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.
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Joyous Rebel
DOS1996freeware
Druglord
DOS1991
Dungeons of Kairn
DOS1989
Space Miner
DOS1983
Death by Backgammon
DOS1990
Armchair Quarterback
DOS1985
Armchair Quarterback lets you live the dream of yelling at your TV — but on your DOS machine, and with even less control. It’s part simulator, part quiz show, and all weird. You make play calls, analyze stats, and pray...
Bomb Run
DOS1991 PC Solutions
Bomb Run (1991, DOS) sounds like an action-packed thriller—and then you play it and realize you’re just trying to drop bombs in the right spots while flying what feels like a pixelated paper airplane. The game has that...
Megapede
DOS1992
Redhook's Revenge
DOS1993 ImagiSoft
Flightmare
DOS1984freeware
King Arthur's Knights of the Round Table
DOS1994 MVP Software
Moraff's Morejongg
Windows XP/98/951992 Moraffware
Squarez Deluxe!
DOS1993freeware Adept Software
Subhunt
DOS1997
Chain Reaction
DOS1996 Webfoot Technologies
Legend of the Red Dragon
DOS1989 Robinson Technologies
Borderworld
DOS1996 Midlothian Software
Borderworld (1996, DOS) is a sci-fi RPG with big ideas, a tiny budget, and enough ambition to fuel a space shuttle. You’re thrown into a galaxy of politics, smuggling, and star-hopping adventure, where everyone has a quest a...