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 Mana ...

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 W ...

, 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 applets or quick Flash 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. ''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 gaming website he sold to Yahoo! in 1997 ...

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 PO * Bingo PO * Catan D * 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 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 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 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 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 Blackjack (formerly Black Jack and Vingt-Un) is a casino banking game. The most widely played casino banking game in the world, it uses decks of 52 cards and descends from a global family of casino banking games known as Twenty-One. This fam ...

PO * Canasta 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 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 for ...

PO * Poker Superstars II D, PO *Pyramid S *Pyramids PO, M * Sheepshead PO *Solitaire 13 D, PO *

Spades SPAdes (St. Petersburg genome assembler) is a genome assembly algorithm which was designed for single cell and multi-cells bacterial data sets. Therefore, it might not be suitable for large genomes projects. SPAdes works with Ion Torrent, PacB ...

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 originally called ''Puck Man'' in Japan, is a 1980 maze action video game developed and released by Namco for arcades. In North America, the game was released by Midway Manufacturing as part of its licensing agreement with Namco America. Th ...

D * Pool PO *

TextTwist Jumble is a word puzzle with a clue, a drawing illustrating the clue, and a set of words, each of which is “jumbled” by scrambling its letters. A solver reconstructs the words, and then arranges letters at marked positions in the words to sp ...

D, PO * Tradewinds D * Tradewinds 2 D, PO * Tradewinds Legends D, PO *

Word Racer 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! Graffiti 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 Half Man Half Biscuit are an English rock band, formed in 1984 in Birkenhead, Merseyside. Known for their satirical, sardonic, and sometimes surreal songs, the band comprises lead singer and guitarist Nigel Blackwell, bassist and singer Neil ...

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.

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 A game is a structured form of play, usually undertaken for entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an educational tool. Many games are also considered to be work (such as professional players of spectator sports or games) or art (suc ...

Yahoo! Games