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gaming: The art of play.

Play Free or DieGreat Web games you don't have to pay for.

By Justin Peters
Posted Friday, Dec. 21, 2007, at 11:36 AM ET
The Tall Stump. Click image to expand.

Christmas is a difficult time of year for America's cheapskates. There are plenty of sturdy, reliable toys out there—broom-handle horses, packs of UNO cards, wooden blocks with wheels on them—all of which are inexpensive and delightful. But all anybody wants these days are video games: a PlayStation 3 or a Nintendo Wii, and full complements of pricey games to go with each. This stuff is expensive and often difficult to obtain, but your nephew will hate you if you give him one more toy that's fashioned from scrap lumber. What's a well-meaning penny pincher to do?

Lucky for you, Slate (in association with the Internet) has your solution: the best free computer games that cyberspace has to offer. The games listed below are exemplars of the casual gaming genre—video games meant to be played incidentally, as a break from work, for instance, or in lieu of sending an e-mail. Many of the games listed below are as clever and fun as their retail counterparts; all of them are free, free, free. They're the perfect last-minute gifts for those out-of-town nieces or second cousins who don't deserve $350 worth of love. Granted, an index card with a URL scrawled on it might not provoke as many cheers upon unwrapping as a copy of Halo 3. But it's the thought that counts. Right?

Some notes: The designation "best" is obviously subjective and incomplete, given that I have not played every single game available on the Internet. Most of these games are built in Flash, which means you can play them on pretty much any Web browser. Don't expect fancy graphics, though—if a game is called the Tall Stump, you're probably not getting advanced texture modeling. (Also, a big thanks to Jayisgames.com, the Internet's undisputed leader in casual gaming information and home to many, many people who know more about this stuff than I do.)

Best old-school side scroller: No, the Tall Stump does not have advanced texture modeling, but its charms are plentiful. Rejoice as you navigate through a charmingly cartoonish land of passageways, tunnels, and tubes, jumping, shooting, and collecting coins in an attempt to free your girlfriend from her pink candy prison. Sound familiar? It should: It's pretty much Super Mario Bros., but with paper hats and cacti instead of plumbers and broad Italian stereotypes. Mamma mia, this is a great little game!

Best all-purpose corporate game site: Who besides the Doublemint Twins would've thought that a chewing gum company would boast one of the Web's best gaming sites? There are dozens of games at Wrigley's Candystand—sports games, arcade-style games, puzzle games. All of them are easy to learn and fun to play, and none of them have anything to do with chewing gum. That's a serious flaw, to my mind; I have long dreamed about the possible ways in which Juicy Fruit's citrusy tang might translate into video-game form.

Best sports game: Crave a workout but too busy or apathetic to leave your chair? The best sports-themed games can fool your brain into thinking that you're actually playing a sport, instead of clicking a mouse and eating beef jerky. England Academy, a rugby game on the BBC's Web site, is the best in show here. When I first played this, I had no idea what I was doing or what the rules of rugby were. Several dozen attempts later, I'm still clueless—it has something to do with dropkicks and enthusiastic group hugs—but it's still fun as hell, and the mental gyrations required to follow along will get you close to actually breaking a sweat.

Best puzzle game: Thought that the era of locked-room mysteries died off with John Dickson Carr? Think again: The locked-room puzzle, wherein you start inside a sealed room (or car, or closet) and find your way out by virtue of your puzzle-solving skills, is alive and well on the Web. (I don't know why most of these games come from Japanese studios, but I suspect it has something to do with those creepy capsule hotels.) A lot of these games have a limited appeal, because all it takes to win is random mouse-clicking. But the best one I've found, Guest House, strikes the right balance between clicking, solving, and creepy blue-skinned women in futuristic iron lungs. I'm still waiting to find the cheat code that lets you blast your way out with a rocket launcher.

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Justin Peters is a writer in New York, and the editor of Polite.
Still from The Tall Stump video game © 2007 bytesbyslight.com.
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Remarks from the Fray:

One wonderful website you omitted was Orisinal by Ferry Halim. This has a couple dozen amazing games that are simple enough for my six year old to play, but mesmerizing enough to keep me watching and playing. The backgrounds are like watercolor landscapes. The music is entrancing enough that it doesn't get old even when your daughter is playing the game for the 350th time. There is little if any violence, yet the games are challenging enough for adults. Here is a website to explore with your child where you can take turns playing the different games and not be bored. So how about a category for best daddy-daughter cheapskate bonding on the internet?

--nursed

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