If you’re over 50, in the New England area and love snow sports, then you might want to head to New Hartford, CT on February 27 for the Connecticut Senior Winter Games.

For avid skiers there are downhill races, a giant slalom and cross-country events. There’s even a snowshoe race for those who prefer their footwear to be extra-large and sensible. Snowshoes will be provided for those signing up for this event. The games will be held at Ski Sundown.

Fees for registration vary by event from $30 for snow shoe or cross country only up to $60 to register for all four events. Lunch is provided for an additional $15.

Age classificates apply to both male and female participants. The ranges are: 50-54, 55-59, 60-64, 65-69, 70-74, 75-79, 80-84, 85-89, 90+.

For more information and to register, visit the 2007 Connecticut Senior Winter Gameswebsite.

Continuing with my series on computer games that can be downloaded from the internet, we could have a look at jigsaw puzzles. Most allow you to set the level of difficulty and also use your own photographs to create new jigsaws. But finding a free program that works well is impossible. If you want a good jigsaw program on your computer, you will have to pay a small amount at least.

My own favorite is Jigs@w Puzzle Platinum, a shareware program that gives you 60 minutes of playing time to decide whether you like it or not before buying. It costs only $19.99 and, to true jigsaw addicts, it is well worth the price.

As well as doing everything expected of such software, creating new puzzles, allowing you to decide how many pieces are in a puzzle, it has a very smooth interface and a gallery where you can hang your completed pictures. I used it for years before it ever became “platinum” and it never crashed or faltered.

The alternative to owning a program is to play online. There are many sites that provide jigsaws free of charge but they do have their drawbacks. Most use either Java or Shockwave to create the puzzle and, on my machine, that makes them jerky in operation. If you are determined to play for free, however, they are usable, at least.

The sites I looked at are:

Free Jigsaw Puzzles

Jigzone

Puzzle House

Again, you can choose how difficult you want the puzzle to be, although this means picking the picture that contains the right number of pieces. The puzzles tend to be very simple, however; probably not quite what the real jigsaw devotee wants. But, as they say, you get what you pay for!

Bingo is generally considered a social activity engaged in by ladies at church and grandmothers; and the bingo hall a place where friends meet and enjoy an exciting but safe evening that includes the possibility of winning some cash.

Bingo is technically gambling, but it’s considered “soft” gambling and people play bingo for the social aspect as much as the game itself. But with Bingo, like other social and gambling activities, going online and interactive, the possibility of problematic bingo addiction becomes more likely.

Jane Skavinsky says “I lived and breathed bingo”. She was convicted of embezzling from her employer to finance her $500 a night Bingo addiction. And a bingo-playing grandma, 61, was just convicted of running drugs to make money to cover her bingo addiction. Police found 10 bundles of marijuana in her trunk.

When does gambling become an addiction? Gamblers Anonymous has prepared a list of twenty questions to help people determine if they are gambling for fun or from an addiction.

Twenty Questions

1.Did you ever lose time from work or school due to gambling?
2.Has gambling ever made your home life unhappy?
3.Did gambling affect your reputation?
4.Have you ever felt remorse after gambling?
5.Did you ever gamble to get money with which to pay debts or otherwise solve financial difficulties?
6.Did gambling cause a decrease in your ambition or efficiency?
7.After losing did you feel you must return as soon as possible and win back your losses?
8.After a win did you have a strong urge to return and win more?
9.Did you often gamble until your last dollar was gone?
10.Did you ever borrow to finance your gambling?
11.Have you ever sold anything to finance gambling?
12.Were you reluctant to use “gambling money” for normal expenditures?
13.Did gambling make you careless of the welfare of yourself or your family?
14.Did you ever gamble longer than you had planned?
15.Have you ever gambled to escape worry or trouble?
16.Have you ever committed, or considered committing, an illegal act to finance gambling?
17.Did gambling cause you to have difficulty in sleeping?
18.Do arguments, disappointments or frustrations create within you an urge to gamble?
19.Did you ever have an urge to celebrate any good fortune by a few hours of gambling?
20.Have you ever considered self destruction or suicide as a result of your gambling?

Most compulsive gamblers will answer yes to at least seven of these questions.

So far in this series on free computer games available on the internet, we have looked at crossword puzzles, mazes, chess and checkers. All of these have been completely free, with the unlikely exception of checkers, but, if you are prepared to pay a few dollars, the horizon broadens to take in all sorts of very enjoyable games.

My own favorites are strategy games, games that put you under no time pressure but rather require a certain amount of thought to solve. And of the ones that I have tried, the best by a long way is a little game called Slay. It is a very simple, easy-to-learn, conquest game but it requires considerable thought to keep winning on the higher difficulty levels. The basic game includes hundreds of scenarios (essentially different islands that you have to conquer) but the addition of a map editor means that you can design your own scenarios too, thereby extending the life of the game indefinitely.

There is a free demonstration game that can be downloaded so that you can see whether you like the game or not. Price for the full game is $30.00 but, for only ten dollars more, the programmer, Sean O’Connor will give you all nine of his Windows games, some of which are great fun. His game, Conquest, is one of these and is very similar to the boardgame, Risk; if you have played that game, you will know immediately how to play Sean’s version. Most of the others are strategy games of varying difficulties and complexities, with the single exception of Football-o-Saurus which, as the name suggests, is a game of football played by dinosaurs. It sounds silly but is surprisingly enjoyable.

So, for a mere $40.00, you can have hours and days of fun with these games. I thoroughly recommend them. To download demonstration versions or buy the full games, go to Sean O’Connor’s site.