Many of our games are made in Flash or Shockwave. Others may use Java or JavaScript.

Flash and Shockwave
The Flash and Shockwave plug-ins allow you to see animations and play games through your Web browser.

The line below should tell you what version of Flash you have installed.

Our Flash games are written to use the most common version of Flash possible, but sometimes the games require a newer version. Other games may use Shockwave, Java or Javascript. If you don't have Flash 9 or higher, you should download the most recent version of Flash.

Many of our games use Shockwave instead of Flash, so if you have problems even if you have Flash 9 or higher, you should download the most recent version of Shockwave.

Java
Java games can be a lot of fun, and most computers can play Java games without downloading any extra software. However, there are some cases where you need to download the newest version of Java.

• Internet Explorer on Windows (except XP): Most Windows IE users have no problems with Java. However, even if you have the most recent version of Internet Explorer, your computer might freeze up or not produce sound.

  If this happens, it could be a problem in the software Internet Explorer uses to run Java applets. To fix it, try installing the most recent, bug-free version of Java.

• Windows XP: Most Windows computers come with Java already installed, but some versions of Windows XP don't. If you use Windows XP and you see a blank space where a game is supposed to be, you may not have Java installed at all. To fix it, download and install Java.

• Netscape on Macintosh: If you have an older version of Netscape and you use a Macintosh computer, some Java games will not work or will work very slowly. To see what version of Netscape you use, click on the Apple Menu (in the upper left hand corner of the screen) and choose "About Netscape." If your Netscape version starts with a 4 (4.5, 4.7, etc.), then you will have problems running Java games.

  To fix it, you should either update your version of Netscape to the most recent version of Netscape Navigator or use Internet Explorer.

JavaScript
Javascript is built into all browers on all computers, so it should work. If you use an older version of Internet Explorer or AOL on a Macintosh, however, the games may not work.

Macintosh users: To see what version of Internet Explorer or AOL you use, click on the Apple Menu (in the upper left hand corner of the screen) and choose "About Internet Explorer" or "About AOL." If the version of Internet Explorer starts with 4 (4.0 or 4.5) or if you are using AOL version 4 or 5, then you may experience problems with some Javascript games not playing properly.

To fix this problem, download the latest version of Internet Explorer. (This should fix AOL, too.)

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