Online casinos are where the big money is, but online gaming isn't limited to casinos. For years Yahoo, MSN, AOL and others have offered free, no prize, real-time multiplayer games in 4 categories: cards, strategy, sports and arcade. Some websites now pay cash and prizes to "skill-gamers". Most of these sites function under a tournament structure. Players deposit cash, then pony up the entry fee for a particular tournament ($1-$20 usually). The winner takes a small percentage above their entry fee, or in some cases the collective pot minus a small percentage for the host site. You probably won't get rich playing these games, but their appeal is strong because of the reliance on skill rather than software. Everyone knows how to play Solitaire, right? Here's a few places to check out:

WorldWinner.com
WorldWinner.com supplies the back-end software for its own site as well as playsite.com, onlinegamefree.com and others. You get $5 free for signing up, and entry into rookie tournaments for Solitaire, Shapetris, Minesweeper, 3-Hole Golf, Crossword Challenge etc. I got hooked on Hangmania, increasing my free $5 stake to $14 in 20 minutes. Freebie-seekers forget about cashing out. The fine print says that only VIP members may withdraw their winnings, that means depositing dough via your credit card or PayPal. Once you are a VIP player, you can enter larger tournaments and win fat pots of cash that can be withdrawn.

Flipside Network
The Flipside Network includes iWin.com and Uproar.com. iWin offers cash and prizes in games and tournaments. Popular iWin games include Collaps, Puzzix and Glinx. Like WorldWinner, they give you $5 free to start off with and encourage you to deposit to play for some real cash. Uproar appears to be powered by advertisements and I could find no evidence of "pay-for-play". You'll find multi-player game versions of TV game shows like Family Feud, Name that Tune and so on.

Boxerjam.com
Boxerjam offers free games and tournament play. Again you get $5 free for signing up and you can play the usual slate of skill games in addition to some unique offerings like Magneto and Strike-a-Match.

Crediplay.com
Crediplay games include, Pyramid, QuikDraw, Mah Jong, Darts, Meteor Blast and more. If you want to play for money, there are two costs involved: a Network Maintenance Fee charged to each player upon entry into a tournament. Secondly, the entry fee. The combined entry fees make up the tournament prize pool. 100% of the prize pool is paid back to the winner(s) of every CrediPlay Game. The amount you pay is determined by the game you pick in the Game List. The amounts currently range from $0.50 cents to $5.00. So if you enter a 4-player game for $5.00 then the prize pool will be $20.00.

So isn't this all still gambling? No, according to WorldWinner: "Gambling is defined by most states as involving a "consideration" (wager), an activity involving chance, and a monetary or merchandise reward. Since all WorldWinner games are based on skill, it's the skill of the player, not luck, which determines the outcome of any tournament, so they are not considered to be gambling activities. Even games where there seems to be a minor element of chance, such as the shuffle of the cards in Solitaire Rush, the element of chance has been eliminated through our proprietary software-based scoring system."