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Technically, you can play the heck out of these games and never pay a cent, but since karma is a boomerang, we urge you to ante up. Just download the executable files, check out the games, and then follow the directions to deliver some dough to the developer when the trial period is up.

Pixelus Deluxe

www.popcap.com

Our latest addiction from the lord of all things shareware is Pixelus Deluxe, a tile-shooting puzzler that has you restoring colorful ancient Greek mosaics. It’s a little hard to describe, but good luck stopping once you start this or any PopCap game.

Dungeon Scroll

www.rtsoft.com/dscroll/index.shtml

Filling a void in the lives of role-playing word fetishists the world over, Dungeon Scroll has you using Scrabble-style tiles to build words to get points that damage a parade of traditional dungeon dwellers. Special tiles add power to your “spells” to help you work your way deeper into the dungeon.

Yohoho! Puzzle Pirates

www.puzzlepirates.com

It’s no surprise that the Tetris, Bejeweled, etc. clones work in a Web environment; what’s surprising is how they’re woven into this charming and surprisingly deep puzzle-based pirate MMO.

Wik and the Fable of Souls

www.wikgame.com

More a cousin of Gollum than a cuddly hero, Wik bounds through the tangled woods of this platformer, snaring grubs with his long sticky tongue and spitting them out at his pal Slotham. This game treats us to the best graphics of any shareware title we’ve seen.

Alien Shooter

www.sigma-team.net

We now officially give up lamenting the end of the Crusader franchise. Why? Because of Alien Shooter, a blood-soaked little killing machine that captures the nonstop lethality of our all-time favorite third-person action game.

Air Strike 3D: Operation WAT and Air Strike II

www.divogames.com

Air Strike 3D: Operation WAT is little more than a full-on arcade helicopter rail shooter—but it’s an outstanding full-on arcade helicopter rail shooter.

Flatspace

www.lostinflatspace.com

In Flatspace’s universe, the universe is, uh-huh, flat, not 3D, so all your hyperspace travel plays out on a vast plane. This is no interstellar cakewalk, but the rewards are there for the gamers who stick with it.

Dr. Blob’s Organism

www.digital-eel.com

Quite possibly the world’s first petri-dish shooter, Dr. Blob’s Organism is a fun little shooter with a novel twist, some decent music, and a slew of power-ups.

3D Morris

www.lobstersoft.com/3dmorris

Between Checkers and Go lurks 3D Morris, a deceptively challenging little tile game with some crackerjack A.I. Every time a competitor lines up three pieces on the oddly designed board, his opponent loses a tile. The last man standing wins. Simple to learn, hard to master, and tough to stop playing.

Plummit

www.purplenose.com

Reminiscent of Pipe Dream, Plummit tasks players with laying plumbing pipes from a tap to a sink. The gameplay and graphics are pretty basic, but the challenges aren’t—even the tutorials for this action-puzzler can cause you trouble.

Hamsterball

www.raptisoft.com

Until someone invents Hamsterball Soccer, simple Hamsterball will have to do. Guiding the hamster-powered orb through the imaginatively laid out levels is a lot harder—and more fun—than it looks.

Bursting Bubbles

www.bigfishgames.com

The Big Fish Games website has lots of shareware games available for download, but there’s something hypnotic about this Bejeweled-style action-puzzler that has you popping multicolored bubbles.

Crazy Lunch

www.sigma-team.net

All you have to do is protect your lunch from being stolen by little gremlins. All you do is click on them—like mad. Yeah, it’s incredibly simple, and you know what? It’s also way more fun than it should be.

Gunner 2

www.warlockstudios.com

Gunner 2 is like the antiaircraft and tail-gunner sections of Call of Duty: United Offensive, without the sexy graphics. You man a variety of big guns on land, sea, and air, protecting your allies from enemy aircraft.

Aerial Antics

www.leadfootproductions.com

In the future, we will all commute to work with personal jetpacks. In the meantime, we’ll have to settle for Aerial Antics. Do you have what it takes to be an aerial circus performer in the future?

Gish

http://www.garagegames.com/pg/browse.php

One seriously unique and fun game, this take on the 2D side-scroller has players guiding an amoebalike being through an assortment of underground environments.

Think Tanks

www.bravetree.com

A mind is a terrible thing to waste. So why not perform a little psychosurgery and jam a brain inside a tank?

Chain Reaction

www.garagegames.com/pg/browse.php

Satisfy your inner Rube Goldberg with Chain Reaction, a 3D reimagining of the classic Incredible Machine. Your job is to move a little monster on a cart from point A to point Z via convoluted jerry-rigged machines using basketballs, fans, gravity, monsters in boxes, and more.

Cleavage 3D

www.bulltwang.com

When the intergalactic aliens come to enslave and devour mankind, someone is sure to cry out in anguish, “Why?” This is why. Digital big-breasted, scantily clad, sword-fighting amazons. Finally, gratuitous cleavage and bloody decapitation in one embarrassing package. Suddenly, Bikini Karate Babes seems almost respectable.

Magic: The Gathering Online

www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=magic/magiconline

This scaled-down version of the popular card game lets you play in simple matches, tournaments, and multiplayer games, albeit with a fairly limited deck. New virtual cards are available at real-world, real-card prices.

Star Chamber

www.starchamber.net

Want to play a collectible card game but have an aversion to elves? Star Chamber offers a unique spin on the genre.

Plasmaworm

www.digital-eel.com

Guide your plodding annelid through a convoluted playfield, gobbling up objects like French horns, kittens, and gamepads as you go. Every item eaten slaps some more proglottids onto the worm, making it harder to avoid touching the lethal walls.

Sea3D

http://retrospec.sgn.net

Have a shootout with enemy robots, then interface with them in order to gain their upgrades. Take care, though—with so many foes aiming at you, it’s hard not to get caught in the crossfire.

President Forever

www.80soft.com/index.htm

Want to rewrite/re-create history? Look no further than President Forever, a deceptively deep strategy game that lets you campaign for the highest office in the country. Relive the 2004 election or participate in great campaigns of the past.