Free MSDOS games

[JayDLewis]

The Internet Archive have unleashed some 2,300 MS-DOS games playable, for free, inside a browser window.

A cursory (I.e. half-assed) search found 3 craptacular classic versions of Wheel of Fortune but there's likely other game shows in there.

https://archive.org/details/softwarelibrary_msdos_games/v2

[snowpeck]

Indeed, nearly every MS-DOS game released based on a game show is in there-- Classic Concentration, Family Feud, Now You See It, Super Password, Card Sharks, TPIR and Double Dare all turned up results. The most notable exception is Jeopardy and its many MS-DOS versions.

[clemon79]

One would have to think that's Sony defending its copyright, but if that's true then why are the WoF's still there?

[Matt Ottinger]

Removing Jeopardy and Wheel (in all their permutations) from the mix, this is what might be there:

    American Gladiators
    Card Sharks
    Classic Concentration
    Double Dare
    Family Feud
    Family Feud (The All-New Family Feud)
    Fun House
    High Rollers
    Hollywood Squares
    Now You See It
    The $100,000 Pyramid
    Press Your Luck
    The Price Is Right First Edition
    Remote Control
    Super Password
    Talk About
    Win, Lose or Draw
    Win, Lose or Draw Second Edition
    Wipeout

[SuperSweeper]

Tried two of them last night - Classic Concentration and Family Feud.  CC worked well, but Feud was buggy, and I gave up on it pretty quickly.

[clemon79]

Curious: what's your definition of "buggy" here? We used to play Feud in high school and I remember the software working just fine.

Mainly I'm curious to see if your "buggy" is my "that's how computers worked back then."

[WarioBarker]

Removing Jeopardy and Wheel (in all their permutations) from the mix, this is what might be there:

Of said list, Fun House, Hollywood Squares, Press Your Luck, Pyramid, Remote Control, Talk About,  Win, Lose or Draw Second Edition, and Wipeout aren't there.

They do have The Crystal Maze, though, along with John Ricci's 1992 Combination Lock game.

[SuperSweeper]

Curious: what's your definition of "buggy" here? We used to play Feud in high school and I remember the software working just fine.

Mainly I'm curious to see if your "buggy" is my "that's how computers worked back then."

The game worked fine until it came time for the first faceoff.  The questions were a bunch of smushed-up gibberish, and I couldn't make out any of the words.  I don't know if it was my computer or the game itself.

I didn't have any issues with Classic Concentration, so I'm leaning more towards the game.

[JonSea31]

Curious: what's your definition of "buggy" here? We used to play Feud in high school and I remember the software working just fine.

Mainly I'm curious to see if your "buggy" is my "that's how computers worked back then."

I did have the same kind of issue with the MS-DOS version of Family Feud back in the early 1990s.  It has to do with the questions that require you key in a time of day (hh:mm) followed by AM or PM.  The computer player can get the answer right, but the human player, when given such question, they are likely to get an unnecessary strike because of such bug.

I did try Card Sharks, Classic Concentration, Wheel of Fortune, and Jeopardy! back in the day too.  It's too bad Card Sharks never had the car game - in fact, it was based mostly on Jim Perry's run.  The only differences are that survey questions could allow for possibly an answer of 100.  And the Money Cards top prize was based on the Eubanks/Rafferty run.  Though on the Big Bet row, if the cards were the same, it would be a push, but elsewhere on the Money Cards board, it would be a loss.

[aaron sica]

I did have the same kind of issue with the MS-DOS version of Family Feud back in the early 1990s.  It has to do with the questions that require you key in a time of day (hh:mm) followed by AM or PM.  The computer player can get the answer right, but the human player, when given such question, they are likely to get an unnecessary strike because of such bug.

Similarly, I remember on the Commodore 64 version of "Jeopardy!", the question being "What is M&Ms" and the game would not allow the ampersand to be entered, thus making it impossible to get right.

[JayDLewis]

They do have The Crystal Maze, though, along with John Ricci's 1992 Combination Lock game.

Interesting about CL...seems somewhat obscure & random.

Also interesting (odd coincidence, really) because I found my copy (w/ box) cleaning the basement.

[Tim L]

Just played Classic Concentration--Fun, but it was kind of hard to get used to not using the computer mouse while playing//

[WhammyPower]

Modified the list to include what's actually playable (bolded items are my additions, crossed out items are not listed):

Removing Jeopardy and Wheel (in all their permutations) from the mix, this is what might be is there:

    American Gladiators
    Card Sharks
    Classic Concentration
    Classic Concentration Second Edition
    Combination Lock (yes, THAT one)
    The Crystal Maze
    Double Dare
    Family Feud
    Family Feud (The All-New Family Feud)
    Fun House
    High Rollers
    Hollywood Squares
    Now You See It
    The $100,000 Pyramid
    Press Your Luck
    The Price Is Right First Edition
    Remote Control
    Super Password
    Talk About
    Win, Lose or Draw
    Win, Lose or Draw Second Edition
    Wipeout

It was kind of hard to get used to not using the computer mouse while playing

This is why they recommend playing full-screen (although I've noticed that to be glitchy sometimes also, but not as glitchy as not full-screen).

[Matt Ottinger]

Modified the list to include what's actually playable (bolded items are my additions, crossed out items are not listed)

For the record, though most people probably didn't even notice, you also changed my "what might be there" into "what's there".  I assume you did it because your edited list is now an accurate representation of what the site actually contains, but the edited quote now improperly suggests that I wrongly stated with certainty that all those original games would be available for play.

[MikeK]

How do you get the games to be playable?  I tried High Rollers and Now You See It.  I never got past the intro screen on High Rollers, while I made it to just past the open of NYSI.  Should you use one browser over others, or is there something I am not doing?