# Old computer games **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [August 24, 2016, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-computer-games/763804 "2016-08-24T12:25:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Cugel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cugel/32/1199_2.png) [@Cugel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cugel)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2016, 7:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-computer-games/763804/101 "2016-09-18T07:43:37Z")
I still play [Zangband](http://www.zangband.org/) which I’ve been doing on and off for best part of 20 years. Never got close to winning. So someone download it, win, and then tell me what to do. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2016, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-computer-games/763804/102 "2016-09-25T04:48:50Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > Master of Orion - still play it today. > Civilization 2. This. > [@Kobal2](#): > > the original _X-COM_,_Fallout 2_, _Might & Magic VII_, \*Heroes of Might & Magic 3 \* And this. > [@glee](#): > > I enjoyed **Master of Magic** in 1994. **And THIIIIIIIS** > [@Johnny\_Ace](#): > > Sid Meyer’s _Alpha Centauri_. And this. > [@Quimby](#): > > Imperialism > Arcanum And this. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2016, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-computer-games/763804/103 "2016-09-25T12:14:06Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > [Red Baron](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Baron_(1990_video_game)) Right on. Vectrex rocked. My gaming period was 1982-1986, so my favorites will always be **Adventure** (the text version – twisty little passages…), **Aztec** (on an IBM PC or an Apple III), and (at the end of that period, on a friend’s Atari-like console), **Archon**. Also, I played the very first Flight Simulator, when the landscape was a simple ten-by-ten white grid on a black background (plus a single simple “mountain”), and the enemy planes (if you chose that option) were a few white pixels. Seemed pretty primitive even then – the jump to the next version (Meigs Field), I think around 1987, was huge. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2016, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-computer-games/763804/104 "2016-09-25T12:34:55Z")
I’m a little off on some of my dates: SubLogic’s Flight Simulator – the primitive one – was released in 1979. Microsoft bought the rights, then released the vastly improved Meigs Field version in 1982 (while SubLogic developed it further as well, for different hardware). ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2016, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-computer-games/763804/105 "2016-09-25T12:55:43Z")
Oops… Little Nemo was referring to the 1990 Red Baron, while I was alluding to the 1980 vector graphics arcade game of the same name. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2016, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-computer-games/763804/106 "2016-09-25T13:23:43Z")
If console games count then for me it’s a no-brainer. The one, the only, [Herzog Zwei](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3EO53h7nWEU). I played this with (against) a buddy for countless hours in the early 90s, before the concept of RTS games even existed. So good. ---
**Author:** ![Annoying\_Buzz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Annoying\_Buzz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annoying_Buzz)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2016, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-computer-games/763804/107 "2016-09-27T05:22:55Z")
> [@Cugel](#): > > I still play [Zangband](http://www.zangband.org/) which I’ve been doing on and off for best part of 20 years. Never got close to winning. So someone download it, win, and then tell me what to do. A fellow Zangband fan! I never got close to beating it, either. In addition to Civ2, MOO and Sim City, I spent hours upon hours playing Autoduel and Pirates, and never got bored of either one. ---
**Author:** ![wolf\_meister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf_meister/32/15202_2.png) [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2016, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-computer-games/763804/108 "2016-09-27T06:40:34Z")
Gee, when you were talking about old computer games, I thought you were referring to OLD computer games. Anyway, here’s an “oldie” - my version of “Bagels” in which you have to guess a randomly chosen number and you are told how many digits you guessed correctly and how many are in the correct position. [Digitally Correct](http://www.1728.org/digit.htm) Yes, it is my website and you really don’t have to go there. (Nobody else goes there either -LOL) ---
**Author:** ![Gedd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gedd/32/4938_2.png) [@Gedd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gedd)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2016, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-computer-games/763804/109 "2016-09-30T14:00:40Z")
> [@wolf\_meister](#): > > Gee, when you were talking about old computer games, I thought you were referring to OLD computer games. > Anyway, here’s an “oldie” - my version of “Bagels” in which you have to guess a randomly chosen number and you are told how many digits you guessed correctly and how many are in the correct position. > [Digitally Correct](http://www.1728.org/digit.htm) > Yes, it is my website and you really don’t have to go there. (Nobody else goes there either -LOL) Older? OK, the first computer game I recall playing (not at school on an Apple II) was . . . _Empire_? You started with a single unit (an army) and one city, and had to defeat the computer which started with the same somewhere else. You could set cities to build different types of military units and so could the computer. The graphics were all single characters, your units were capital letters and the computers were lower-case. I played it on my dad’s work laptop, which in the late 80s had a green monitor. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2016, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-computer-games/763804/110 "2016-10-10T20:00:05Z")
Probably Grim Fandango. But I also loved Star Trek: Borg–enough that I started a project to make a playable YouTube version–until I heard they were phasing out annotations. The city building games were all my least favorite. I hated when I was young enough to be tricked by the fancy graphics on the box to think I was getting a game. I’ve never liked strategy games. I don’t like having no direction. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2016, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-computer-games/763804/111 "2016-10-10T21:47:52Z")
Solitaire Deluxe. We bought it at best buy in the mid 90’s. It has several variations of the game. So far, it’s run on Win 98, XP, and Win 7 computers. [https://goo.gl/images/BsA66z](https://goo.gl/images/BsA66z) ---
