From playing Tetris on your Gameboy to waving your arms about like a defective windmill on the XBox Kinect, the last 20 years have seen more advances in computer gaming than anyone could have imagined.

The trouble with new technology is that it doesn’t come cheap, nor do the endless upgrades and sequels of your favourite games.

Your student loan is intended to keep you warm and fed - not to feed your computer game habit that could cost you hundreds of pounds a month. So why not give your wallet a break, and check out our advice on how to play games for free.

Online games

The internet has changed gaming beyond recognition, not only can you now sit on the sofa in your pants and play football against a 63-year-old women in outer Mongolia, but it has also given young, independent developers all over the world the chance to create their own games - many of which have gone on to be global sensations.

As a result the internet is jam-packed with tens of thousands of free-to-play games that don’t even require you to download anything. Even rather popular student money saving site, studentbeans.com, has it’s own dedicated online games section when you can play games for free all day long.

Apps

Smartphones have taken casual gaming to a whole new level - never again do you have to run the risk of making eye contact with a stranger on the bus, or pretend to be sending a text when you’re waiting for a date so it doesn’t look like you’ve been stood up (we’re just guessing that people do that..).

The best thing about apps for you phone (or other devices) is that a whole heap of them are FREE. A quick glance at Apple’s app store shows a wide range of free games - from Angry Birds to monster truck racing, from pool to a game that involves plucking hairs from a girls skin (erm, ok?).

Illegal downloads

We definitely don’t condone this, but when it’s such a common practice we’d be daft not to at least mention it. The thing with the type of people who play a lot of computer games is that they are generally the same people who know how to get stuff online through less-than-legal means, for free. So even when authorities find a way of stopping illegal downloads from one site, within seconds another will be set up, and the chase continues.

A quick search online will bring up all kinds of info - one popular activity is to download emulators which make it possible to play games for free that should only be available on games consoles. But again, we must stress this isn’t legal, so... you know, maybe don’t do it. Ahem.

Get an old console

Some of the games that were available on older consoles are just as fun to play now as they ever were - think Mario Kart on the SNES or Goldeneye on the N64. So if you can track down an old console rather than splashing out £300 on the latest incarnation you can save yourself a fortune.

Ask friends whether they have any old consoles they’d like to get rid of, have a look around online, eBay always has stuff available. Alternatively you can sign up to a site such as Freecycle to see if anyone has an old console that they’d be willing to give up for free providing you go and collect it.

Be shameless...

Earlier this week we brought you some of the most extreme money saving tips we could find - well perhaps you could add this one to the list. Instead of wasting money on consoles and games, why not just head into your local video game shop and play on their display model?! Let us know how long it takes for you to get kicked out, yeah?

Be part of the game at the Science Museum

Next week (28th Sep - 2nd Oct) the London Science Museum are launching their first ‘PLAYER Festival’ - a five day festival aimed at giving people the opportunity to take part in a whole host of games that are inspired both by science in general and the museum’s collections.

Some of the games on offer include a large scale version of classic video game Pong where you body heat controls the paddle and a life-sized game of battleships. For more information on the PLAYER Festival festival click here.

Tags: Frugal living tips , Free games , Cheap fun - we are the kings , Free fun is our speciality