These sites can eat away minutes as well as hours of your time. Nielsen-NetRatings reports that during a week in April, 3 million gamers spent an average of 1 hour, 39 minutes each at AOL Games at home and at work. A word to the wise: Your employer can tell what sites you're spending time on at work. Better to visit these destinations when you're home.
Playing for free
The sites have ads, so the gaming is free. To avoid the ads, you can pay about $10 to $20 to download a favorite game to your computer.
To play for free online, register at the sites below and click on a game to play. A new screen will pop up on your computer, with instructions on how to play (Often, you'll use your computer keyboard's arrow keys to move your on-screen character). If the game doesn't start, disable pop-up blockers on your computer.
If you just want to play against computer opponents without the small talk, realarcade.com has some sexy titles, including "Trivial Pursuit: Bring on the '90s" that you can jump right into.
A much-loved site for great-looking action games and shoot-'em-ups. It's a popular destination for young boys, but their moms and dads will find puzzle and card games to enjoy. Games such as the mini-golf-inspired "Sky Golf" look as good as anything you'll find on a Wii or Sony PlayStation 2.
Fun games that lack the polish of games at Miniclip. Proving that games can teach, too, "50 States" gives you a map of the United States and challenges you to drag a star to the location of each state's capital. More players are finding AddictingGames.com, with the site reporting 21.3 million unique visitors in March.
A favorite haunt for gamers - especially women 30 and older - who like to type computer messages to their opponents while they play. It's a way to play a social game such as backgammon or hearts without leaving your house or buying chips and dip. It's easy to strike up conversations with other players, and competition for prizes raises the stakes a little. The game "Poppit" is taking Pogo by storm, with tens of thousands of players racing the clock to pop groups of same-color balloons to release prizes.
Now Mac owners can join in the fun of wildly popular games such as "Virtual Villagers 2: The Lost Children," in which you create "Sims"-style villagers who eat, work and play even after you've logged off for the night. GreenAppleGames.com also has slick-looking titles for the PC crowd.
Longtime favorite sites such as pogo.com, miniclip.com and games.yahoo.com are increasingly finding competition. Winster.com is just one of the latest sites to open with a collection of casual games aimed at people who want to spend a few minutes solving puzzles. Mac users are no longer left out of the fun; greenapplegames.com caters to that crowd.
January 17, 2008:
Robbie Burns Night
January 10, 2008:
Brain Gain
January 03, 2008:
'Imagination gone wild'
December 27, 2007:
'Smile When You're Lying'
December 20, 2007:
Juneau's holiday wish list
December 13, 2007:
Reindeer mind games
December 06, 2007:
The Final Countdown
November 29, 2007:
Evolving culture
November 22, 2007:
Songs for the Deaf
November 15, 2007:
Hold the juice
November 08, 2007:
The birth of karaoke
November 01, 2007:
Where the going gets tough
October 25, 2007:
Halloween Do's and Don'ts
October 18, 2007:
Light up your life
October 11, 2007:
Mixed signals
October 04, 2007:
The rise of the yeast
September 27, 2007:
Captivated by 'Guitar Hero 2'
September 20, 2007:
To Post, or Not to Post?
September 13, 2007:
Riding the concrete Wave
September 06, 2007:
Ready to be a Legend?
August 30, 2007:
From the Bay to the Channel
August 23, 2007:
Organic apprehension
August 16, 2007:
Buskers: Modern minstrels
August 09, 2007:
Slow Ride, take it easy
August 02, 2007:
All's Fair
July 26, 2007:
Letting it all Hang out
July 19, 2007:
Kiss your quarters goodbye
July 12, 2007:
Taking the Plunge
July 05, 2007:
Nowhere to go but up
June 28, 2007:
To Boldly Go
June 21, 2007:
Riding the White Limousine
June 14, 2007:
From China, with love
June 07, 2007:
Our own slice of the World Wide Web
|
Presented by The Juneau Empire and Morris Communications Corporation
Contact Us
Please read our Privacy Policy.
Copyright © 2006-2007 Juneau Empire and Morris Communications Corporation. All rights reserved.