Facebook's most popular social games for 2011

Playdom's Gardens of Time, a twist on the classic hidden objects game, was the most popular game on social networking site Facebook in 2011.

"In 2011, people loved playing hidden object, simulation, and casino-related games with their friends on Facebook," said Facebook in a December 22 post on the Facebook Platform blog.

Facebook's list was populated by titles made by social network game developer Zynga, although surprisingly the company's brand of -Ville games didn't make it into the top spot. Zynga claims to have 232 million monthly active users
 and 60 million daily active users and its games are often cited as being the most widely played apps on Facebook.

EA's The Sims Social virtual world game ranked second on the list and was followed by Zynga's most popular app, CityVille.

Zynga also grabbed fifth, sixth and eighth spots on the list with its adventure game Indiana Jones Adventure World, its word game Words With Friends and its army game Empire and Allies.

Casino games such as the multiplayer casino game DoubleDown Casino, fast-paced Bingo Blitz, and Vegas-styled slot game Slotomania-Slot Machines also featured prominently within the list.

According to application traffic tracking site AppData.com's leaderboard the Facebook games with the most active users for December are: CityVille, CastleVille, FarmVille, Texas HoldEm Poker and The Sims Social.

In 2011 the average gamer on Facebook played at least three different games each month and returned to the social network to play games on more than 50% of the days he or she visited the site.

Facebook's rating was based on games that had the most active users and received the highest user recommendations in 2011, said Facebook.

Most popular games in 2011

1. Gardens of Time (By Playdom)

2. The Sims Social (By EA)

3. Cityville (By Zynga)

4. DoubleDown Casino (by DoubleDown Interactive)

5. Indiana Jones Adventure World (By Zynga)

6. Words With Friends (By Zynga)

7. Bingo Blitz (By Buffalo Studios)

8. Empires & Allies (By Zynga)

9. Slotomania-Slot Machines (By Playtika)

10. Diamond Dash (By wooga)