The best hotseat games

In Battle Chess 2: Chinese Chess (1990), the classic formula gets an eastern makeover—complete with new rules, a new board, and a fresh batch of animated fatalities. If you thought regular chess was confusing, welcome to xiangqi. The game keeps the over-the-top duels but swaps knights for elephants and bishops for cannons. Don’t worry t...

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...

Archon Ultra is what happens when you smash chess into an arcade cabinet and call it a day. This updated version of the original Archon throws in jazzed-up graphics and faster gameplay, but keeps the core idea: when pieces meet, they fight. Literally. On a battlefield. Think Wizard’s Chess, but instead of CGI knights, you’ve got pixelat...

Wizball is a  shoot 'em up video game developed by Sensible Software and originally released for various home computer platforms in 1987. The game was published by Ocean Software.In Wizball, players control a wizard who rides a magical green ball. The wizard's mission is to restore color to the world, which has been drained of its vibrant...

If Barbie was mildly passive in her 1992 debut, Barbie Super Model (1993) puts her on the runway—literally. You’ll practice walking, dodging obstacles, and matching outfits because nothing screams "video game challenge" like coordinating accessories under pressure. Half driving sim, half fashion quiz, all unapologetically pink. It&rsquo...

Silverball is an abandoned DOS pinball action game developed by Digital Extremes, designed by James Schmalz and published by MicroLeague Multimedia in 1993. Silverball is one of the best pinball games of the 90s published for DOS, part of the Epic Pinball series.