It’s around this time of year when midterms rear their ugly, misshapen heads. A good grade in that certain class can be the difference between transfering to the college of your choice, and working as a McDonald’s manager for the rest of your days.

However, after you’ve read several thousand pages of text, tattooed crib notes on every surface of your body and memorized facts that will never help you in the real world, how do you wind down? How do you keep your stress in control so your head doesn’t explode in class?

Surprisingly, there are a few games that can help with this. As a master of Geekjitsu, I’ve played several games that people have described as “relaxing” and judged their effects. Also in consideration of your average students budget, most of these games can either be played for free or purchased for dirt cheap.

You are probably aware of Facebook and the thousands of games that have spawned from it. Probably the most prolific is “Farmville,” a simple farming simulation where you can raise crops and manage live stock. The fact that you can’t really lose, or win for that matter, detracts from the enjoyment somewhat. Still, it can be almost therapeutic to manage a plot of virtual land after a hard day of mind flaying.

“Peggle” is another free game that can be found on MySpace, Yahoo!, PopCap, or a million other places on the Internet. A physics puzzle that plays like a mix between pachinko and pinball, you shoot metal balls at pegs and try to clear the board while racking up a high score. The free demo on most sites is enough to satiate any tired student, with the full game for PC, Xbox Live Arcade and Nintendo DS going for around $20.

If you are a red-blooded American that needs a little ultra violence, there’s “QuakeLive.” This is a version of “Quake 3” that plays right in your browser, on both Mac and PC computers. This game is essentially the classic act of shooting people in the face while trying to avoid being shot. After a hard night of cramming, a few rounds of deathmatch can be surprisingly cathartic.

Finally, that brings us to “Pokemon.” Most people my age have fond memories of training pocket monsters to kill each other, and these games are just as relaxing today as they were when we were kids.
I recently picked up the Nintendo DS version used for $20, and you could probably get the earlier GameBoy Advance or Gameboy Color versions for less.

Now get back to studying, future robot warlords of the world!