Gnome Panel

At the bottom of the screen is the Gnome Panel. By pressing the Gnome foot icon you can get a list of options. This is how you can start lots of applications and games. The other icons in the panel are either applets or launchers that start programs. You can also add icons and applets to your panel by pressing the Right mouse button over the panel and selecting Panel, Add to Panel, then the item you would like to add. There are a lot of applets so I recommend that you try out a lot of them and see what they do.