The best shareware games
Shareware is a type of software distribution model that allows users to try a program before purchasing it. It's a marketing strategy and distribution method that was particularly popular in the early days of personal computing, primarily during the 1980s and 1990s.
Shareware games were released for free with limited functionality (for example: no saving, missing levels, time limit), often via a BBS (Bulletin Board System), a floppy disc or a CD included in a printed magazine or by direct download (when internet was in its infancy). If the user liked the shareware product, they could pay to obtain an upgrade and unlock the full game. When digital distribution started to become popular, shareware games slowly faded into oblivion.
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Dungeons of Kairn
DOS1989
8088 Othello
DOS1985
Legend of the Red Dragon
DOS1989 Robinson Technologies
Castle Elsinore
DOS1992 Temple Software
Moraff's Revenge
DOS1988 Moraffware
Aspetra
DOS1996
Blackstar: Agent of Justice
DOS1995
Bolo Ball
DOS1992 Soleau Software
Bolo Ball is a DOS game from the mid-1990s. It features a physics-based gameplay where the objective is to knock opponent balls out of an arena. When you start the game, you find yourself in a 2D arena set against a starry, space-like background. You control a colorful ball, which, despite being a 2D sprite, appears somewhat three-dimensional due t...
Clyde's Adventure
DOS1992freeware Moonlite Software
Hugo 2: Whodunit?
DOS1991protecteddemo Gray Design Associates
Hugo 2: Whodunit? is an old school graphic adventure game designed by David P. Gray, developed by Gray Design Associates and released in 1991 for MS-DOS only. Hugo 2: Whodunit? is the second installment of the Hugo game series.
Ken's Labyrinth
DOS1993freeware
King Arthur's Knights of the Round Table
DOS1994 MVP Software
Moraff's World
DOS1991 Moraffware
Squarez Deluxe!
DOS1993freeware Adept Software
Super ZZT
DOS1992 Epic MegaGames
The Big Three
DOS1989 SDJ Enterprises
Tubular Worlds
DOS1994
Meteor Mission
DOS1995
Space Miner
DOS1983
Flying Tigers 2
DOS1994
Skyroads: Xmas Special
DOS1994freeware Bluemoon Interactive
Return to Kroz
DOS1990freeware Apogee Software
Arctic Adventure
DOS1991 Apogee Software
Super Battleship
DOS1988
Super Bubble Mania
DOS1997
Death by Backgammon
DOS1990
Lost Adventures of Kroz
DOS1990freeware Apogee Software
EGA Trek
DOS1988remake
Redhook's Revenge
DOS1993 ImagiSoft
Clyde's Revenge
DOS1995freeware Moonlite Software