Nearly a third (31 percent) of adults surveyed indicated they had children or grandchildren under 18 who played family-friendly "casual" computer/video games - puzzle, word and simple action games - in their home.

The news comes via PopCap Games, which conducted the largest survey of players of casual computer/video games ever, MarketingCharts writes (through NextGeneration).

Of those 2,298 "family gamers," 80 percent said they played casual games with their children or grandchildren. Since conservative estimates peg the casual games market at more than 200 million people, the survey would indicate that more than 50 million casual gamers are "family gamers" who enjoy experiencing the games in the company of younger family members, PopCap said.

Survey firm Information Solutions Group contacted 7,487 consumers and identified 2,298 as "family gamers." Some 79 percent of those "family gamers" were female and 95 percent were age 30 or older - figures that closely reflect the overall casual gamer audience, according to PopCap.

As many as 44 percent of survey respondents identified themselves as mothers of children who play casual games, and 36 percent said they were grandmothers. Among males, 16 percent and 6 percent of respondents identified themselves as fathers and grandfathers, respectively.

More findings from the PopCap casual games study:

Time Well Spent - Bonding, Education, More

• Among adult "family gamers," 92 percent overall (and 95 percent of grandparents) said that they felt the games provided an opportunity to "bond with, or better relate to" their children or grandchildren.
• Fully 70 percent of respondents said they see casual games as providing valuable educational benefits.
• Only 28 percent of adult family gamers indicated they allowed their children or grandchildren to play "hardcore" video games - with fathers and grandfathers being significantly more inclined to allow the playing of such games than mothers and grandmothers (37 percent vs. 25 percent).
• The average age of the children referenced by parents or grandparents who took the survey was 10.2 years old, with 65 percent being age 9 or older and 94 percent age 5 or older.
• Among the children with whom adults said they play the games, more than half (53 percent) were boys - suggesting that aggressive, violent and/or explicit games are not the only ones that appeal to young males.

Cooperative Versus Competitive Play

• Among adult purchasers of casual games who have one or more children or grandchildren who play the games in their home, 94 percent said at least part of their game-play interaction with their children or grandchildren was cooperative in nature - working together to solve puzzles, complete levels and so forth.
• In addition, 52 percent said the game-play with their kids or grandkids was typically a combination of competitive and cooperative play.
• Almost half (48 percent) of respondents indicated that they had multiple children or grandchildren who played the games in their home:
  • Of those respondents, 88 percent described the game-play interaction between the children as at least partly cooperative.
  • 12 percent characterized that interaction as strictly competitive.

MarketingCharts serves up a bunch more findings from the study.