The best trading games

If buying and selling goods is your thing, give these games a try. Every one of them involve trading in some form: buying and selling goods and moving them by sea (Ports of Call), stock exchange (Acquire, Black Monday), smuggling items in deep space (Elite, Frontier).

Sort by:

Capitalism 2

Windows XP/98/95Mac OS2001protected Ensemble Studios

If spreadsheets are your love language, Capitalism 2 is pure romance. This brutally detailed simulation lets you create your own corporate empire from scratch—manufacturing, retail, real estate, stock markets... even farming...

Patrician

DOS1992protected ASCARON Entertainment

Gloriana

DOS1996 ASCARON Entertainment

Railroad Tycoon Deluxe

DOS1993 MicroProse Software

Dope Wars

Windows XP/98/951998 Beermat Software

Dope Wars is a text-based simulation game that originated as a DOS program in the early 1980s, but gained popularity in its Windows version released in 1998. The game puts players in the role of a drug dealer navigating the underg...

Uncharted Waters

DOS1990 KOEI

Patrician 2: Quest for Power

Windows XP/98/952000protected ASCARON Entertainment

Uncharted Waters 2: New Horizons

DOS1995 KOEI

Uncharted Waters 2: New Horizons is an abandoned simulation game, sequel of Uncharted Waters, developed and released by KOEI in 1995. The Uncharted Waters series is set in the Age of Discovery and gives the player the freedom to s...

Protostar: War on the Frontier

DOS1993 Tsunami Media

Frontier: First Encounters

DOS1995 Frontier Developments

Machiavelli the Prince

DOS1995protected Holistic Design

Frontier: Elite 2

DOS1993 Frontier Developments

Frontier: Elite II is a classic space simulation and trading game released in 1993, developed by David Braben and his company Frontier Developments. Frontier is the sequel to the pioneering 1984 game Elite and is often considered ...

Railroad Tycoon

DOSMac OS1990freeware MicroProse Software

Elite

DOS1987freeware Firebird

Inside Trader

DOS1987 Cosmi Corporation

Wing Commander: Privateer

Windows XP/98/95DOSMac OS1993protected Origin Systems

Sid Meier's Pirates!

DOS1987protected MicroProse Software

Rags to Riches

DOS1993 Interplay Productions

Ports of Call

DOS1989 International Software Development

Space Rogue

DOS1989 Origin Systems

Space Rogue is what happens when Elite and Ultima decide to have a baby… in space. You’re dumped into a universe of hostile aliens, smugglers, and zero-g dogfights, and it’s your job to survive, explore, and may...

Merchant Prince

DOS1993 Holistic Design

Nomad

DOS1993 Papyrus Design Group

Seven Cities of Gold (Commemorative Edition)

DOS1993protected Ozark Softscape

Entrepreneur

Windows XP/98/951997 Stardock Entertainment

Ocean Trader

DOS1995 Software 2000

Pirates! Gold

DOSWindows 3.xMac OS1993protectedremakedemo MicroProse Software

Pirates! Gold is an open world game designed by Paul Murphy, developed and released by MicroProse Software in 1993 for DOS, Windows 3.x, Mac and also Sega Genesis and Amiga CD32. Pirates! Gold is a remake of the game Pirates,...

Ascii Sector

Windows 10/11LinuxDOS2007freeware

Ascii Sector is what happens when someone takes Privateer, removes the graphics, and replaces them with pure ASCII and sheer willpower. It’s open-world space sim meets roguelike: you trade, fight, explore, get stabbed in sha...