The last 20 years and the revolution of the internet and the computers has shaped tremendously the games kids have been playing. Most games until the 80s used to take place outdoors as kids’ activities were more physical and where consisting mainly of sports.

Whether the change has been for good or not is a question that only the future sociologists will manage to answer. Older generations who didn’t have the chance to be part of the games revolution are quite harsh about today’s kids main or sole activity with their main argument being that all those games do not stimulate nothing else than the brain as the body remains idle!

In my mind, because today’s kids are exposed to such a vast amount of information since the advent of the internet, they have more general knowledge compared to my generation that information was based on the TV and the newspapers.

Looking at those types of play purely from an emotional and creative point of view it can be argued that both are equally important as the achieve the same end results but through different means. As an example I will recall one of my favourite activities when I was a kid which was called ‘exploration’. The game was about locating an dilapidated residential building or a warehouse, break into it and try to get in every single room in order to collect as many strange and unusual objects as possible.

One of the greatest memories I have from my childhood is the day we entered that abandoned massive warehouse which used to belong to a electrical components entrepreneur who’s business had gone into liquidation. The amount of weird objects we had never seen before was incredible: from cable ties to circuit breakers, everything seemed really extraordinary for our minds.

Similarly, playing today a typical adventure game on a computer can lead to similar emotions if say; the main character is entering a similar building and is looking around for something interesting. In both cases, adrenaline is floating massively and the emotions are equal. Being lucky enough to belong to that transitional generation where traditional and computer games were equally important I can confess that both types of games were giving me the same ‘high’. Because of all the aforementioned reasons I am against all adults who disprove computer games as useless and dangerous just because the physical element is missing.

We all know Sudoku, monopoly and even chess, but have you heard of Mahjong? mahjong is maybe one of the most played games around the Internet, yet many people never heard or played it.

So what is Mahjong?The classic Mahjong board game is mainly designed for four players and was invented in china. It was called maque, which means sparrow in Chinese. However, most Chinese now call the game majiang.

Even though the game comes from China and considered very popular in the far east, thanks to the online world and especially the online games sites, it is rapidly penetrating the western markets.

Mahjong is a game that consists of many features- Strategy, skill and also calculation skills, but like many board games, luck is of the essence.In the original Mahjong game, each player is dealt either 13 or 16 tiles in a hand, depending on the game version.  On their turn, players draw a tile and discard one, with the goal of making four or five melds and one pair, or head (a mahjong game phrase). Winning comes ,on the draw, by drawing a new or discarded tile that completes the hand. Thus, a winning hand actually contains 14 or 17 tiles.

Mahjong is another example of a great board game, like many that appear lately. Lots of classic games experts feared that the rise of the Internet will decrease the love of the classic board games we used to play, like Checkers, chess etc. but it seems not only those games didn’t suffer a reduction in popularity, on the contrary, their popularity thrive as many of them are using the Internet platform to be distributed all around the world.

Well, you must be asking yourself where can I enjoy mahjong if I don’t live in the far east?  The answer is surprisingly convenient, you can play mahjong anywhere, anytime, even now! Just log into the Internet and search for this phrases- Mahjong, mahjongg and mah jong , each answer will award you with a nice leisure time activity game.

When watching the development of the free online games, no doubt this genre is considered one of the most interesting online niche. Many new flash games are out there with new graphics new abilities, but the most interesting insight is the return to the classic games.
The more sophisticated games become, the bigger demand for classic ones rises. The gamers gamers demand classic and retro games and we can clearly see the increase in sites that specialize in those kind of games.
There are many types of free online games available on the internet to and attract many gamers but no doubt that the retro and classic games are very hot niche lately.
Another interesting niche that is rising is the option to download free games at the leisure of your house without any hassle or payment.
The trend of getting back to the 70’s and 80’s is not limited to online games only, so it was only a matter of time until the free games industry will dedicate its creative mind to this genre.
While people got tired of defense games and other shooters , the classic games offer the a great gaming experience and of course many memories.
Gamers from all ages can relate to this niche, mainly because of their user friendly and easy control. Most of them don’t have any tutorials, it’s just plug and play, good old fashioned style.
Arcade online games come in many niches – Platform games, racing games, platform games and even puzzle games, whatever you like classic games have it.
Back in the days it was very hard to trace those lovable games, but today’s online world offers all the good old classics, like Tetris, sonic, pacman, mario and even pearls like zool from the Amiga 1200.
As we watch the rise of the classics, many sites offer these games and many known big sites feature special pages to this niche.
When browsing your favorite free games site just search for the classic games category and you will enjoy a fun, challenging blast to the past, good old fashioned style!