With more than 30 million copies of the Tomb Raider games sold (not to mention countless borrowed, rented, hacked and highjacked copies), plus a blockbuster turn on the big screen, Lara Croft and her world have inspired more fan worship than just about any other video game. But if, by some tragic twist of fate, you happen to be the only TR fan in your area, you can still connect with fellow raiders online. Below is a small selection of message boards, chatrooms, newsgroups and other ways to meet people who share your passion. Check out my Links page for dozens more fan sites.

If you know of a great resource that should be added to this page, please .

Tomb Raider Fan Site Forums & Message Boards

Along with Eidos and Top Cow (publisher of the TR comic), many fan sites have forums and message boards for their visitors. Some of the more popular are listed below.

• Croft Society Forums (part of tombraider.ws)
• Eidos Interactive TR Forum (the 'official' boards)
• Katie's TR Forum
• LaraCroftForum.com (English and German forum for tombraidergirl.com and tombraidergirl.de)
• Lara Croft In Motion's Village of Tokakeriby Forum
• Lara Croft Online Forums
• Lara's Home Forums
• Nederlands Lara Croft Tomb Raider Forums (Dutch)
• Planet Lara Forum
• RaiderQuest (part of AdventurersPlace.com)
• TombRaiderBoard (English and Dutch forum for TombRaiderInc.com and TombRaider.be)
• Tomb Raider Fans (Spanish)
• Tomb Raider Forums (forum for tombraiderchronicles.com)
• Tomb Raider Manor Forums
• Tomb Raider The Forum (Italian)
• Tomb Runner (forum for TR speedrunners)
• Ultimate Tomb Raider Forums
• Top Cow Comic Message Board

Other sites with message boards and chatrooms are listed in my Links Directory. There are also forums devoted to the Level Editor. See my TRLE links.

Tomb Raider Chat Rooms

Just about every other website has a chatroom these days, but often these rooms are empty. If you know of any that are particularly lively, let me know. Here a few you might want to try.

• Lara Croft Online Chat
• Tomb Raider Community Chat (co-hosted by Lydia's Games Site, Croft Storm, LaraShots, Free Raiders, Lara World and TR Central)
• Planet Lara Chat

Other Web Communities

• Yahoo! Groups - There are quite a few Tomb Raider groups on Yahoo! Some are busier than others. If you don't find a group that suits you, you can always create one.
• MSN Groups - As of this writing, I've only found a few. If you don't click with one of these, you could always start your own group and I'll list it here.
  • TombRaiderFans
  • The-Ultimate-Legend (English/Dutch)
  • Croft Manor
• Tomb Raider on ICQ - Find out more about ICQ here. Once you have downloaded and installed the free ICQ software, you can search their user list to find other raiders or locate a ready-made chat on the 'Tomb Raider on ICQ' page linked above.
• IRC (Internet Relay Chat) - Before MSN or ICQ, before AOL Instant Messenger, there was IRC. (And, yes, some of us are even old enough to remember before IRC.) I've been out of the loop long enough not to know if there are still active Tomb Raider channels. If you're interested in checking it out, you might want to start with the helpful intro and FAQ at http://www.irchelp.org.

Tomb Raider Wiki

Wiki sites are collaborative projects that invite users to create and edit their content. "Wiki" itself is an acronym for "what I know is...", as well as the Hawaiian word for "quick". The most popular wiki is probably Wikepedia.org, which has subsites in many languages and covers a staggering array of subjects.

• Tomb Raider Series on Wikipedia - Includes several articles on Tomb Raider and Lara Croft. This link is to one of the articles in English.
• WikiRaider - A fan-edited Tomb Raider encyclopedia created by Jana from tombraidergirl.com. There's also a German version at WikiRaider.de.

Tomb Raider Usenet Newsgroups

alt.games.tombraider, alt.fan.lara-croft and alt.binaries.lara-croft Usenet newsgroups. These groups are constantly evolving, with some hardcore members hanging around for years and others drifting in and out. There are also French and Russian Usenet groups (fr.rec.jeux.video.tombraider and fido7.ru.game.tomb.raider) and possibly others I'm not aware of.

Important Notes on Newsgroups: If you're new to newsgroups, it's probably best to lurk (i.e., read without posting) for a little while to get a feel for the group. Also, if the group has a FAQ (frequently asked questions document), read that before posting. You may save yourself some embarrassment. Usenet newbies might also want to check out Wikipedia's article on Usenet and What is Usenet? Your Internet service provider (ISP) may also have an introduction to Usenet on their site. If your ISP doesn't carry any Tomb Raider groups, either contact them with a request or read and post on the web through Google Groups.) If you're an AOL subscriber, go to Keyword: Usenet.

A warning to the underage and faint of heart: Usenet is unmoderated and pretty much uncensored. You may find opinions, advertising and images of the adult variety. So if you (or your parents) might object, you'd probably be better off checking out some of the moderated boards under 'Fan Site Forums' above.