Online Games

Various sites around the Web offer boardgames, free and not, real-time and asynchronous. They can be a good way to bone up on strategy when players aren't available for face-to-face games.

This list intentionally focuses on games that you can play online without a special client. When it does list special clients such as Thoth, QUB, or Zillions of Games (see below), they are usually multi-purpose programs with which you can play many games. For another list of online GermanStyleGame``s, some of which require dedicated special clients, see the list from the International Games and Gamers of Ontario.

• Ajax Games: A few games powered by Ajax web technology.
• amarriner.com: This site hosts several PBEM (play-by-email) games such as Diplomacy, as well as a couple of PBW (play-by-web) ones, including Bruno Faidutti's Citadels?. (Hooray!) Citadels seems to be buggy, though, not allowing some legal actions.
• Blokus.com: Play that Seattle Cosmic fave, Blokus online, against bots or human opponents. Free (as in beer). Requires Java.
• Blood Bowl: Play Blood_Bowl? online. Requires Java.
• BoardgameGeek: In addition to its game descriptions, reviews and a Seattle-Cosmic-inspired Wiki, BoardgameGeek features three online games, Tigris_&_Euphrates?, Auf_Heller_und_Pfennig? and Goldland?. These games are for 2-4 players, unlike ItsYourTurn, which only has two-player games, but is also asynchronous.
• BrainKing.com: Lots of Chess, Checkers, and Backgammon? variants, and miscellaneous AbstractStrategyGame``s.
• BrettSpielWelt: One of the best-known online gaming sites. Has a ton of GermanStyleGame``s -- but mostly in German. (There is an English-speaking community online, though.) Requires Java.
• Bridge Base Online: Free (as in beer) way to play Bridge? online with players around the world. Program only provided for Windows platforms, but is known to work under Mac PC emulator programs.
• Button Men Online Web Game: Free (as in beer) way to play Button_Men? from CheapassGames online. Nominated for a 2003 Origins Award for Best Play-By-Mail/E-Mail Game.
• Cartagena Online: Play the elegant game of escape from pirate prison online. German-language site.
• CCG Workshop: "Collectable card games... online!": Provides free (as in beer) software to play CollectibleCardGame``s over the Net. See NetrunnerOnline for some experiences with their setup.
• Cosmic Encounter Online: Cosmic Encounter Online launched on 28 May 2003 at 12 noon Pacific with almost 10,000 users. First impressions: underwhelming. The controls for everything (such as playing a card, inviting allies, or using your alien power) are invisible or non-obvious, and yet there are very short time limits on everything, so that playing Cosmic becomes more like playing a video game in which none of the buttons are labeled. If you don't hit a button in time, a bot takes over for you. 0% fun on one try. If your mileage varies, feel free to balance this review with yout comments. (Requires Macromedia Flash.)
• CyberBoard PBEM Boardgaming System: An MS-Windows program. While mostly geared toward the wargaming crowd, several premade titles that might be of interest to SC include Diplomacy and Trax?. Included with the program is a "Gamebox" creation utility, so you can create your favorite token-on-board type games.
• The Diplomatic Pouch: PBEM Diplomacy with bots for judges. Also a lot of other Diplomacy-related info.
• Freeciv: A free (as in freedom) clone of Civilization, with online play. Available for many platforms.
• GameDesire: At GameDesire there are a variety of free (as in beer) multiplayer card, board, word, arcade, pub, and casino games, with access to in-game chats, tournament systems, ranking, and virtual money.
• Game Table Online: Membership is $10 a month for unlimited play of such games as Nuclear_Escalation?, Nuclear_Proliferation?, Nuclear_War? (hmm...), Cosmic_Wimpout?, and Drakon?, as well as a variety of CheapassGames.
• GoldToken.com: A web-based site for mostly AbstractStrategyGame``s. Favoured by some Seattle Cosmic members. Free (as in beer).
• HiveMania.com: Play Hive? online. Free as in beer. Requires Java.
• Imperial Wars: Imperial Wars is a very interesting combination of boardgaming, wargaming, and diplomacy. There are 16 players in each game who chose from one of six character types, which can be role-played or not. The board is 350 worlds with each player starting at a homeworld. The game comes with in-game email and encourages diplomacy between players. If enough players from a group want to join as a group, Intelligent Life Games will do that. This game is free while it is in beta testing and has several hundred players currently playing. This is an immersive game, turn-based with turns due about once every 4 days and games can last up to 3 months.
