Yahoo! Games was a section of the

Yahoo! Yahoo! (, styled yahoo''!'' in its logo) is an American web services provider. It is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California and operated by the namesake company Yahoo Inc., which is 90% owned by investment funds managed by Apollo Global Manage ...

website A website (also written as a web site) is a collection of web pages and related content that is identified by a common domain name and published on at least one web server. Examples of notable websites are Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Wi ...

, launched on March 31, 1998, in which Yahoo! users could play games either with other users or by themselves. The majority of Yahoo! Games was closed down on March 31, 2014 and the balance was closed on February 9, 2016. Yahoo! announced that "changes in supporting technologies and increased security requirements for our own Yahoo! web pages, made it impossible to keep the games running safely and securely". It was then announced by Yahoo! that its Games section would be dissolved completely on May 13, 2016. However, the Yahoo! Games service is still available on

Yahoo! Japan is a Japanese internet company originally formed as a joint venture between the American internet company Yahoo! (later divested by Verizon into Altaba) and the Japanese company SoftBank. It is headquartered at Kioi Tower in the Tokyo Garden Te ...

, along with

Yahoo! Auctions Yahoo! Auctions is a service set up by the online search giant Yahoo! in 1998 to compete against eBay. There are currently only two localizations of the service active iTaiwananJapan Yahoo! has already discontinued the service in the United State ...

Features

The games on the web site were typically

Java applet Java applets were small applications written in the Java programming language, or another programming language that compiles to Java bytecode, and delivered to users in the form of Java bytecode. The user launched the Java applet from a ...

s or quick

Flash Flash, flashes, or FLASH may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional aliases * Flash (DC Comics character), several DC Comics superheroes with super speed: ** Flash (Barry Allen) ** Flash (Jay Garrick) ** Wally West, the first Kid F ...

games, although some titles required a local download. Many of the games that required a download contained TryMedia Adware. Yahoo! Games also included Yahoo! Video Games, which provides news, previews, and reviews of currently available or upcoming First Party games–and Yahoo! Games on Demand–which provided free demos and full-size downloads of full PC games for a charge. The site featured an "''All Star''" system for users, in which a user could pay to get an ''All Star'' username. ''All Star'' users were able to get extra privileges on Yahoo! Games sites such as disabling

pop-up ads Pop-up ads or pop-ups are forms of online advertising on the World Wide Web. A pop-up is a graphical user interface (GUI) display area, usually a small window, that suddenly appears ("pops up") in the foreground of the visual interface. The pop-u ...

. ''All Star'' users did not have playable games without downloading. Yahoo! Games was built on Yahoo!'s acquisition of ClassicGames.com (created by Internet entrepreneur

Joel Comm Joel Comm (born May 5, 1964) is an American author and Internet marketer. Comm is the CEO of InfoMedia, a social media consulting company. Comm is the founder of ClassicGames, a family-friendly multiplayer game, multiplayer gaming website he sold ...

and programmer Eron Jokipii) in 1997. The last used Yahoo! Video Games section of the site was formerly known as

Games Domain Games Domain was a video game website founded by Dave Stanworth and based in Birmingham, UK. In the late 1990s, it was at one time mirrored in seven countries and had a tumultuous history of being purchased by different corporations over its 11-y ...

, from back when Yahoo! acquired the web site in 2003. As of May 14, 2016, Yahoo! Games held over 1,400 games, most of which were developed externally.

Games

Board games

Playable online (PO), Downloadable (D), Mobile (M), Skill (S) *

Backgammon Backgammon is a two-player board game played with counters and dice on tables boards. It is the most widespread Western member of the large family of tables games, whose ancestors date back nearly 5,000 years to the regions of Mesopotamia and Pe ...

PO *

Bingo Bingo or B-I-N-G-O may refer to: Arts and entertainment Gaming * Bingo, a game using a printed card of numbers ** Bingo (British version), a game using a printed card of 15 numbers on three lines; most commonly played in the UK and Ireland ** Bi ...

