Most online casinos offer the entire variety of games which you find in a normal casino – slot machines, roulette, various card games, craps, etc. Some online casinos even offer multiplayer games where instead of playing against a computer you play with other human players on the table (as you would in a real casino). Typically, a Casino may ask you to install a software on your computer (which is normal for a lot of the casinos as they use this software to run the games on your computer). Some casinos simply work in the browser using Flash technologies.

If you are a seasoned player, then you can usually just dive right in. But if you are a rank newbie, then you might want to either stick to something simple like the slot machines, or if you really want to make money instead of having fun, there are many strategies to follow that can increase your probability of making money (online or offline in a real casino). Search the Internet for topics such as “making money with an online casino”, or similar. Watch the videos and read the tutorials; try out several strategies using small amounts of wager before committing big money. However, at the end of the day remember that these are still games of chance, and with that there is always a chance of losing no matter what. So, try to have fun while playing.

Typically, most online casinos offer various signup bonuses and loyalty rewards for sticking around on their website. There are several rules, however, which govern the uses of such bonuses to ensure that players are not just cheating by signing up, taking bonuses, and then trying to withdraw away.

On the flip side of things, one should watch out for several things before starting to play online. One thing that you should know is whether this is permissible in your country – if not, you can get in trouble by going to online casinos in your country. You can visit this topic on Wikipedia to see a discussion about the legality of online casino gaming in your country. But remember, the Wikipedia is not a source of legal advice, so double check before engaging. The other thing to watch out for is that some casinos are not honest themselves. They can engage in various mechanisms to cheat the player. Casinos have been known to use unfair game algorithms, to delay payouts for player’s winnings, or change terms and conditions of playing after the player has joined. So, before you decide to spend money on an online casino, do search the Internet for its reputation. Usually, players who have been burned by a casino will post about it on Internet forums and blogs, and so you should scout before you spend.

So log on, and start playing.

The game developers are releasing this version tomorrow (Sep 9, 2009), and here is the link to the website: http://www.monopolycitystreets.com/While not too much detail is available for the game today, it is already known that you will play the game using Google Maps, and will literally be able to buy anything in the world. Some of the game play details are available here and there, here’s what I came across.

You will get a starting set of $3 million (play money of course), and will be able to buy properties such as hotels, houses, stadiums, high rises, etc. And depending on the property, you will receive rent (up to $100 million a day for a sky scraper). Prices will be a function of the location. And in true Monopoly spirit, you will be able to sabotage other players by using Monopoly Chance cards.

I am very excited to start playing this game.

Oh by the way, before you get carried away. This is the Onion News Network, which means its fake news. Heh heh.

Kongregate has over 5000 games (and new ones being added frequently) which you can play. Almost anyone can create a game and publish it on their site. Any money Kongregate makes through that game (from advertising) is shared with the game author. And since games which are rated highly by the users are played more, there is a big incentive for developers to put good games out there.

The site keeps things interesting by hosting gaming challenges which ask you to achieve certain levels in certain games. And there is a points systems through which you raise your level and earn badges by playing games (those games which integrate with Kongregate API).

You get points by completing games which have badges associated with them. You also get points for rating games, which is nice and provides a motivator for players to rate the games. Your points add up to increase your levels. At the time of writing this I am on Level 5. Right now, the levels are only used for bragging rights. Even winning the challenges have no particular benefit, but there may be some in the future. They have all types of games: shooters, strategy, RPG, puzzles, sports, and many more.

I have found some of the games to be very interesting on this website and highly recommend it for everyone to check it out. With over 5000 games, I am sure you will find something that you will like.

The main reason for why this is the best right now? It takes one click to start your favorite game from this site. Most flash games sites have navigation, advertisements, and all sorts of other distractions which slow you down in your quest to waste… err.. pass your time. Not this one, and so without further ado, I introduce you to

Friv.com is basically a large collection of icons (200 of them) each one of which instantly launches a game. So what are you waiting for, time is passing away; go there and click.

Flickr has (re)launched a decently interesting game called the Game NeverEnding or GNE. All you need is your Flickr account to login and start playing. It is meant to be a MMOG (Massively Multiplayer Online Game) however at the time I tried it out, there were only 90 players playing (a situation which should change, as the game seems interesting).

The game involves moving around from town to town and collecting objects. Objects are interacted with in various ways (you can eat them, give them, fire them, play with them, and many more things). You can visit building in town for buying and selling objects. You can buy a house.

Although the game is interesting at this stage with items appearing randomly at locations and available for you to pick up. However, as more and more people play this game, there will be a big rush for picking up items as soon as they appear. That may take the fun out the game and so we will have to wait and see if Flickr has a plan to handle that or whether it will become boring.

Another thing is that the site is pretty fast. But like I said, there were only 80 users online. So we don’t know how that will play out in the long run.

Have fun playing.

Of course, like I said, the service is in Beta.

Here’s an overview of my experience with the service so far (the way it is right now, it’s got nowhere to go but up… so it should improve):

• There were no players online in any of the games I tried to play (sudoku, video poker, and bingo). I guess, that will change, but I wish that they would put some dummy players till the site takes off.
• The site keeps losing my session. I had to login at least 20 times in 10 minutes. Almost every time I clicked on one of the links on the left hand navigation bar, it would ask me to login again.
• The navigation is broken. I tried playing Sudoku by clicking on the link on the left navigation bar. That shows the game description page with a “Play Now” button on it. If you click that button, it takes you to the MyTopia home screen and asks you to login (again). The only way to start it is through the Club House which you can access from the MyTopia home screen.
• Finally, they made me create an avatar when I signed up. The avatar that showed after I logged in was completely different from the one I created and saved.

Of course, there are some good things as well. There is no left navigation bar if you access the app from Facebook. The UI is nice and the screens look good for the games (see screen shots below). Hopefully, this site will become much more interesting as time goes on.

Screen shots (click images to see larger versions):

The Home Screen – I got tired of looking at the “Click to Login” message again and again.

Video Poker - I could play finally because there was 1 person online.