Going down the www.pub.com

Fruit machines are now officially a thing of the past. Well, according to Pubnet and Microsoft, that is. The company which came up with the idea of installing the internet in pubs across Britain has teamed up with Gates Inc to launch an online gaming service so you can play cribbage, backgammon, trivia challenge, checkers and chess against people all over the world from the comfort of your local.

The first experimental system has been set up at the Puzzle pub on Lavender Hill. So, expecting to see hordes of eager punters queuing up to do battle with some poor unsuspecting Yank at blackjack, I was a little surprised to find the 10 or so drinkers in the pub on Friday afternoon happily discussing who was going to win Wimbledon, oblivious to the new technology in the corner.

Perhaps it had something to do with the man from Microsoft hovering anxiously over the terminal, watching one of Pubnet's techies trying his hand at backgammon. No one else could get a look in.

You can access any webpage from the machines by typing in its URL, but Pubnet has made it more userfriendly, with the use of large, colourful icons taking you to several services - you can book flights (could be dangerous after a few pints), buy books, and play games, although there's nothing stopping you logging on to Las Vegas casinos, online fruit machines, card games, darts or pool.

Software has now been installed to prevent pornographic websites being accessed - and so, purely in the interests of research, our trusty Evening Standard photographer typed in "Britney Spears nude"; sure enough - the page was forbidden.

The terminals use a very fast ISDN line, so there's no waiting around for pages to load. However, the £1 for 10 minutes seems a bit pricey and you forget about the time ticking away when you're in the middle of a game.

There are 90 terminals in pubs around the country and Pubnet installs about 20 new ones every week. So far, only two have the gaming option. If successful, it'll be in any pubs wanting the system.

Having never played a game of chess in my life, and being pretty ropey at checkers, I decided to start in the "social room" for "casual play" (I shunned the "teen room" for fear of being upstaged by some 12-year-old American). I obviously wasn't good enough for my opponent, who left the table after just two minutes without so much as a goodbye (you can chat live with players via a chat room at the bottom of the screen). In the "beginners' workshop" - a couple of pints down I was beginning to make mistakes, so I thought I would go rookie - I watched a game between two people calling themselves Chilidee and Joestoy. I typed a message asking where they were in the world. After a lengthy pause - just long enough to down a Strawberry daiquiri, perhaps - Joestoy's rook moved to b8, after which he said he was in Denver, Colorado. Chilidee was playing from South Korea, so I didn't ask him what he wanted to drink.

Back at the Puzzle, we had a willing punter. Furniture restorer Dave Little, from Pimlico, said he was a dab hand at backgammon so we put him to the test. He was up against "firstladee" (presumably not Mrs Clinton). She wished him luck but, just as he was typing "Hello, I'm Dave, it's been a wee while since I've played" his opponent disconnected without a word - in some of my local East-End pubs, that kind of behaviour might merit a slap.

Pubnet says the chat, when it happens, can get a little fruity, and it is not censored. It certainly spices up your cribbage game. A certain "Miss Deviate" offered Dave a game and we decided to leave him to it.

The main thing online gaming in pubs does, of course, is kill conversation - and since that is why most people go to the pub, it seems sad. But for those who can happily spend hours at the machine in the corner, there's good news. You can now do it with some guy in Seoul.