The gift of gaming maybe easier than you think. After all, studies show that most people own a PC and many of them play casual games rather assiduously. So, you might consider the gift of subscription to one of the innumerable "casual games portals" out there on the web as your last-minute, quick and instant, click-you're-done presentable present.

Though most casual portals offer the tantalizing lure of "free online" play, that usually refers to demos or short-lived fluff designed to encourage a "full version" purchase or paid membership to unlock more features and greater catalog goodness. It's the greater goodness that makes a fine gift. The best of these include:


Pogo is probably the most solid of the casual game sites out there. Owned and operated by the mighty Electronics Arts, Pogo not only offers live chat and a sweet suite of casual freebies like Scrabble Blast, Poker and Poppit, it's also the only place you can get web-specific versions of recognized brands such as EA Sports NASCAR Web Racing and All-Star Football and EA Sports Big's SSX SnowDreams. A Club Pogo membership, which opens up access to the exclusive higher-end games as well as multiplayer/community tournaments and cash competitions, can be purchased as a gift card for US$19.99 (six month) or $39.99 (one year) at www.clubpogogift.com.

Real Arcade installs on one's PC and acts both as a stand alone casual games library and as an "aggregate" listing the library of several other casual games publishers, like PopCap, Gamehouse, and PuzzleLab. Games run the gambit of ubiquitous nuggets like Bejeweled, FreeCell and Diner Dash, more than 400 titles in all, most of which are of the time or level-limited "try before you buy" variety. You can purchase a 3 month subscription to RealArcade for US$19.99 (otherwise it's $7.99 per month) as a gift card at www.real.com/gifts with the option to email the gift certificate or, better still, print it out so you'll have something to stuff in an envelope or stocking or whatever.

GameTap is making great strides in the casual gaming sector simply by recognizing that many people take their casualness quite seriously. On top of a wealth of multimedia content, video on demand and the like, the portal boasts some 800 games in varying degrees of sophistication, from casual through way-serious. Too, many titles are peeled right out of PC and old-generation console game archives (think Battlezone on the Atari 2600, Sonic on Sega Genesis, Crazy Taxi on Dreamcast, and Tomb Raider Chronicles on Windows PC) while exclusive "GameTap Originals" offer independently developed episodic and massively multiplayer online (MMO) games to the casual masses. Plus, there's GameTap TV, an exclusive broadband video channel (with some 600 shows and counting) within the GameTap network of gaming content and entertainment, all of it on demand, all dedicated to the digital lifestyle. GameTap gift cards cost US$9.95 for one month, $24.95 for three months or $83.40 for a year at www.gametap.com/giftcard. Gift cards are emailed to the recipient on the day of your choosing. December 25th, for example.

Merry gaming!