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5 Sites For Old-School Gaming in Your Browser -Time Waster

Enough of this practical advice and useful downloads! I know you've been working hard, and you're probably itching for some fun and excitement. If you've read some of my previous Time Wasters, you'll know that I've got a soft spot for old school gaming.

Grab your browser, and get ready for some classic, low-fi action!

Neave Games
specializes in making flash remakes of classic games, and has a few tasty selections for you. Among them are Frogger, Space Invaders, Tetris, and the old Nokia cellphone game Snake (pictured). Rad.

c64s.com
is dedicated to my first computer and gaming system, the Commodore 64. It's been on DS before, but they've added a lot of great new games over the years. Packacuda, Wizard's Lair, Crystal Castles. It's hard to believe how good some of the games were for the trusty old c64.



Nethack made the roundup last time, but it was a downloadable version. If you're not familiar with it, it's a dungeon exploration game with pure ASCII graphics, and it's weirdly addictive. The folks over at alt.org have a live server that you can sign onto via telnet, using alt.org's Java-based client.

Before you jump in, you can choose to watch a game in progress and see what other intrepid adventurers are up to.

Virtual Apple
gives you browser-based access to my favorite Apple product ever, the Apple ][. So many awesome low-color games to play, but I can't tear myself away from Lemonade Stand and Oregon Trail. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got bears to shoot and party members to drown in a river crossing.


Gametap's classic arcade section will take you right back to the midway. Rampage, Tapper, Joust, Defender, 1942, and 1943 have been keeping me from getting anything productive done. Thankfully, my change mug is still full of quarters. You'll need to use IE or at least have IEtab installed in Firefox for their games to work in your browser.

Hungry for more? Check out my last roundup: 10 Ways to Game Like It's 1989.

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Featured Time Waster

Civiballs is a beautiful, soothing physics puzzle Time Waster

CiviballsI have an absolute weakness for physics games, and while Civiballs isn't the strongest physics-based game, what it lacks in the physics department it makes up for a few times over in style and fun.

In Civiballs, you are presented with a few colored balls, and your goal is to get those balls into the same-colored urn on the level. The "civi" part of Civiballs is that there are 3 sets of levels to play, each representing a different civilization. While the civilization doesn't affect gameplay, the artwork for each level is beautifully themed to it's appropriate era.

To play the game, you are given only one tool - a sword with which to cut the chains that are holding the balls. The puzzle part of the game is in figuring out what order, and with what timing to cut each chain. Do it right, and all the right balls end up in the right urns, with no stray balls entering an urn (a no-no). Do it wrong, and you get to start over again.

Civiballs is not terribly deep on gameplay; the entire game can be completed in about 15 minutes. But if you enjoy this type of game, it will be a very enjoyable 15 minutes.

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