PO *

Catan ''Catan'', previously known as ''The Settlers of Catan'' or simply ''Settlers'', is a multiplayer board game designed by Klaus Teuber. It was first published in 1995 in Germany by Franckh-Kosmos Verlag (Kosmos) as ''Die Siedler von Catan''. P ...

D *

Checkers Checkers (American English), also known as draughts (; British English), is a group of strategy board games for two players which involve diagonal moves of uniform game pieces and mandatory captures by jumping over opponent pieces. Checkers ...

PO *

Chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to dist ...

PO *Chessmaster Challenge D *Chester S * Chinese Checkers PO *

Dominos Dominoes is a family of tile-based games played with gaming pieces, commonly known as dominoes. Each domino is a rectangular tile, usually with a line dividing its face into two square ''ends''. Each end is marked with a number of spots (also ca ...

PO, M *

Dots Directly observed treatment, short-course (DOTS, also known as TB-DOTS) is the name given to the tuberculosis (TB) control strategy recommended by the World Health Organization. According to WHO, "The most cost-effective way to stop the spread of T ...

PO *Emperor's Moh Jong D * Go PO *JigWords D, PO *Jigsaw: Great Art D *Jigsaw: Landscapes D *Jigsaw: Medley D *Jigsaw: Pet D *Car Games *Literati PO *Luxor Mahjong D *

Mah Jong Mahjong or mah-jongg (English pronunciation: ) is a tile-based game that was developed in the 19th century in China and has spread throughout the world since the early 20th century. It is commonly played by four players (with some three-play ...

PO *Mah Jong Adventures D *Mah Jong Garden D *Mah Jong Jade Expedition D *Mah Jong Medly D, PO *Mah Jong Towers Eternity D, PO *Mah-Jomino D *Mahjong Escape D, PO *Mahjong Match D *Mahjong Treasure S *Mahjong Fortuna S *Midas Mahjong S *Monopoly 3 D *Naval Command PO *Poker Pop D, PO *

Reversi Reversi is a strategy board game for two players, played on an 8×8 uncheckered board. It was invented in 1883. Othello, a variant with a fixed initial setup of the board, was patented in 1971. Basics There are sixty-four identical game pieces ...

PO *Saints and Sinners Bingo D, PO *Sudoko: Latin Squares D *Super Mah Jong D *Word Slinger D Up until March 2014, Yahoo! Games included a popular Internet chess server. Ten years earlier, in 2004,

James Eade James V. Eade (born March 23, 1957) is an American chess master, chess administrator, chess tournament organizer, and chess book publisher. He holds the title of FIDE Master. He is best known for the books ''Chess for Dummies'' (1996) and ''The C ...

had recommended Yahoo! Chess as the best of Internet chess, writing that "action is to be found there at all times".Eade, James (2004). ''The Chess Player's Bible: Illustrated Strategies for Staying Ahead of the Game''. Yahoo! Chess differed from more contemporary Internet chess servers in its complete lack of oversight regarding user conduct or chess engine use.

Card games

Playable online (PO), Downloadable (D), Mobile (M), Skill (S) *Addiction Solitaire D, PO *Aloha Solitaire D, PO *Aloha TriPeaks D, PO *Ancient 4 in 1 GamePak D *Ancient Hearts and Spades D *Ancient Tri-Jong D *Ancient Tripeaks D * Blackjack PO *

Canasta Canasta (; Spanish for "basket") is a card game of the rummy family of games believed to be a variant of 500 Rum. Although many variations exist for two, three, five or six players, it is most commonly played by four in two partnerships with tw ...

PO *

Contract Bridge Contract bridge, or simply bridge, is a trick-taking card game using a standard 52-card deck. In its basic format, it is played by four players in two competing partnerships, with partners sitting opposite each other around a table. Millions ...

