They were marketed as educational machines, and some of it was excellent stuff too, well above the 'edutainment' level of Windows stuff of the same era. An old favourite was Sherston Software's "Badger Trails" - an excellent and addictive game, and you learned a lot about nature at the same time! But yes, for purely wasting time, the Acorn had lots of great games (Haunted House and Time Machine are other classics) as well as many ports, including one close to my heart, which I enjoyed so much (and found so little material for) that I made a website for the Acorn port:
The Iron Lord.