Top resources

GOG.com

GOG.com is a digital game retailer that specializes in older computer games, updated to run on modern systems. The site has expanded to new-release independent games as well, but it still houses one of the largest purchasable collections of older games. To find these titles, sort the GOG.com store by “oldest first.”

The Internet Archive Software Collection

The Internet Archive provides access to a substantial collection of software, available either to use in-browser or to download. This is one of the most vital resources for finding out-of-release software, especially things that fall outside the scope of “games” and aren’t covered by other sites, like informational CD-ROMs. Unfortunately, because the Internet Archive often lacks organization, it can be difficult to browse or sort through the collection. It may be easier to search for specific items instead.

If you’re browsing, I recommend starting with the Software Library, Shareware CD Archive, and the CD-ROM Software Library. For playing in-browser, try the MS-DOS Games collection, Windows 3.1 collection, and the Internet Arcade.

Macintosh Repository

This newer Macintosh software archive includes thousands of games, applications, and system files. This is especially great for ancillary software not usually collected by game sites, like productivity tools. Their site is easy to browse and breaks down the collection into a long list of subgenres, though the games and programs often lack individual descriptions.

MyAbandonware

MyAbandonware has a massive catalog of abandonware games for many computer platforms, and it is among the few that includes extensive sets of Windows 3.1 and Macintosh games. The site’s browsing feature includes “theme” keywords, which are particularly useful for finding games by their subgenre.

WinWorld

WinWorld is a repository of historical computer operating systems and non-game applications and utilities. WinWorld goes deep, offering different versions and regional variants for each program. An invaluable resource for digging into old applications and system resources.

For free

Abandonia

Abandonia is a long-running site for DOS abandonware games. The site has a large game collection with reviews and descriptors for all of its content, as well as a supplemental materials like manuals and walkthroughs. It also includes a section on its forums called The ISO Cellar where users share full CD-ROM games, which seem to be intentionally left off the main site.

Abandonia was previously one of the most popular abandonware websites with an active community, but the site has languished in recent years. Although file downloads still work, many of the community features are broken, and the front page is now filled with casino ads.

Abandonware France

This French abandonware website has a large, lovingly curated collection of games considered abandonware, complete with downloads, manuals, and information on how to set up each of the games.

ANNARCHIVE

Game designer Anna Anthropy manages this small, eclectic batch of selected shareware titles. Downloads consist mostly of visitor-donated titles, and the site updates when new content is submitted.

Atarimania

If you want a copy of any game, catalog, or document for an Atari system or computer, Atarimania is the place to go. The information on the site can be very technical (searching by model number, for instance) and is not geared towards general browsing, but it’s a great way to find specific items or product lines if you know what you are looking for.

Break Into Chat

Break Into Chat collects information and downloads for BBS door games – multiplayer games which connect with bulletin board systems. Given the niche format and the technical challenge of running these games, this site has some of the only downloads for them.

CD.TEXTFILES.COM: The Past on Plastic

Though its ambiguous structure makes it almost impossible for casual browsing, Jason Scott’s CD.TEXTFILES.COM contains one of the largest open archives of shareware CD files. If you’re trying to find something specific, consider looking for it via a Google search beginning with site:cd.textfiles.com.

CPC-POWER

CPC-POWER is the go-to website for a master list of software for the Amstrad CPC, a British home computer. The site has a list of over 16,000 pieces of software, along with many downloadable copies of those programs. The search system is a detailed though somewhat cryptic way to sort by specific content (like manuals, maps, and “goodies”), and it helpfully breaks the software down in 40 subcategories.

DOSGames.com

DOSGames.com is one of the standout sites for DOS games and tools, featuring a well-tailored collection of freely available DOS games that you can filter by genre and play in-browser. This is a dependable, well-organized, and friendly resource for freeware and shareware software. Thanks to the site’s extensive keyword-tagging, the “Related / similar games” section at the bottom of the page for each game is especially helpful.

Download Central

The now-defunct Download Central is a thorough, user-friendly hub for downloading Windows 3.1, Windows 9x, Amiga, and DOS games. At its peak, Download Central hosted 1809 games, applications, and downloads, most of which are still obtainable via a cached version of the website from the Internet Archive.

GameBase64

The GameBase64 Collection is a collaborative project to document as many Commodore 64 games as possible. The database currently has over 25,000 games, which can be searched by extremely specific criteria like the name of the composer or whether the game saves high scores. Not the most user-friendly database, but a good resource for drilling down in technical information on Commodore 64 games.

GameBase64 will frequently link to game downloads on an affiliate site, 8BitFiles, when a game is “assumed to have no commercial value.”

