The antidote to an increasingly expensive habit – the best in free web games.

Gaming is an expensive hobby. If you can get past the hardware, which has seen significant price hikes in recent years, game prices have been rising ($60 is the new $50, apparently). Add in the essential accessories, the requisite services, etc. and you have a pastime that is totally brutal on the wallet.

Luckily, there is a great alternative for the poor and the cheap among us. Free games are all over the web, and good, bad, or just ugly, they’re free for the taking. Fortunately, there are some excellent titles, developed by creative indie gamemakers that can hang with their console and commercial PC big brothers. We’ve rounded up some of the best and brightest, from shooters to RPGs to wacky one screen flash titles, ensuring that you’ll never be without a quality gaming fix, so long as there’s a screen in front of you.

10. Last Scenario 

Starting the list is this quality homebrew RPG. Last Scenario is seriously meaty game with enough stats, character building, and post-modern twisty storytelling to keep you interested for weeks. The game boasts a very cool hand drawn art style, a deep spell card combat system, and even some cool minigames. This title is great for anyone looking for a nice J-RPG style fix with a decidedly indie story.

9. Orisinal

The Ultimate in casual games (games plural) Orisinal is a collection of simple, pastel colored flash minigames. The music and graphics are simple and pretty, and the gameplay is perfect for quick snatches, or long meandering session. Especially cool are Hungry Spiders, Meteos-meets-pinball puzzler Bauns,  the shooter-y V Force, and the soothingly addictive Fishball. Orisinal is ideal for long, boring stretches at work.

8. Yeti Sports 

Who knew whacking penguins with a club could be so much fun? Yeti Sports is a collection of crazy wildlife abusing minigames, involving everything from throwing snowballs to launch penguins onto a dartboard to catching big waves yeti style and swinging through jungles on vines. It’s simple, addictive, and adorably subversive.