So you’re walking down the street, listening to music on your iPod Nano and generally enjoying life. But just imagine how much more fun you would have after downloading someiPod nano games.

If you’re intrigued, the best place to start is on your iPod nano itself. The latest version comes loaded with music quiz, solitaire, brick and parachute. Once you’ve mastered these options, you can look in to theiPod Arcade. They have hundreds of downloadable iPod nano games, ranging from trivia to madlibs to jokes. Some of the most popular trivia games, for example, are “Friends” trivia (as in the TV show), “Lord of the Rings” trivia (as in the movie) and “Math” (as in math). There are also a range of “choose your own adventure” games, such as Castle Quest or Find Your Lost Dog (a lost dog? Get on that – I’ll wait).

Another strong positive for the iPod arcade site is their really clear installation guide. In fact, some might suggest that an installation guide that explains what your computer mouse is might be a little too clear. But they do have a sense of humor, as evidenced by step 6 – go get a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Peanut butter and jelly is, apparently, the official sandwich of iPod arcade.

But really, the absolutely coolest thing about the iPod arcade site is the form you can use to build your own games! Yep, that’s right. If you’re some sort of genius on any topic (a TV show? cars? sandwiches?) you should really consider developing your own iPod nano games through this site – and impressing the world with your brilliance.

As you’re considering iPod nano games you should bear in mind that most of the games available for free download are text based. In other words, you’re not going to get the video graphics that you might normally expect in your iPod games. This is because most iPod Nano games are developed using the “notes” feature.

One exception is theiDoom game, whose developers made a specific effort to create a game compatible with all iPod platforms. Another is theiPodMame project’s Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man games. The project is dedicated to bringing classic video arcade games to the latest technologies. Unfortunately, the process for downloading and actually playing these games is a little cumbersome, and should be attempted only by tech-savvy individuals. They require use of the iPod Linux platform which, while powerful, is not intended for the casual iPod user.

Despite these limitations, however, you can still have some fun with iPod nano games. And if you’re desperate for the video classics without the hassle, you can always upgrade to a video iPod – it might be worth the extra cash if you’re going to be playing games on an ongoing basis. In fact, gaming on this device has become so popular that Apple is even creating games to ship with its iPods (and, of course, to sell as well).

And you thought your iPod nano was just for playing music. Boy, were you wrong!