memory, it's time to return to those things that consistently bring us pleasure, day in and day out. And when we're finished drinking it's time for some gaming apps.

Big name console title announcements and new hardware debuts are nice and all, but those are fleeting and unpredictable. Kotaku's Gaming Apps of the Day, on the other hand, are timeless.

Oh give us a break, it was the first time any of us got to cover the launch of a Diablo game. And hey, we did manage to spotlight five mobile games that have almost completely nothing in common with Blizzard's game.

Do you want to mix some drinks, or turn your neighborhood into a war zone? Anything is possible with the magic of mobile gaming, probably!