Dailygames.com
www.dailygames.com

This Web site features hundreds of games that you can choose from and play in a few minutes each day. There are several categories of games, such as Action, Strategy, and Board Games, and new games are added daily. You can browse game titles by selecting a category, by entering the name of the game in the Search Games field, or by perusing the Top Games list found on the right sidebar. In order to enjoy the game, however, you’ll need to have Adobe Flash Player, Adobe Shockwave Player, and Java installed on your computer. If you don’t have these, you can use the site’s handy links directing you to each player’s download page.

Orisinal
www.ferryhalim.com/orisinal

Ferry Halim is the creator of the games you will find on this site. You can choose from 60 free games to play, and check back regularly for Halim’s new games. Each game features a simple objective, such as clicking as many items as possible in a set amount of time or jumping and balancing on a number of different platforms. Although the goals of each game are relatively simple, the games are addicting. One of our favorite games is Winterbells, in which you help a bunny jump on bells in the sky. Each time you jump on a bell, you acquire more points while being propelled higher and higher.

FreeWebArcade
www.freewebarcade.com

This site features some of the most popular classic games, such as Tetris, Duck Hunt, and Donkey Kong. There are also hundreds of newer games, such as Line Rider and Alien Hominid. There are nearly 4,000 games that you can try. Simply choose a game by searching for a specific game with the Search Games tool or browsing the categories, such as Puzzle or Arcade Classics. On the right sidebar, you can see newly added games and Top Games, which are the games that are most frequently played.

FunBrain.com
www.funbrain.com

Although many of the game sites we’ve listed are suitable for children, this site is made especially with kids in mind. Click the Arcade link at the top of the page to play a board game with several minigames, such as Penguin Drop, where players must defend their iceberg from paratrooping penguins looking for a landing spot. This site also features other kid-friendly media, such as Web books and comics. There are also Funblogs for both girls and boys of different ages, which list news stories and facts that your kids will find interesting.

Puzzlers’ Cave
www.puzzlerscave.com

This site is perfect for the puzzle-game enthusiast who likes to spend time completing crossword puzzles or sudoku charts. Each day, the site will have a new crossword puzzle or sudoku game to complete. The puzzles are created by the site’s members, and you can create puzzles to share with others using the Puzzlers’ Cave Crossword Compiler. The basic version can be downloaded free from the site by clicking the Software link at the top of the page. If you have trouble completing a crossword puzzle, you can click the Reveal Letter or Reveal Word clues located at the bottom of each puzzle.

Dailywordsearch.com
www.dailywordsearch.com

If you are addicted to word searches, you’ll spend plenty of time at this site. Each day, there is a new word search puzzle to solve. When you find one of the listed words, simply click the first letter and drag your mouse pointer over the rest of the word to highlight the discovered word. If you click Play It Now under Tournament and enter your name and age, your timed score will be recorded for others to see and compete against. You can even create your own word searches to share with the site’s members by clicking Submit Your Own on the left sidebar.

JigZone.com
www.jigzone.com

If you love assembling jigsaw puzzles but don’t have the space to lay out all the pieces, check out this site. You can use your mouse pointer to drag, drop, and build hundreds of puzzles. Start a puzzle by choosing a category from the Puzzle Gallery, such as Animals, Flowers & Gardens, or Nature Scenes. You can specify the difficulty of the puzzle by choosing how many pieces the puzzle will be, from six pieces to 247 pieces. You can also upload your own photos to make puzzles that you can share with other JigZone members.

That’s News To You Finding the appropriate online group to match your interests can be a monumental task. So each month, we scour the Internet to bring you the friendliest forums and most interesting bloggers the Web has to offer. This month, we share the thoughts and stories of fellow puzzle gamers as they work their way through some of the toughest puzzles. Rex Parker Does The NYT Crossword Puzzle www.rexwordpuzzle.blogspot.com The New York Times crossword puzzle is oftentimes a challenge. This blog will answer that tough 14 Across while adding some extra informative flair. Rex Parker, the blog’s creator, focuses on the themes of the crossword puzzles and includes facts, pictures, videos, and stories along with the answers. With all this extra information, your crosswords become more than just a fun pastime; they become an educational activity, too. An All-Purpose Puzzle Blog www.puzzlinks.com This blog features tons of information about puzzle events, competitions, and puzzle commentary. Most of the posts are short and to-the-point, making this blog fun to read, especially when Josh, the blog’s writer, includes links to new puzzle games that he’s heard about. The site also includes several links to puzzle sites that you’ll want to check out for new and exciting games.

Share The Wares Some of the best apples in the online orchard are the free (or free to try) programs available for download. Each month, we feature highlights from our pickings. This month, we take a look at tools to help you make your very own crossword puzzles and jigsaw puzzles. EclipseCrossword www.eclipsecrossword.com Your family reunion is just around the corner, and you’ve been assigned the task of providing games for your relatives to play. Impress your family with a unique and personal activity by creating your own crossword puzzle about your family’s heritage. With this free software, you can form crossword puzzles in minutes. Simply create a new crossword puzzle, type in the word list and clues, and select how large you’d like your crossword to be. The software will automatically arrange the words in your crossword. You can also add a title to the crossword and put your name on the puzzle so others will know that you created it. When you’re finished, you can print the crossword, save it to a Web page, or publish your crossword to other programs such as Microsoft Word. To download the software, click the Download tab at the top of the page and choose I Am Downloading EclipseCrossword For The First Time. On the next page, click Download EclipseCrossword and save the file to your hard drive. Jigsaw Puzzle Creator 2.0.1 www.puzzlecreator.com If you’re looking for a fun new way to share your favorite photos with friends and family, check out Jigsaw Puzzle Creator, which lets you transform your digital pictures into jigsaw puzzle pieces. This free-to-try software (the full version is $29.95) is easy to use. Start a new project, choose the picture or pictures you want to puzzle, and choose the difficulty level by selecting how many pieces the puzzle will be. You can select a number of other options, such as background and sound, too. You can play the puzzle from within the program by dragging, dropping, and right-clicking each puzzle piece to move and rotate them. With the full version of the software, you can also make your puzzle into an executable file, which then lets you share your puzzles with friends and family who may not have the software. Creating a crossword is easy with EclipseCrossword. Type a word, create a clue, and add the word to your list. Once you have all your words and clues entered, the program will create a crossword layout for you.