The most popular hotseat games

Gorillas, also known as "Gorillas.bas," is a turn-based artillery game that was included as a sample program with Microsoft QBasic, an IDE and interpreter for a variant of the BASIC programming language. QBasic was commonly bundled with MS-DOS and early versions of Windows during the early 1990s. The goal of "Gorillas" is to hit the ...

Set in the far-off future of 1992, Battle Chess 4000 brings space-age flair to intergalactic checkmate. Now your queen is a laser-wielding dominatrix and your pawns might be robots with trust issues. It’s chess... with ray guns. Honestly, it feels like someone spiked Kasparov’s orange juice with pure sci-fi nonsense. Strategy still matt...

Face Off! is an abandoned hockey sports game developed by MindSpan (known for their Hardball series) and released by Gamestar in 1989 for DOS and also for Commodore 64. Face Off supports multiplayer in competitive or cooperative modes.

Star General is a turn-based strategy game developed by Catware and published by SSI (Strategic Simulations, Inc.). It was released in 1996 for MS-DOS and later for Windows. The game is set in a science fiction universe where players take command of one of five different factions, each vying for control of the galaxy.In Star General, players comman...

Bad Street Brawler is a beat 'em up video game developed by Beam Software and published by Mindscape. Originally released for the Commodore 64 in 1987 and later for other platforms. The game features Duke Davis, a former punk rocker turned vigilante, as the protagonist. In "Bad Street Brawler," players guide Duke through various urban environm...

Scorched 3D is a free and open-source artillery game that serves as a modern adaptation of the classic MS-DOS game Scorched Earth. Developed by Gavin Camp, it was first released in 2001, and is available on multiple platforms, including Windows, macOS, Linux, and Unix-like systems. In Scorched 3D, players control tanks positioned on a 3D lands...

Welcome to the future, where space empires are managed entirely via text and colored dots. Anacreon puts you in charge of an interstellar civilization and lets you conquer galaxies with the graphical intensity of an Excel spreadsheet. Micromanagement is the name of the game. You will harvest resources, move fleets, and wonder if your colonists are ...

For those who think snooker is too posh and billiards too French, there's Archer Maclean's Pool, the most ‘90s way to simulate the timeless art of arguing over whether that shot was really legal. It’s pool in DOS — plain and pixelated, yet oddly hypnotic. Trick shots are as satisfying as they are completely accidental, and the AI ...

President Elect: 1988 Edition is a political simulation game developed by Strategic Simulations, Inc. (SSI) and released in the mid-1980s. The game simulates U.S. presidential elections and allows players to take on the role of campaign managers in an effort to help their candidate win the election. Players can simulate U.S. presidential elect...

Ah, Advantage Tennis—where the graphics are flat, the physics are questionable, and the grunts are blessedly absent. This DOS-era sports sim serves up matches that somehow feel like both a relaxing afternoon and a fierce Wimbledon final. Timing your shots is half the game; the other half is praying your opponent glitches into the net. A charm...

Your uncle is dead, but his ghost can still blow out candles. That’s the premise. Bubble Ghost is a quirky physics puzzler where you guide a delicate bubble through haunted rooms by gently blowing on it—yes, literally using ghost breath. It's charmingly French, weirdly addictive, and infuriating when your bubble pops because of that one...

The Games: Summer Edition is a sports simulation video game developed and published by Epyx, originally released in 1988. The Games: Summer Edition simulates various summer Olympic events. Players can compete in these events either against the computer or with other players. The game is part of the "Games" series by Epyx, which also includes titles...

Arcade Pool (1994) is like playing a game of billiards in your best friend’s basement—if your best friend happened to be a DOS machine with a serious competitive streak. It’s shockingly addictive, with physics that almost make sense and enough charm to make you forget you’re alone, playing pool against a smug AI who always s...

Subtrade: Return to Irata is an abandoned science fiction business simulation game developed by Century Interactive and published by Boeder Software in 1993 for Amiga and later ported to DOS. Subtrade is an updated multiplayer clone of the classic M.U.L.E., set underwater on an oceanic world.

Chaos Overlords is a cyberpunk-themed strategy game developed by Stick Man Games and published by New World Computing in 1996. Set in a dystopian future, the game focuses on controlling the underworld of a city dominated by corrupt corporations and oppressive government forces. The player assumes the role of a crime lord, leading a gang with the go...