Right, lots a simple physics games, I forgot about that. Launch the turtle, destroy the castle, etc. Also some relatively interesting wargames. And some interesting experimentation.
It was a golden age of enthusiast creators indeed. Browsing random games was very interesting (of course, lots of garbage, but Sturgeon's Law applies).
That era was definitely defined by enthusiast creators instead of the modern indie-studio-ification of even the simplest games.