Are you wasting precious time and computing resources by fooling around with some silly computer game when you could be a productive member of society? Good for you. Game breaks keep you rested and ready to dive back into the rat race.

I’m not into blood-and-gore games, but I dio like the challenge of Tetris-like puzzles. Wherever I have an internet connection, Ica visit Neave Games to play online versions of classic games remarkably similar to Tetris and Space Invaders, lovingly re-created by site author and programmer Paul Neave using Macromedia’s flash animation. Or download Neave’s games to play even when disconnected from the network umbilicus. None of the games cost you a dime; they do require Macromedia’s free Flash Player.

Not all Flash games are trapped in the 1980′s however, Shockwave.com’s site brims with action and sports games, word games, fast-paced puzzles such as the Equilibria matching game and strategy classics such as chess and mah-jongg. Many of the diversions are also free to download, although some have built-in time limits and advertisements, and others omit higher levels. The company’s downloadable games (most priced from $10 to $25) and monthly subscriptions to the site’s Gameblast.com service (from $10 a month to $60 a year) let you bypass these limitations. Still, you can play for days at Shockwave.com for free without running out of time or levels