CLICK & DOUBLE CLICK: A BETTER WASTE OF TIME PLAYING GAMES ON COMPUTER (COLUMN 118)

In addition to lots of informational stuff on the Internet, there are lots of places to have fun and waste time.

Peggy: Recently, I clicked on an ad and was drawn into a new online game site. It's been a lot of fun and, well, a little addictive.

www.uproar.com

Joni: The site offers a number of different games, including bingo, hangman and trivia.

Peggy: But it's not your typical hangman. You play against others online. We're hooked on the Puzzle-a-go-go game, which Uproar describes as hangman on steroids.

Joni: Who are these people? How can they guess these "Wheel of Fortune" games so fast?

Peggy: I just don't know. Each game lasts just a few minutes. You play against two others and earn chances to win a $5 prize, drawn hourly. Yes, they will send actual money to your house if you win.

Joni: Let's play a few games.... OK, it's 30 minutes later. Beware. This is addictive. When people are laughing in the office, and you're not sure what they're doing, this might be it.

Peggy: You can play Bingo. We were playing against 610 others. You can play a celebrity picture guessing game. We competed against about 180 people. It's great fun.

Joni: It does take a few minutes to get used to the pace of the game, which is very fast no matter what game you're playing.

Peggy: I've found that a lot of online games are some kind of a take-off of a war game or a Dungeons and Dragons game. I'm not very interested in those types of games, although my husband is. I prefer something fun where no one gets killed or hacked to pieces.

Joni: Another site we found on the Internet for online gaming with a variety of choices is Playsite.

www.playsite.com

Peggy: To play these games you can logon as a guest or you can register. Playsite offers word games, board games and card games.

Joni: The card games are bridge, hearts, spades and cribbage. The board games include chess, checkers and backgammon. The word game is Tangleword.

Peggy: I don't know how to play that, but let's give it a try anyway ... OK. The game is over and we couldn't even figure out what we were supposed to do. Let's read the directions.

Joni: Well, we figured out how to play, kind of. I guess we need a little more practice.

Peggy: Here's another source for games online, the Multiplayer Online Games Directory.

www.mpod.com

Joni: They have links to all kinds of different games: action, role playing, strategy, cards, sports and even some brand new games that are being tested.

Peggy: They also talk about the game, if it's free, and you can read a summary. It's a good place to get linked to a variety of different games.

Joni: For example, here's a listing of free games: a tank game, a pool game, a virtual reality game, an arcade game in a fantasy setting, a paint ball war game. A lot of these games require Shockwave.

Peggy: You can also hook up to other big game sites, including Microsoft Network's Gaming Zone. You can get there directly at

zone.msn.com

Joni: Oh look, they link you back to Uproar. On the Gaming Zone, you will find lots more games, and lots more people playing. There are 2,000 people playing Spades, Peggy. Almost 13,000 people are playing in the Zone right now.Peggy: I guess I need a different kind of job, so I have more time for games. From this site, you will need to download and install some software on your computer.

Joni: OK, now that we're set up, we're headed to the Rookie room. We thought that might be better than heading to the Expert room, because we're not going to read the directions, again.

Peggy: One note, from experience here, a fast Internet connection is preferable when playing games. We've been kicked out of some games because our 14.4 modem was slowing down the other players. This might be the thing that puts us in the market for a faster computer.

Joni: It's interesting that all these games include a chat mode. You can locate and talk with others about games or other news.

Peggy: All these gaming sites have their own language, an even more abbreviated type of chat. "TY" means thank you and "GL" is good luck.

Joni: At the Gaming Zone, we're going to try to play an online version of Clue. There's been a murder and all six dinner guests are suspects, including you. Others are playing against you, trying to figure out the clues before you do. You can play with as few as three or as many as six players. The game links players.

Peggy: This Gaming Zone is much more complicated than some of the other game sites. Whew.Joni: For some of these games, you need to buy software. Some of them, you can get a free trial version. Other games require you to pay a small fee to play.

Peggy: We prefer the free games.

Joni: Here is one called Scrawl, an interactive word drawing game. It's kind of like Pictionary.

Peggy: We are going to play again without reading the directions first. It's more of a challenge that way.

Joni: We have to download more software. This requires some patience as it takes some time to do this.

Peggy: Now that we have our player name, we are ready to go.

Joni: You can pick to be an audience in somebody's game. Let's do that because we have no idea what's going to happen.

Peggy: Players draw picture clues. The object is to come up with the correct word.

Joni: We watched as lines were drawn on our computer monitor by one of the players.

Peggy: Apparently, there is code drawing going on. You have to learn the code before you can really play the game.

Joni: None of the players seems to be a real artist.

Peggy: Nope, but computer drawing looks tough. I don't know, but I think I could spend a lot of time playing these games.

Joni: You're not alone. And it seems that all sorts of people are playing, day and night. What's your favorite gaming site? E-mail us at click@semissourian.com

See you in Cyberspace.

~Peggy Scott and Joni Adams are members of the Southeast Missourian online staff.