• Irony Games' Dice Server: Not an online game as such, but a gaming tool. Will flexibly simulate various dice rolls and email them to you. You can CC your friends so they know you're not fudging the dice, and the whole shebang is cryptographically secure because they sign their email with a PGP key, and you can paste the results back into their website to confirm they're genuine. We used this once to decide who should host game night.
• ItsYourTurn: A free (as in loader) site that offers a wide range of games, including ancient classics such Chess, Checkers, and Go; and a few other well-known games under new, trademark-skirting names like "Stack-4" and "Battle Boats". The site also features a few variants for nearly every game. These games are asynchronous, so they take a long time but users can make moves in just a few seconds a day.
• Aquarius: Free Java based implementation of Looney Labs Aquarius card game... similar to dominos, using 5 elements, and various sized areas.
• Kurnik: A Polish site with some basic board games (Checkers, Reversi?, a Scrabble? variant) but some unusual card games (including Skat? and Barbu?).
• LittleGolem: Play some standard AbstractStrategyGame``s via a Web interface (Go, Chess, Reversi?), plus Dvonn?, Twixt?, Hex?, and Amazons?. Promises a new game will be added about once a month.
• Lords of Conquest: The old Eon game Borderlands? was converted to a computer game in the mid-to-late 1980s. This is an improved online version of the same game, with the same name. Requires Java. (I couldn't even find this one in Google! Maybe now it will show up.)
• Ludagora: This is a French gaming site, so keep an online language tool (or your own brain) handy. It offers the games Hare_and_Tortoise?, Medina?, Set, and Crazy_Circus?.
• The Maobot: Play a cut-down version of Mao against a robotic Javascript opponent.
• Nation States is an interesting exercise, while not really a game per se.
• Play.Chessvariants.com: "The best thing about Chess Variants is being able to play them. This website, a subdomain of The Chess Variant Pages, is here to help you do just that. From this site, you can play games by email, you can play games on-line, and you can download games to play against your computer off-line. You can also buy sets and books or learn how to make your own sets."
• QUB: The Q Universal Boardgame: A "virtual tabletop" engine like CyberBoard and Thoth, but this time for GNU/Linux. (The 'Q' comes from the name of the graphics engine used to program it, Qt.) Comes with several premade "gamesets", including ones for Hex?, BattleTech?, generic SF wargames, and generic dungeon crawls.
• Richard's PBeM Server: Has a metric ton of PBEM games, mostly AbstractStrategyGame``s, including some new and rare ones. Highly recommended.
• RicochetRobot.com: where you can play, what else, Ricochet_Robot? (which as of May 2003 has never yet hit the tables at Seattle Cosmic, but is a good game nonetheless).
• Sliding Block Puzzle Page: A wonderful collection of real-world sliding block puzzles ported to Java. (Compare Easy_Slider? or the 15_Puzzle?). Remember, a puzzle is just a solitaire game...
• Spellcast: A Un*x program for playing the paper-and-pencil-and-hands game Waving_Hands? (a.k.a. Spellbinder). Very popular for a while at some universities. It would be fun to play the live version at Seattle Cosmic some night.
• Stan's Gamebox Online: Play Taj_Mahal? and Wolfgang Kramer's game Tycoon? online gratis. Requires Java.
• Thomas Rosanski: Paris,_Paris?, Flaschenteufel?, Kardinal_&_K�nig?, 6_Nimmt!?, and more. 6 Nimmt! only lets you play one hand at a time, and makes some decisions for you (such as which row to take when you're forced to), but good practice! There is also a long list (over 90) online games which someone should import to this wiki page... 6 Nimmt!
• Thoth Engine: Another "virtual tabletop" bookkeeping engine like CyberBoard?. MS-Windows only.
• Vinci Online: Play Vinci? online. German-language site.
• Warlocks: Browser-based version of FiretopMountain?/WavingHands?.
• Wizard Card Game Community Forums: At least one Seattle Cosmic member will be glad to know you can play Wizard online... if you have a Wintendo, er, MS-Windows computer, that is.
• Zillions of Games: The marketing material describes this program as "an exciting game package for Windows that uses an absolutely unique 'universal gaming engine' technology, allowing you to play nearly any abstract board game or puzzle in the world". That's not too far off, although the AI has trouble with ConnectionGame?``s like Hex? and Trax?. Comes with about 350 games, puzzles, and variants built in, with about 850 other games (as of May 2003) contributed for download by a thriving user community. MS-Windows application, but will run under Wine on GNU/Linux (haven't got network play yet, though). Free (as in beer) demo download, which you can convert instantly 24/7 to the full program for $25. Apart from the fact that it's not free (as in freedom), it is hard to praise this application highly enough.