Does the Wii have a system for free (non-browser) games?

I just got a Wii with Wii Sports Resort and two Motion Plus controllers, but don't want to spend any more money on games for a while.

Does the Wii, like Steam and XBox Live, have a system for downloading and playing free games or demos?

I could probably play Flash games in the browser, but that kind of misses the point! :)

The Nintendo channel provides downloadable demos for the DS (like a download station you'd see in a GameStop or so). The WiiWare shop area in the Shop Channel supposedly has some downloadable demos, but not a whole bunch (if any). Nintendo is fairly stingy about demos...

Another option may be to just install the Homebrew Channel and whatever homebrew applications you feel like trying out.

Other than that, the Wii isn't very free-gamer friendly. A $20 Wii card will net you 2 to 4 games off the shop on average, though. Might be worth the investment, even if you're trying to play on the cheap.