“Games/Entertainment” at Freecode

Originally named Freshmeat, Freecode is ground zero for the open source game movement – and by extension the early 2000s indie scene. The Freecode database is all over the place and difficult to browse apart from genre tags available in the right-hand column, but in its troves, you can find a goldmine of historic content, odd free games, and coding exercises that never became something bigger.

Info-Mac Archive

Currently a low-traffic Apple discussion forum, Info-Mac was at one point a global hub for Macintosh shareware, including games as well as software. Info-Mac’s owners have thankfully kept the site’s original archives online for downloading. The above link goes to the raw archive directory; you can visit a secondary link to a web-friendly, searchable version of the archive as well.

The Interactive Fiction Archive

Run by the Interactive Fiction Technology Foundation, the IF Archive is a long-running directory of interaction fiction games, tools, discussion and community history. The archive can be difficult to browse but contains hundreds of historical interactive fiction games, including games in multiple languages.

Interactive Fiction Database

IFDB is the most complete index of interactive fiction games on the web, all the way from traditional text-based adventures to recent Twine-based miniature games. Most entries for games include reviews and download links. In addition, IFDB serves as a social hub, hosting IF writing competitions and game-playing clubs.

The Internet Archive Software Collection

The Internet Archive provides access to a substantial collection of software, available either to use in-browser or to download. This is one of the most vital resources for finding out-of-release software, especially things that fall outside the scope of “games” and aren’t covered by other sites, like informational CD-ROMs. Unfortunately, because the Internet Archive often lacks organization, it can be difficult to browse or sort through the collection. It may be easier to search for specific items instead.

If you’re browsing, I recommend starting with the Software Library, Shareware CD Archive, and the CD-ROM Software Library. For playing in-browser, try the MS-DOS Games collection, Windows 3.1 collection, and the Internet Arcade.

Kliktopia

Kliktopia is a project that tries to collect as many freeware games made with the suite of Clickteam game creation programs — Klik & Play, Click & Create, The Games Factory, and Multimedia Fusion — that were popular in the late 90s and early 2000s. The collection is currently up to 3000 games, and the site owners are actively soliciting more submissions.

La Grenier du Mac

This extremely charming French website hosts a collection of French versions of Macintosh games; this is likely the biggest collection of its kind. The site also includes games in English, as well as Mac applications and extensions.

Macintosh Garden

Macintosh Garden is one the largest, longest-running collections of Macintosh games and software. Since the site has been around for a while, it has years of detailed descriptions and comments left by visitors about how to run many of the games. Macintosh Garden’s content is considered abandonware, and the administrators will actively remove files deemed illegal to redistribute.

However, compared to similar websites, Macintosh Garden can be difficult to navigate. The site is in the process of an extensive redesign, which should fix many of these issues once it is completed.

Macintosh Repository

This newer Macintosh software archive includes thousands of games, applications, and system files. This is especially great for ancillary software not usually collected by game sites, like productivity tools or operating systems. The site is slick, friendly, and easy to navigate, although it lacks the game-by-game detail of Macintosh Garden, and its laissez-faire approach to the content hosted on the website puts it in murkier territory.

Mac GUI Vault

Mac GUI contains a big chunk of the content from old Macintosh and Apple computer communities like Info-Mac and Usenet. The files are broken down into sub-categories based on the type of game or software; within those groups, it’s mostly sorted alphabetically, which makes it useful for attempting to find specific programs or games.

MyAbandonware

MyAbandonware has a massive catalog of abandonware games for many computer platforms, and it is among the few that includes extensive sets of Windows 3.1 and Macintosh games. The site’s browsing feature includes “theme” keywords, which are particularly useful for finding games by their subject.

100KB Old DOS Games

This site is a handpicked assortment of 166 DOS games that are around 100kb in size. That limits the scope of the collection to smaller titles that use older graphics modes, typically role-playing games or arcade-style games. It’s an interesting cross-section of DOS games, and it also has a subpage for Czech and Slovak games!

Retrocomputing Archive

Retrocomputing Archive is a database of software for old computer platforms, dating back to the 1970s. Perhaps is most useful section is the CD-ROM and FTP Site Archive, which is a browseable directory of programs that were included on shareware CD-ROMs. I’ve found it especially useful if you’re trying to find software by a specific filename, which you can locate by Google searching for site:retroarchive.org filename.xyz.

RGB Classic Games

A personal favorite. RGB Classic Games preserves freeware and shareware games for DOS, Windows 3.1, and Windows 9x. Multiple versions of each game are provided when possible, and many games are playable in-browser. RGB’s collection is well-documented and, unexpectedly, has been officially lauded by the city of Ottawa.

