Ellen DeGeneres has a joke about how if someone on the ground offered you a handful of peanuts, you’d be vaguely insulted, but once you’re in an airplane, it seems like the greatest treat in the world. TouchMaster for the DS is a lot like that. If you find yourself stuck somewhere like the doctor’s office, the train, or the airport, its collection of mini-games is the perfect tool to help you waste away the time. In any other setting, however, you quickly realize that they’re fairly ordinary, oftentimes boring exercises in pointlessness that have little actual appeal.

If you’ve ever been to a bar or a Laundromat and seen a touch-screen game box sitting in a corner, begging for your quarters, then you’re already familiar with TouchMaster. It’s fairly easy to find a game that suits your particular mood, as you can choose from 23 different puzzle, card, or skill games. Each genre offers several different individual titles, so it will likely take you a few play sessions to work your way through the entire roster. The on-screen instructions are a bit lacking, so it might take you a few tries to really understand what you’re meant to be doing, but by and large the games are easy to learn and quick to play.

Unlike, say, Wario Ware, TouchMaster isn’t the kind of mini-game collection that is going to suck you in and turn you into a stylus-wielding addict, wearing out your DS battery with “just one more round.” Though the games are entertaining enough, they’re not particularly creative or inventive; you’ve more than likely played a version of all 23 games at some point or other. TouchMaster isn’t a title to break out when you’re feeling the gaming itch, it’s something you keep in your DS case for those situations when you have no idea how much time you have at your disposal, and the thoughts of flipping through old issues of Family Circle is filling you with dread.

What makes the TouchMaster games perfect time killers is, ironically, the fact that they’re not very engaging. Although your game of Pond Kings Checkers or Triple Elevens will satiate the part of your brain that would otherwise begin sending “tap impatiently” signals to your foot, you’ll have no trouble turning it off when your train reaches its stop or the doctor finally calls you in to discuss that pesky rash of yours. TouchMaster will keep you content for as long as you need a distraction, then be conveniently forgettable when you don’t need its company anymore. (There’s a girlfriend joke to be made there, but I’m not going to be the one to make it.) It even helps you out if you and a buddy are both stranded, as just about all of the games offer a two-player option. You can either pass one DS back and forth, or play together wirelessly over WiFi.

Though TouchMaster will likely never be the most cherished game in your DS collection, it serves a valuable purpose and would be a smart addition to just about anyone’s library. Just don’t expect anything revolutionary…and make sure you play it with the sound turned down; the music sounds like it was whipped up on a circa-1988 Casio keyboard.