The most popular 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.

Sort by:

Xixit

DOS19954/5 Optik Software

Bubble Pop

DOS19973.8/5 Software of Sweden

Bubble Pop by Software of Sweden is a platform game that follows the classic bubble-popping mechanics similar to other popular games in the genre (Bubble Bobble...). Bubble Pop was published in 1997 by Webfoot Technologies for DOS only.

Slicks 'n' Slide

DOS19934.2/5

Round 42

DOS19862.7/5

King Arthur's Knights of the Round Table

DOS19943.3/5 MVP Software

Redhook's Revenge

DOS19933.3/5 ImagiSoft

Batalia

DOS19862.8/5 The Right Brothers

Lost Adventures of Kroz

DOS1990freeware3.3/5 Apogee Software

Reaping The Dungeon

DOS19934/5 Frontline Software

Bolo Ball

DOS19923.5/5 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...