There are a number of websites that will let you play board games and card games, like chess and Hearts, online for free with other real people. These sites will even track your wins and losses, and you can participate in tournaments.

Why? A quick online game of bridge can be a fun diversion, without the commitment required by an MMO, but with long-term tracking of your skills. You can even make new friends among the opponents you face, who are all real people like you.

Here are a few of the sites that offer online card and board games:

• Yahoo! Games — Completely free, with simple but effective graphics
• GameColony.com — Makes money off entry fees in tournaments only
• Games.com — Very large variety of games
• The House of Cards maintains a list of different sites that offer particular board and card games, so for example you can find cribbage-specific sites

The rest of this lesson will focus on Yahoo! Games, as it's fairly representative.

Go to Yahoo! Games and log in with your Yahoo! account. If you don't have one, click the "sign up" button to create a free account, then return to Yahoo! Games.

Click on the type of game you want at the top of the page (Arcade, Board, Card, etc.). Then scroll down the page to choose the game you want. I'll use the game of Go as an example.

When you choose a game, you're taken to a list of rooms. Each game has a number of rooms for players; each room may be for a particular skill level or type of game. Choose a room, and click the "Play Now" button.

This pops up a window showing the various players in that room, and the games being played by those players. Click the "JOIN" button on any game to join in, or click the "Create Table" button to generate a new, blank board that others can play you on.

Once the game's started, if it's your turn, just click on the space where you want to place a piece.