Add-On Games in Second Life

The game is well written, easy to use, and has an awesome, snarky sense of humor. And it's well designed for Second Life play, because you can turn off the sounds and minimize the HUD if you just want it running in the background while you shop.

If you search for "Tiny Empires" and you'll find two places to buy the game, along with a great meeting area to work on stealing your friends loyal subjects. We will, as always, have the SLURLs on the Web site ( slurl.com/secondlife/Kitster/144/41/53 ).

The full game is 500 lindens, but you can get the trial game for free and play until you get your first ten acres of land. And if you're signed up with On-Rez it's item number 335630 (shop.onrez.com/item/335630).

Caligari HUD Games

If you're looking for a more personal game experience, check out the Caligari HUD Games pack. This pack sells for 1000 lindens and comes with eight attachable solitaire games, including sudoku, hangman, mine sweeper, and solitaire games inspired by favorites like Yahtzee and Mastermind *.

Unfortunately the version I received didn't come with any instructions, but most of the games are user-friendly enough to figure out within a few minutes. Although Tiny Empires might be considered an active game experience, these are much more passive. They're the sort of games that you can pick up and fiddle with while you're waiting for a concert to start or pretending to be interested in shopping for prim furniture with your partner.

I keep one of these up at all times now, especially when I'm involved in an extended IM session. Check the Web site for the SLURL for the store (slurl.com/secondlife/Sami/9/83/36).