Ninja Roll 2 is a simple ball rolling game that has you drawing a line for your "ninja ball" to roll and bounce down. The goal of the game is to collect all of the stars on each level.

The game has a very sparse look, and the physics of the ball remind me of the superballs that I played with as a kid. It's actually frustrating how bouncy this ball is. Sometimes it's hard to maintain momentum because just as your ball is about to ascend a ramp, it hits some tiny bump and bounces off in an unexpected direction. To be fair, part of the fun of playing Ninja Roll 2 is watching the ball make crazy moves.

Some of the levels appear physically impossible at first, but that's where your ball's incredible bounciness becomes an advantage - you can make it perform moves that you would have never thought possible.

My only gripe with the game is that for some reason it was choppy to the point of almost being unplayable when running in Firefox, but in Safari it is perfectly smooth.

Google wants to help you become a Gmail ninja, and has created a site called Gmail Tips for the purpose. What is a Gmail ninja? It's someone who knows all the ins and outs of the productivity tools that Gmail offers, and can process their email very quickly and efficiently.

Rather than just asking Gmail's team for a list of all of the features Gmail has, the Google Tips page is made up of tips from Google employees working in all different parts of the company. It's a hit list of the best email productivity ideas from the bright minds at Google.

The page is divided up into four sections: White belt, Green belt, Black belt, and Gmail master. Each of these sections describes a level of productivity tip, White belt being the most basic, and Gmail master being the guru-level tips.

Helpfully, the Gmail Tips page also includes a handy printable PDF that gives you one double-sided page full of all of the tips listed on the page.

Now, to be fair, none of the tips are going to be much of a surprise to heavy Gmail users, even the Gmail master level tips. But it's a great resource to point friends and co-workers to if they are struggling to really get the most out of Gmail, or if you're looking for a way to convince someone that Gmail is probably a better solution for them than what they are currently using.

You'd think it would be hard to do an online time-waster type game about being a ninja. Surprisingly, Ninja Rampage does just that.

The game is incredibly simple; your ninja character really only has a few moves: jump, crouch, walk, and stab with your sword. But for all that, the game still manages to move quickly and is fun. Ninja Rampage plays sort of like a side-scroller, except that each level is one static screen. Your goal is to move from the left side of the screen through the right side without getting killed by guards or booby-traps.

There is no apparent limit to the number of times you can die and try again, which is the right decision for a time waster. It makes it that much harder to stop playing when you know that you can try just one more time to solve a particularly frustrating level.

For a little ninja fun on your lunch break, you could do worse than Ninja Rampage.

I like ninjas. That being said, I don't really associate ninjas with dictionaries. However, Ninjawords aims to change that. Or something. Ninjawords is a simple Ajax dictionary that aspires to be like a ninja: smart, accurate, and really fast. Type in your word, smack the enter key, and you definition pops up. That's it! Yes, a very simple tool, and a pretty obvious use of Ajax at that, but I enjoy Ninjawords' clean, uncluttered interface. It also has a couple extra features, like the ability to look up multiple words at once (just separate them with commas) and easy URL-based lookup (just type ninjawords.com/yourwordhere). It will also make spelling suggestions. While I still love the venerable Dictionary.com, Ninjawords is a great alternative, though I wouldn't want to meet it in a dark alley.

I've never made a very convincing pirate, even on International Talk Like a Pirate Day, but like you I can enjoy a hearty "yarr" now and again. What I enjoy even more, though, is Ninja Loves Pirate, a gorgeous side-scroller for Windows in which you play the dual roles of (wait for it) stealthy ninja Ichiro and dread pirate Blackbeard, who must battle their way through (wait for it) evil zombies and robots. I'm not even kidding. Blackbeard and Ichiro each have their own special moves and skills, and the characters, enemies, and environments are composed of lush 16-bit-inspired graphics and excellent animations. The game does have a manual, but it's hidden on the Ninja Loves Pirate web site. Unfortunately only a demo is currently available, but it's challenging and satisfying to play, and I don't recommend you miss it. Matey.

Know any good pirate-themed time-wasters? Post them in the comments and I'll add them to this post.