How To Make Time Pass Quickly... (games.yahoo.com)

Member Name: angeelu

Product:	games.yahoo.com
Date:	20/06/03 (1223 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Huge selection of games to choose from, Many are quite addictive and easily help you waste some time!

Disadvantages: Some games not compatible with Unix or Macintosh computers, If you don't already have a Yahoo account you'll have to create one

Everyone has heard of Yahoo... well, just about everyone surely? But have you ever stopped by and played one of the many Yahoo games that are available online? No? Well maybe it's time you paid them a visit!

The games section of Yahoo can be accessed easily, either by going to Yahoo's homepage (www.yahoo.com) and clicking on the Games link, or by going straight to http://games.yahoo.com/

In order to play any of the games on Yahoo, you do need to have a Yahoo login - this is easy to set up and will only take you a few minutes if you don't already have one - the hardest part is probably trying to come up with a username that isn't already taken!

The Games Homepage:
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The Yahoo Games homepage can look a bit daunting at first - it's divided up into a variety of sections that currently include headings such as 'Inside Games', 'Today's Featured Game', 'Card Games', 'Word Games', and 'Board and Tile Games'.

Under the headings of categories that include games you can play online you will see a list of all the game titles, and, next to these you can see a number in brackets... for example under Card Games you will see 'Blackjack' listed, and next to it there may be the number 505 in brackets - this number indicates the number of people currently online and playing this game. For some of the more popular games it's not unusual to see 3,000 or more people online playing them all at once!

To Play a Game:
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From the vast selection of games listed on the Games homepage all you need to do to play one is click on that game title. If you've not already logged in before clicking on the title the first thing you'll be asked to do is enter your username and password in order to log in to Yahoo. From there you'll be taken to that particular game's homepage.

The homepag
e for each game typically follows a similar layout.
For many of the games there are leagues set up that you can join and take part in special league matches, (however, you don't need to play in a league). If there is a league for the particular game you're about to play there'll be links and information about how to sign up for that league on the individual game's homepage, normally near the top.
You'll often find a 'Quick Start' button at the top of the homepage somewhere - this takes you straight into a 'room' (more about rooms in a minute) where you pick a game to join.
Under the Quick Start option you'll normally find a list of rooms. Rooms are given names that appropriate to the types of people who (probably) use them - for example, in many games you'll find a few 'social' rooms, 'beginner' rooms, 'intermediate' rooms and 'advanced' rooms. Next to each room name it will let you know how many people are already in that room. This is useful as you're more likely to find a game to join or people to play against in a busier room. If you're new to a game it's always an idea to start off in a beginner room where you're more likely to be playing against people of a similar standard. If you like a challenge and think you're good enough you can go for the advanced rooms, though, if you're not really that bothered a social room is always a good option as you get players of a variety of abilities. For games that are bit more 'luck' based, such as card games, you often are just presented with a list of 'global rooms'.

Ok - so, you've chosen which room you want to join... You click on the room and are taken inside it. The window you'll see will show you games currently in progress and shows you where there are spaces for you to join a game. You don't have to join someone elses game though, you also have the option
to set up your own game and get people to join you. Once you're there that's it! You're ready to start playing.

Other Features:
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Yahoo games has a whole variety of features, far too many to cover individually, but perhaps two of the most useful are as follows:

Whilst playing most of the online games at Yahoo, you have the ability to chat to your opponents. At the bottom of the gaming screen is a small chat window where you can type to instantly send messages to whoever you're playing against. You obviously don't have to engage in deep conversation with your opponent, but it's friendly to say hello when you start and something along the lines of 'good game' when you finish. (Chat isn't available in some of the individual player arcade games).

For the majority of games played on Yahoo you also get a rating - this helps you to follow your own progress at the game and helps others to see whether you're of a similar standard before playing against you (and vice versa) - for games such as word games for example, your rating increases each time you win a game against someone with a higher rating than yourself, therefore to improve your game and your rating you will benefit from playing against people with slightly higher ratings than yourself. For card games you generally place bets using virtual money from Yahoo - the amount of money you have can also be a reflection of your standard at a particular game (note - you can have minus figures in your balance!!)

Examples of Games:
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There are plenty of different games to choose from - a selection of which include:
* Blackjack - a typical game of pontoon
* Wordracer - very similar to the board game boggle - you have to make words from a grid of random letters and score points according to the number and length of words you make.
* Literati - the Yahoo equivalent
of Scrabble
* Bingo - erm... bingo!
* Yahoo Towers - a fast paced game kind of like Tetris in the fact that blocks fall from the top of your screen and you have to position them in way so that colours match up to make them disappear, however, you also have opponents therefore there's also an element of skill involved in getting hold of certain 'weapons' that make your opponents game more difficult.
* Hold'em Poker - a version of poker
* Gem Drop - very similar to that game 'Columns' that used to be available on the Sega Megadrive! The idea is to create clusters of three or more gems to make them disappear. Kind of tetris-like in game style.


To Conclude:
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This opinion has just included a small part of what Yahoo games has to offer. If you are at all interested in any type of game then there's something you'll like on Yahoo Games. I personally find many of the Word Games very addictive. If you have friends online you can quite easily arrange to 'meet them' in a particular room to play a game against them.

All of the games tend to load quickly, even on older computers. Occasionally you'll experience a problem with Yahoo servers that kind of disconnect you from your game, but this is very infrequent (although very frustrating!).

If you're yet to experience a Yahoo game, then I would definitely recommend you take a look - but be warned that you can soon lose an hour or two!

Overall rating - 4 stars

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