Sometimes you just have to pity poor Strong Bad. At the opening of the third installment of Strong Bad’s Cool Game for Awesome People, his vintage Fun Machine gaming console suffers a meltdown. He can no longer indulge his taste in vintage Videlectrix titles like Math Kickers and Snake Boxer. Fortunately, he can get it repaired by Free County USA’s one fully-licensed Videlectrican. Unfortunately, that title is held by Bubs the avaricious proprietor of Bub’s Concession Stand.

Bubs agrees to repair the ancient game machine (which bears a suspicious resemblance to an Atari 2600) for “a sack full of money.” Logically, Strong Bad decides to get the cash by hosting a Battle of the Bands and keeping the entry fees for himself.

Wait? Did I say “logically”? In what universe is it logical to host a Battle of the Bands as a way to raise cash? Well, nowhere. Unless your a sitcom character. In that case, wild schemes aren’t merely reasonable, they’re mandatory.

The key to really enjoying the Strong Bad games is to just go with the flow.

Which isn’t to say that the puzzles aren’t logical. Strong Bad realizes early on that he’s going to need celebrity judges to make his Battle of the Bands a hit. An entry form for a fan contest for the band Limozeen points the way. If Strong Bad can create the most awesome album cover photo, the members of Limozeen will hang with him for a day.

Creating the photo for the album cover is a matter of finding the right elements to match a prototype cover that the game provides. Discovering what you should do isn’t hard. The fun lies in figuring out how to do it.

With Limozeen secured as celebrity judges, Strong Bad must next find entrants for the contest. Marzipan’s three-piece folk/rock band Cool Tapes can’t perform because they’re already booked for an environmentally conscious concert called Bat Aid; Pom-pom needs a singer who can improvise lyrics, and the famous Two-o Duo (Coach Z and Bubs) split years ago and will need a little intervention if they’re ever going to work together again.

As Strong Bad, you have to find a solution to each of these problems. Before the game is done, you’ll find yourself using household chemicals on wild animals, committing petty crimes and framing others, and eventually cheating to undermine the competition.

For alert players, the game tosses in some clever references to the history of pop music and offers an explanation as to why every album seems to have a least one awful song written by a supporting member of the group. It also pokes fun at “snooty rock journalism” by setting Strong Sad up as a wannabe journalist who is duped by a clever ruse involving an alleged indy band. (To say anymore would give away a very clever moment in the game ... suffice it to say that you’ll laugh out loud when you get the joke.)

Parents of younger children should exercise caution with the material as there are some mildly objectionable words and Strong Bad isn’t exactly a stellar role model. For older kids (who are probably already fans of Home Star Runner) this is an entertaining game and a nice change of pace. The folks at TellTaleGames.com are to be commended for releasing such consistently entertaining character-based adventures. At $8.95 per episode or $34.95 for the season, the Strong Bad games are a decent value and well worth playing.