**Author:** ![inscrutable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a88e4f/32.png) [@inscrutable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/inscrutable)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2016, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-computer-games/763804/112 "2016-10-10T21:59:49Z")
We had a lot of fun with “Seventh Guest” and a few others of that period. I got pretty good at resolving multimedia issues on Windows 3.1… ---
**Author:** ![Kiros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/439d5e/32.png) [@Kiros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kiros)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2016, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-computer-games/763804/113 "2016-10-10T22:09:58Z")
I somehow missed this the first time through? Huh. Anyways, if you’re setting pre-2000 as the limit, Heroes of Might and Magic 3 was released in 1999 and is probably my favorite PC game of all time, regardless of era. Still go back to it every year or two, for sure - GoG has been great to make that as seamless as possible. (The first Everquest was released, like, a month later. Alpha Centauri was about two weeks before. Early 1999 was strooooong for PC games in genres I like.) ---
**Author:** ![ultimate11](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/49beb7/32.png) [@ultimate11](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultimate11)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2016, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-computer-games/763804/114 "2016-10-10T22:25:46Z")
Various. Jones in the Fast Lane SimCity Enhanced (SimCity with advisor FMVs. This predated SimCity 4 by more than a decade.) Hoyle Poker (1997) Curse of Monkey Island Shadow Man Final Fantasy VII and VIII (even though 8 is a few days within 2000) DOOM, DOOM II & Final DOOM (which is nicer with the [Brutal DOOM](http://www.moddb.com/mods/brutal-doom) modification). Postal (1997) Duke Nukem 3D Monopoly, Sorry, Scrabble and The Game Of Life before 2000 (Monopoly’s WestWood Studios release was pretty good). MDK & MDK2 was pretty good. NBA Jam Tournament Edition on the DOS was pretty cool- it had good quality audio, right down to the announcer (was Midway going to release this for DCS in development plans? The audio quality seems ripped, but ripped off a higher quality release…) Clue (1996) was pretty interesting for an FMV game, despite it not having a scenario making usage of 324 combinations- although I could understand the size of the game if that happened). There’s probably more I can’t think off the top of my head. For your information, I found these classic games via a source I know on the internet. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2016, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-computer-games/763804/115 "2016-10-10T23:01:15Z")
> [@](#): > > YOU ARE STANDING AT THE END OF A ROAD BEFORE A SMALL BRICK BUILDING. > AROUND YOU IS A FOREST. A SMALL STREAM FLOWS OUT OF THE BUILDING AND > DOWN A GULLY. Yep. I still occasionally play the original [Colossal Cave Adventure](http://www.amc.com/shows/halt-and-catch-fire/exclusives/colossal-cave-adventure)when I’m feeling nostalgic. Plugh. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Ace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/6bbea6/32.png) [@Johnny\_Ace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Ace)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2016, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-computer-games/763804/116 "2016-10-11T00:04:00Z")
> [@Kiros](#): > > I somehow missed this the first time through? Huh. > > Anyways, if you’re setting pre-2000 as the limit, Heroes of Might and Magic 3 was released in 1999 and is probably my favorite PC game of all time, regardless of era. Still go back to it every year or two, for sure - GoG has been great to make that as seamless as possible. > > (The first Everquest was released, like, a month later. Alpha Centauri was about two weeks before. Early 1999 was strooooong for PC games in genres I like.) Yeah, I was playing the hell out of _Alpha Centauri_ while most of my friends were starting to play EQ. It took me a month or so after release to get my mind around the subscription fee, and after EQ I hit up HOMM 3. All are among my favorite games of all time. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2016, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-computer-games/763804/117 "2016-10-12T14:09:54Z")
> [@inscrutable](#): > > We had a lot of fun with “Seventh Guest” and a few others of that period. > > I got pretty good at resolving multimedia issues on Windows 3.1… You can play Seventh Guest and Eleventh Hour on Windows 10. I have a copy of each on Steam. They work fine. ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2016, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-computer-games/763804/118 "2016-10-12T14:33:51Z")
> [@cmkeller](#): > > Chip’s Challenge - I’d love to install it on my new machines, but I have no floppy drive, so no, I no longer play it. Maybe someone already said this, but Chip’s Challenge is available via Steam. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2016, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-computer-games/763804/119 "2016-10-12T15:09:47Z")
> [@](#): > > Maybe someone already said this, but Chip’s Challenge is available via Steam. _checks_ Not only Chip’s Challenge, but the long-awaited sequel! Yay! _checks again_ Windows-only for both. Boo! ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2016, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-computer-games/763804/120 "2016-10-12T15:11:43Z")
Three distinct periods of computer gaming in my life (prior to 2000): 1. Pre-Macintosh: _TRACON_ 2. Macintosh (from 1990 to 1998): Probably _SimCity_. SimAnything, really (SimEarth, SimAnt, SimLife, SimFarm, etc.) I loved any game that involved trying to handle real-world pressures of budgeting, building, etc. (_A-Train_ was one of the best!). But SimCity captured most of my hours. 3. IBM PC / Microsoft DOS/Windows (fall 1998 to end of 1999): _Alpha Centauri_, hands down. _Civ 2_ was wonderful, but Civ 2.5 was out of this world ( 😃 ). I STILL crank that sucker up and play it from time to time, and get frustrated by the annoying Sister Miriam Godwinson, the pesky Col. Corazon Santiago, and the economically sanctimonious CEO Nwabudike Morgan. Me? I’m almost always the tree-hugging Lady Dierdre Skye. And I can quote most of the wonder, building, and tech quotations by heart (which led me to learn about Li Bo, Søren Kierkegaard, and Jim Jones). There were other games at the time I played a lot (_Everquest_, _Age of Empires_ (I and II), _Homeworld_, _Seven Kingdoms_), but SMAC and SMAX were by far and away my favs at the time. It wasn’t until 2001 that a little noticed (at the time) game series began stealing my heart: _Europa Universalis_. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-computer-games/763804.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-computer-games/763804.md?page=7)