Why oh why did anyone have to remind me that these games exist and are available to play immediately online whenever I want without even installing anything. Just click a link and play... Oh the evils of the Internet. Play Online With No Install ThrowPaper (Flash) NEW! May 16, 2005
One of life's more pressing concerns - how many paper balls can you get into the waste paper basket under a variety of wind conditions. via ?off. YAVBW (Flash) NEW! May 16, 2005
Yet Another Virtual Bubble Wrap. These regenerate after a second, giving lots of satisfying action. No clicking required. I try to see if I can write letters & numbers in the bubble wrap. via ?off. Home Run (Flash) NEW! May 12, 2005
WALK THE DRUNK HOME
This should keep you entertained for a while. Just move your mouse left and right (no clicking) to keep him walking in a straight line. The object of the game is to keep him walking without falling over, by moving your mouse left and right.
You can't see your cursor, which makes it more difficult. Apparently the record is 82 meters. Via ?off. South Park Create-A-Character (Flash) NEW! May 10, 2005
Not exactly a game, but still a good waste of time. You can create your own South Park character. Just screencap it & send it to your friends, use it as an online avatar, whatever. Kitten Cannon (Flash) NEW! May 09, 2005
A familiar concept, but a bit of a (sick) twist. The name really says it all. Via ?off. Boxit3D v2 (Java) NEW! May 09, 2005
Seltar, the author of this game sent this to me. It's a puzzle game where the object is to clear the board of boxes by sliding your box around the screen. The tricky part is, your box only stops when it hits another box, so you have to make sure you end up in the right place to launch off in a new direction. Orisinal (Flash) NEW! May 06, 2005
From keithaw: Your list of online games made blogdex today, and looking through it I was astonished to see no mention of Orisinal.com. They are all flash games written by someone named Ferry Halim, and they are quite beautiful as well as enjoyable. Definitely a unique style to his work. This one: http://www.ferryhalim.com/orisinal/g3/floats.htm is the one I am most addicted to. The Saint (Flash) NEW! May, 02, 2005
from quertystar: If you like games this is quite cool - kinda like doom but with stickmen - cleverly done. Someone keeps stealing my letters... (Flash) NEW! April 25, 2005
A collaborative magnetic refridgerator lettors. Tres cool. Well, "collaborative" isn't quite the word for it, it's more like "competitive." Escape! (or Dodge) (DHTML)
Click and drag the red block, avoiding all the blue blocks as long as you can. Wolfenstein 5K (Java)
The classic shooter in 5 kilobytes. It reminds me a bit of Drivey, which is a download, but really impressive. AddictingGames.com
A whole bunch of simple games, many of them seem like updated versions of old Atari 2600 games. Ball Revamped 2: metaphysik (Flash)
This game requires a lot of control and a lot of hand-eye coordination. And a lot of rapid button pushing. You "levitate" a ball that's dropping past some obstacle and to the "warp point" - which is the end of the level. Here's a link straight to the flash file so you can play full screen. Ball Revamped II. Smack the Penguin (Flash)
I'm not gonna tell you how this one works, but ... well, it pretty much lives up to it's name. Timing is everything. Son of a Peach (Flash - LOUD!!!)
Not a game, but a clever cartoon exploring what might have happened after the original Super Mario Brothers. Not exactly safe for work. Pass The Pigs (Java)
Ever been to a pig-toss? Me neither. But now you can, virtually, with this craps like dice... er.. pigs game. (Thanks to Rose Wing for the link). Just be sure to turn the sound down if you're at work. Scorched Earth 2000 (Java, Multi-Player)
I never knew the name for this game. You aim with the arrow keys and every round you get a chance to shoot at your opponents. A direct hit destroys them. This version is multi player, and has chat. (Thanks to Chris Uhler for the mentioning it.) Every Video Game (Java)
"Play Nintendo and Sega video games online for free!" Looks like every Nintendo, Sega, Gameboy and a bunch of arcade games playable online for free. I could spend all day just playing 1942. Space Dudes (Java)
Basically it's a cross between Asteroids and Space Invaders. Fun, clever, and a complete waste of time.
"Space Dudes is a classic arcade-style shooter. Play through 60 levels of manic shoot-em-up action and destroy everything in sight! It's a Java game that you can play right from your browser." (disclaimer: The author e-mailed this one to me.) Pac-Mondrian (Java)
"Pac-Mondrian closes the perceptual distance between fine art and video games by combining Piet Mondrian's Modernist masterpiece 'Broadway Boogie Woogie' with Toru Iwatani's classic video game Pac-Man."