RPG Maker Historia

RPG Maker Historia is a project to recover old RPG Maker games, document them, and review them. The site is nexus for RPG Maker history resources, like links to other RPG Maker communities and a glossary of RPG Maker terminology. Community-made RPG Maker games from the mid-2000s are endangered digital media, and RPG Maker Historia is doing important work by exploring that history.

One of the major resources linked from RPG Maker Historia is a list of hard-to-find RPG Maker games managed by the rpgmaker.net user LordBlueRogue. Although very useful, the files are hosted on a potentially unreliable external host.

Theodor Lauppert’s Game Gallery

Theodor Lauppert’s site is a selection of games that Lauppert found interesting, some well-known but primarily hard-to-find computer shareware titles through the early 2000s. He occasionally wrote histories for them and included downloadable copies.

TLGG has unfortunately been long shut down, but the Internet Archive hosts a mirror of the site (including the games themselves).

The U-M Software Archives

The University of Michigan hosts a big, dormant collection of old software and games for a number of classic platforms, including the Apple II and Mac OS Classic. Organization and metadata are minimal, so you’re best served just diving in and grabbing something. The site’s MS-DOS section is offline but can be accessed through the Internet Archive.

VintageAppleMac.com

This new Macintosh fan website collects a large volume of software and shareware games taken from the creator’s personal library, including many titles from British CD-ROMs. As of now, everything is unsorted alphabetically, but it’s useful for finding specific items that might not be hosted elsewhere. (Watch for this one to grow as the creator writes more editorials!)

XTC Abandonware

Another good DOS game directory. XTC hold about 2500 games from a wide variety of genres. It’s less flashy than other sites (and has no ratings or reviews for browsing purposes) but is a dependable collection, and it directs you to legal sources when possible.

WHDownLoad

WHDownLoad is a no-frills directory of Amiga game files that are conveniently pre-packaged to work in emulators without needing to swap disks. The caveat is that you can only search by name, so you’ll need to know what you’re looking for in order to find it in WHDownLoad’s large library.

World of Spectrum

This website is the single best resource for information about ZX Spectrum titles, emulators and guides to using the platform. In many cases, downloads for games and programs are available.

For sale

Amazon Marketplace

Many classic games pop up through second-hand sellers on Amazon. Fewer people tend to look here than on eBay, so you can frequently find more games here for better prices than through other channels.

eBay

It goes without saying that eBay is a tremendous resource for purchasing physical copies of games. Most everything should be available through here. Increasingly, sellers are listing games as Buy It Now items rather than auctions, so you can get them quicker and not anxiously wait for an auction to end.

GOG.com

GOG.com is one of the few digital game retailers that specializes in older computer games, updated to run on modern systems. The site has expanded to new-release independent games as well, but it still houses one of the largest purchasable collections of older games.

shopgoodwill.com

If your local Goodwill doesn’t have a game selection (see below), consider looking through shopgoodwill.com, an auction site operated by a California Goodwill that collects items from other thrift stores across the country. Many of the sales tend to be bulk collections.

Yahoo Auctions Japan

Yahoo’s auction site tends to be more popular than eBay in Japan and is a great place to find rarer Japan-only games. Be aware that you will need to know Japanese to use this site, and you may need to use a middleman service like Buyee (prominently advertised on the site).

Your local secondhand store

People will often donate used games from the 80s and 90s to thrift stores and community markets. Schools also tend to give their old software to these stores. Based on the relatively low interest in CD-ROM computer games among collectors who visit thrift stores, many of these titles, especially educational games, are usually available. Consider smaller local establishments in addition to chains like Goodwill. Flea markets and rummage sales usually have some games too.

Your local gaming convention

Most gaming events usually host classic game re-sellers in their vendor areas. These tend to be targeted towards console game collectors, but if you dig a little deeper, you can usually find some strange and overlooked titles.

Other

The Strong Museum of Play

The Strong Museum of Play in Rochester, NY is home to the world’s greatest collection of electronic games and game-related materials. If there’s a rare or unusual game you want to play, there’s a good chance that the Museum of Play has a copy.

If you can visit the museum in person, you can schedule a research appointment to access their collections. Browse the Museum of Play’s page on Google Arts & Culture to see what they have in their collections, and schedule an appointment via the museum’s research inquiries form. Their staff is expertly knowledgeable and helpful!

Your local library

Yes, libraries have games! University libraries are more likely to have historical collections, but they may require you to be a member of the university community. Many public libraries loan games, although older games have probably been taken out of circulation. If you’re looking for a specific game, search for it via OCLC WorldCat to see if a library nearby carries it.

Your friends and family

If any of your friends enjoy games – especially if they played them in the 80s and 90s – they might have odd games lying around in a drawer. Ask them to root through their stuff if you think they might have something worth trying.