PO *

Cribbage Cribbage, or crib, is a card game, traditionally for two players, that involves playing and grouping cards in combinations which gain points. It can be adapted for three or four players. Cribbage has several distinctive features: the cribbag ...

PO *Deuces Wild Video Poker PO *Double Down Video Poker PO *

Euchre Euchre or eucre () is a trick-taking card game commonly played in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Great Britain, and the United States. It is played with a deck of 24, 28, or 32 standard playing cards. Normally there are four players, two o ...

PO *Five Card Deluxe D, PO *Freecell Solitaire D PO * Gin PO *

Go Fish Go Fish or Fish is a card game usually played by two to five players,
although it can be played wi ...

PO * Golf Solitaire D, PO * Hearts PO, M * Hold 'Em Poker PO *Honey Combo S *Hotel Solitaire D * Klondike Solitaire D, PO *

Pinochle Pinochle (), also called pinocle or penuchle, is a trick-taking, Ace-Ten card game typically for two to four players and played with a 48-card deck. It is derived from the card game bezique; players score points by trick-taking and also by fo ...

PO * Poker Superstars II D, PO *Pyramid S *Pyramids PO, M * Sheepshead PO *Solitaire 13 D, PO * Spades PO *Super Solitaire D *Super Solitaire 2 D *Tornado 21 PO, M *Turbo Solitaire D, PO

Other games

Playable online (PO), Downloadable (D), Mobile (M), Skill (S) * Mushroomer PO * Pac-Man D *

Pool Pool may refer to: Water pool * Swimming pool, usually an artificial structure containing a large body of water intended for swimming * Reflecting pool, a shallow pool designed to reflect a structure and its surroundings * Tide pool, a rocky po ...

PO * TextTwist D, PO *

Tradewinds The trade winds or easterlies are the permanent east-to-west prevailing winds that flow in the Earth's equatorial region. The trade winds blow mainly from the northeast in the Northern Hemisphere and from the southeast in the Southern Hemisph ...

D * Tradewinds 2 D, PO * Tradewinds Legends D, PO * Word Racer PO *

Yahoo! Graffiti Yahoo! Games was a section of the Yahoo! website, launched on March 31, 1998, in which Yahoo! users could play games either with other users or by themselves. The majority of Yahoo! Games was closed down on March 31, 2014 and the balance was clos ...

PO * Yahoo! Towers PO * Treasure Hunt 2D, PO

In popular culture

Yahoo! Chess was the subject of a song by the British rock band Half Man Half Biscuit on their 2008 album '' CSI:Ambleside''. Entitled "Bad Losers on Yahoo! Chess", the song references a fictitious player, Dennis Bell of

Torquay Torquay ( ) is a seaside town in Devon, England, part of the unitary authority area of Torbay. It lies south of the county town of Exeter and east-north-east of Plymouth, on the north of Tor Bay, adjoining the neighbouring town of Paig ...

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devo ...

, who on losing a chess game signs out from the Yahoo! Chess server "Good game, Sir, do you want another bout? But Dennis ain't replying 'cos he's just signed out." The song also references

Deep Blue Deep Blue may refer to: Film * ''Deep Blues: A Musical Pilgrimage to the Crossroads'', a 1992 documentary film about Mississippi Delta blues music * Deep Blue (2001 film), ''Deep Blue'' (2001 film), a film by Dwight H. Little * Deep Blue (2003 ...

References

Bibliography

*Eade, James (2004). ''The Chess Player's Bible: Illustrated Strategies for Staying Ahead of the Game''. * http://www.usgamer.net/articles/yahoo-games-shutting-down-in-may-ending-a-major-piece-of-game-history {{Software digital distribution platforms Browser-based game websites Internet properties disestablished in 2016 Online video game services Video game news websites Games Yahoo! Games

Features

Games

Board games

Card games

Other games

In popular culture

See also

References

Bibliography