ATARI = ART + AI (Artificial Intelligence). Zanpo
SecondLife was too complex for me (and at $9.95 a month, not free either), I like Zanpo. It's an isometric pixelart city where you can design buildings, and the community votes on the best ones for inclusion in the city. Then you can walk around the city & talk with the other residents. Perhaps more art than game, it lets you unleash Your Inner Pixel Artist! Create a city for your friends. (disclaimer: The author e-mailed me and asked me to add this one. Lucky for him, I like it.) DHTML Lemmings™
I'm glad this thing only has about 10 levels per difficulty level or I'd play it all day long. This thing plays exactly like the original, it's awesome. If you don't know about Lemmings, you didn't own a computer in the mid 90's. Same Game (Java)
I wasted many many hours playing this as an .exe (see my Smallware page for a review). Now thanks to the miracle of the Internet, anyone can play anywhere at any time without even installing the damn thing. This guy has a bunch of other games too. Daleks (Java)
Oh and I wasted many hours playing this one too as a DOS game. Also see my Smallware page for a review. See if you can get Dr. Who to destroy all the Daleks before they get him. I'm not even a big fan of the show, but I loved this game. This version is a little different than the one I'm used to, the board is bigger, there are more daleks to start, and you get more sonic screwdrivers than usual. The cool thing is you can test your best scores against anyone else who plays on this site. Boulderdash (Java)
Classic. I played this in the 1980's on my Atari computer. The goal is to collect all the diamonds while dodging all sorts of obstacles. It's not a joystick fest like it sounds like, it's more of a puzzle game. I remember getting to level N or O regularly "back in the day." Alchemy (Java)
PopCap games makes some of the most addictive games. Alchemy is one of them. Bejeweled is another. With over a dozen games to choose from, you can't go wrong! Super Maryo World
A clone of Super Mario Brothers written in DHTML of all things. Cute cat. It's a little harder to control than the original, but it's fun. Actually, I never got too far because I couldn't get up enough speed to make some of the bigger jumps. Still, this is quite an amazing feat of HTML. At one point I saw a turtle that hadn't loaded yet. Legend of the Green Dragon
A clone of the old game LoRD (Legend of the Red Dragon). I wouldn't call it addictive, but it's a great distraction while you're supposed to be doing something else. When you're waiting for your computer to do something, you can play a little, and then go back to work. It's better than staring at your computer screen. The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy (java)
This classic & hilarious game of the book of the radio show is now available to be played online, via DouglasAdams.com. Frozen Bubble (java)
This is that game that was in nearly every arcade and bar for years. The one where there are bubbles and you have to shoot them with more bubbles... If you don't know what I mean, just visit the page. SimCity Classic Live (plugin)
You have to register with Maxis (you can use a throwaway email address), but you get to play the original SimCity online. This one is borderline browser based / install because it installs a plugin to your browser. Free Downloads mono
Classic 80's arcade shoot-em-up action, with a stylistic flair for the new millenium. This game is part Astreoids, part 1942, and part abstract art with a slick hip hop feel. Definately worth checking out. Zelda Classic
More than just a Zelda clone, you can make your own quests and share them with your friends. Adom / Nethack / Angband
"Rogue-Like" games are role playing games that focus on complexity over graphics. The amount of detail, depth, and options in these games is staggering... there are just no graphics. Unlike big box RPG's you can play through in a few days, these often require weeks and months to complete.
Nethack (which is playable via a network - very cool) is 20 years old. Graphical variants include - Falcon's Eye Recommended to me by Andrew, but always crashes my computer, and we can't get it to work on my girlfriend's computer.
- The Iron Hells Do you have to register to play?
- Iso-Angband This one looks promising, it just adds a graphical interface to Angband. The graphics aren't great yet, but there's some promise here.
- Golem This one looks really promising, especially Golem3D, but it's not available for download yet (sorry for the tease).
- Even the famous SSI had Dungeon Hack, which you can download from The Underdogs website. This is the only variant that doesn't have an isometric view, it's a first-person view.
MacGamesAndMore.com (Mac Only)
The owners of MacGamesAndMore pointed me to this site. I don't own a Mac, so I don't know if these are any good. Abandonware & Free Release of Old Games Classic games from the 80's and 90's that are considered "abandonded" and are available for download. I'm really not sure of the legality of this, but often this is the only way you can get these games. They're not even around on eBay. The Underdogs and MobyGames are the definitive resources. SkiFree
That strange little windows game has an official homepage by the original author. You gotta love a story that starts with: " In 1991 I was working at Microsoft as a programmer, writing programming utilities for use by other programmers, such as a dialog editor used in the development of Word and Excel." And ends with an animated GIF of two snow monsters humping. SSI Goldbox games & Unlimited Adventures
The Underdogs have a lot of old SSI games (and other "abandonware" games) available for download, including the wildly popular (think cult favorite) Unlimited Adventures, which allows you to build your own RPG's. Interactive Fiction
Often considered the last bastion of independant game making, Interactive Fiction (also called Text Adventure, think Zork) games are made by hobbyists, and some of them are extremely high quality, almost masterpieces of game making. Again, these games have no graphics, just text. Baf has the definitive guide. Zork
Available for Zero Zorkmids, play the game that started it all! (Mac too! Probably PDA too if you can hack the .zX file into PalmFrotz or something) Starsiege: Tribes & Tribes 2
In anticipation of Tribes: Vengeance, Vivendi has released Tribes 1 and 2 for free. Read the press release. Rockstar Classics - Free Downloads
Download GTA, Wild Metal, and GTA2 for free. It says that not everyone is elligible to download these games (I don't know what their criteria is), and they ask for your name, address, and email. I don't know if trading your address for a game is really "free," but it costs no money at any rate. Don't expect GTA1 to be anything like GTA3, but you might want to check it out anyway. The Elder Scrolls: Arena
Released in 1993, this first person RPG launched the Elder Scrolls series. From what I hear, the game is huge. Definately a good waste of time. DOSBox
A DOS emulator for Windows so you can play some of your favorite old DOS games in XP. Independant Games & Playable Shareware The Independant Games Festival
Made on a low budget (less then millions of dollars), there are a lot of great independant games out there, like Pontifex and Reiner Knizia's Samurai, and I found them through the IGF. 2004 Independant Game of the Year (Game Tunnel)
These aren't necessarily going to be free, but odds are you haven't heard of these games before. Well, except maybe Gish, which has been getting a lot of press lately. Tibia
This is a free (there's a pay/premium version) MMORPG. Top down... looks good, I haven't tried it yet. Epic Pinball (direct download link)
When I first got my computer it was this game & Lemmings that my friends got me in to. This is the shareware version, but the levels that are included are very enjoyable. |