101 Fantastic Freebies

Games

Splume (service)
When you launch a green ball across the screen onto a red or blue ball in this instantly likable online game, the incompatible balls give each other the stink eye. Attach a green to another green, however, and the balls share a gaze of adoration. Add in imaginative level designs and splooshy sound effects, and you have an engaging time sink.

Excit (service)
A fun spreadsheet. No, really. In this online game you lead a sprightly cross-hair cursor to the exit--without hurtling it off the edge of the spreadsheet game board--in order to advance to the next, progressively harder level. And each level of success you achieve provides a password you can use later to restart where you left off.

Command & Conquer Gold (download)
Electronic Arts released the classic Command & Conquer Tiberian Dawn real-time strategy hit as a free download for the game's twelfth anniversary. To install the game, first burn the downloadable .iso files to a CD or access them with a free utility such as Virtual CloneDrive. Then follow the instructions.

Airport Security (service)
Pull an ever-changing list of prohibited items--canned cheese, a worn shirt, candy bars--from passengers' bodies and luggage quickly enough to keep the line moving in this online Shockwave game.

Dungeon Runners (download)
Free players in this tongue-in-cheek, Diablo-esque MMOG (massively multiplayer online game) can't use the full range of items available to paid-subscription players, but they can still have a great time romping through the dungeons and building their own characters. Five dollars a month gets you the whole shebang.

Little Fighter 2 (download)
Up to four people on the same computer, or up to eight in a network, can battle it out with fists, flung items and fireballs, and other flashy special moves in this anime-like, manic fighting game.

Disaffected (download)
This satirical "anti-advergame," in which players help customers in a dysfunctional FedEx Kinko's, takes a swipe at the genre of games meant to market a company or product.

Freeciv (download)
If talk of Sid Meier's classic game Civilization II evokes fond memories of hours lost to "Just one more turn," try this excellent free clone, which supports up to 30 network players and a host of optional mods for new sounds, rules, and nations.

flOw (download)
Everyone wants to be an aquatic worm-creature, lazily chewing on microorganisms and evolving into something completely different, don't they? Grab a copy and get transformed.