List of WON-Enabled games

The World Opponent Network (WON) operated in its original form, more or less, from 1996 until about 2001. WON then went through many changes until the last of the WON-based game servers shut down in 2008. See the main WON article for its complex history after 2000.



WON provided features for online game serversprimarily for multiplayer gamesfor matchmaking and chat. Games that used these features were tagged as "WON Enabled" in the WON downloads database. While this database ultimately included hundreds of titles regardless of WON capabilities, this is a list of only the WON-enabled titles (with some exceptions as noted below).

A sister feature of WON, called "WONswap," allowed for user-created DLC sharing. While many titles supported by WONswap were also WON enabled, this was not always the case and this list does not include WONswap-only titles. For example, StarCraft is not in this list because, even though it appeared on WONswap, the game itself was served by Battle.net instead of WON.

Retail games
Most of these games used WON game servers to enable online multiplayer capabilities. A few, however, such as Shivers II, just used some of the other WON features such as chat (for chatting while playing solo) and puzzle sharing. This list also includes WON-enabled demos of retail games that were, essentially, free online multiplayer mini-games.

While chess.net for Windows (1999) is a retail game that was linked to from WON.net (eventually replacing/outlasting Power Chess), it is not included in the list below because there is no indication that any chess.net products were WON enabled.


 * Nested references from notes above: * † ‡ **

Announced retail games
Games announced as coming to WON.net but never appeared.


 * Front Page Sports: Ski Racing (1997) Sierra On-Line
 * Skiing, 1999 Edition (1998) Sierra Sports
 * Shanghai: Dynasty (1997) Activision
 * Shanghai: Second Dynasty (1999) Activision
 * Heavy Gear II (1999) Activision

Free games
This is a list of all free/ad-supported, browser-based/download-on-demand games that were featured on WON.net. Some are WON enabled (such as ARC and Silencer); some not (such as the single-player "Quick Games"); some difficult to tell after the fact. Hence, all free games are included here as the list is not very long.

The PrizeCentral.com games are not listed here (which could be the topic of its own list). Likewise, games that appeared after the breakup of WON.net into Flipside.com and, later, UPROAR.com also are not listed here. These games came with the acquisition of WON.net by Havas (who had also acquired PrizeCentral.com and other properties). It is not known that any of these later Havas-acquired games are WON enabled.

The instant messaging games are not included here (which appeared in download.won.net in Sep 2000, and later on Flipside.com). Even though some like IM Backgammon are tagged as WON Enabled in the downloads database, they are built upon ICQ and not WON (and have no known WON components).

Hoyle retail games and Hoyle Channel
The Hoyle series of games evolved from retail to free on WON and, as such, are difficult to classify in the other lists here. Hoyle retail games started much like all the other retail games here until it was announced that the servers for the retail and demo versions would be shut down in favor of the new free versions. The new free versions were dubbed the "Hoyle Channel." It was also announced that future Hoyle retail games would work with the Hoyle Channel for online play--only with more features (such as choices for backgrounds and card graphics) plus the usual array of offline features and games. Thus, here is a detailed list of the retail releases, plus a simple list of the free games (due to version evolution of the free games being unknown, and staying in sync with the retail releases anyhow).

For the most part, bundles are not included in the list, but a-la-carte splits (Hoyle Bridge being a split from Hoyle Card Games for example) are included.


 * Nested reference from notes above: *

Hoyle Channel games

 * Blackjack (Jul 1999)
 * Poker (Jul 1999)
 * Spades (Jul 1999)
 * Hearts (Jul 1999)
 * Backgammon (Jul 1999)
 * Checkers (Jul 1999)
 * Chess (Jul 1999)
 * Reversi (Jul 1999)
 * Pachisi (Jul 16, 1999)
 * Cribbage (Jul 16, 1999)
 * Gin (Jul 28, 1999)
 * Yacht (Jul 28, 1999)
 * Euchre (Aug 12, 1999)
 * Crosswords (Aug 12, 1999)
 * Pinochle (Jul 1, 1999)
 * Word Searches (Jul 1, 1999)
 * Hangman (Sep 24, 1999)
 * Bridge (Sep 24, 1999)
 * Roulette (Sep 24, 1999)
 * Dominoes (Oct 13, 1999)
 * Word Yacht (Oct 13, 1999)
 * DoubleCross (Oct 1999 – Nov 1999)
 * Wordox (Oct 1999 – Nov 1999)
 * Craps (Nov 1999 – Jan 2000)