EasyBits Go offers both Skype games and standalone games for free for you to enjoy. Are they worth downloading?

First, a word on Skype if you haven't used it yet. Skype is a free software package that lets you text chat and video chat with anyone anywhere in the world. There are already many free text chat applications, of course, like AIM and Yahoo. However, Skype takes it one step further. If you have a webcam, you can have free video and audio conversations with your friends and family as long as you have a web connection.

It's great fun just to talk - but what if you want to play games? This is where EasyBits Go comes in. Their free software lets you play checkers, chess, and other games interactively with your Skype friends. So that way you can chat with your dad while you play Checkers with him, or talk with your boyfriend while you beat him in Tetris.

The selection of games are fairly straightforward. Yes, there are checkers and chess and backgammon, as well as mahjongg and a Tetris clone called Falling Bricks. The interface clearly indicates which games are for one player and which are multiplayer. The games themselves are easy to play and the graphics are fairly good.

If I have a complaint, it's that I have a fairly large monitor and the games seem stuck in a tiny size. There's a great deal of blank space on all sides of my games as I squint at the Mah Jongg tiles and try to distinguish which is which. They should easily be able to scale their games to match the monitor size and resolution of the player.

Really, though, you're getting a bunch of free games to play on your own, and games set up to let you play with your Skype friends. Until now I'd log into Facebook with my Dad and we'd play Scrabble together on Facebook while talking on Skype. This interface means our game selection expands greatly and we don't have to be on Facebook while we do it.

If you're a Skype fan, it's well worth looking into. Even if you just want some free games to try out, I'd suggest it as well.