This is a list of video games (view tabletop games or all games) that you can play at no cost. The games are ones that are referenced either in Learning Video Game Design on the Tabletop or in an article that was posted on this site.
View all the articles that reference a video game appearing on this list.
| Agar.io | A clever multi-player browser game that shows great game design doesn’t have to be epic in scale. | |
| Among Us | Among Us adapted tabletop social deduction mechanics to a video game. Available on many different platforms, including in a web browser. | |
| Balance of Power | Player a cold war super power (browser Windows emulator). Read more about the game and its designer in this post. | |
| Battlezone | Play the classic vector-graphics arcade game in a browser MAME emulator. Click on the “controls” icon in the bottom left of the game screen in order to see how to insert a coin, etc. | |
| Blueprint Billiards |
A billiards game simulator. (Browser video game) | |
| Canabalt | A side-scroller in which you see how far you can run (cf. Jetpack Joyride). (Browser video game) | |
| Conway’s Game of Life |
A “sandbox” game that simulates cells growing and dying in a petri dish. (Browser video game) | |
| Deluxe Pool | A billiards game simulator. (Browser video game) | |
| Farmville 2 | The farming simulation social game that launched a gold rush of Facebook game development. (Browser game) | |
| Full Throttle | A point-and-click adventure game by Lucas Arts. (Browser-based DOS emulator) | |
| Grand Theft Auto | Play the game that launched the franchise. (Browser-based DOS emulator) | |
| Jetpack Joyride | A fun little side-scroller (cf. Canabalt). The link to the left is for the Facebook version of the game. Visit the publisher’s website for free iPhone/iPad, Android, Vita and Windows 8 versions. (Browser & other platforms video game) | |
| Kingdom Rush |
A fantasy-themed tower defense game. (Browser video game) | |
| Master of Orion | A classic, open-ended strategy video game (Browser DOS emulator) | |
| Neptune’s Pride | A multiplayer, science fiction strategy game. (Browser video game) | |
| NetHack | This dungeon crawl “Rogue-like” game has been in continuous development since 1987 and provides incredibly rich gameplay. (Video game, many different platforms including Mac, Linux, Windows, and Internet) | |
| Octodad |
A third-person 3D game (created by DePaul University game development students) whose major challenge is simply managing to control the octopus avatar in order to move place to place. (Windows & Macintosh video game) | |
| Pac-Man | Play the classic arcade game in your browser. (Browser video game) | |
| Pong | Play the first ever arcade game in your browser. (Browser video game) | |
| Rebuild | Rebuild and Rebuild 2 from designer Sarah Northway are Flash games that no longer function correctly. Your best option for playing the game is the commercial Steam or Android versions of the game. | |
| Rogue Fable III | A fantastic rogue-like. If you enjoy it, you might try Rogue Fable IV. (Browser game) | |
| Sanctum | An online collectible card game (with free starter pack) that I helped create back in the 1990s. (Windows video game) | |
| Sid Meier’s Civilization | A turn-based strategy classic. (Browser based Windows Emulator) | |
| Sid Meier’s Civilization II | The follow up to Civilization. (Browser based Windows Emulator) | |
| SimCity | The original “sandbox” game. (Browser based Windows Emulator) | |
| Six-Sided Streets | A “roll & write” style video game. (Browser game) | |
| Tactical Assassin 3 | Assassinate stick figures. You can find all of Simon Hason’s games here. You may also want to try his Weapon and Sierra 7 games. (Browser video game) | |
| Tetris | A classic time waster. (Browser video game) | |
| Tiny Islands | A “roll & write” style video game. (Browser game) | |
| Town |
A Twine-based interactive fiction (text adventure game) by Anna Anthropy that was inspired by Tim Sweeney’s ZZT. (Browser video game) | |
| Westerado | A western-themed adventure game. (Browser video game) | |
| World of Warcraft | You can try out this online persistent world game using a free trial period. (Windows & Macintosh video game) | |
| World’s Most Boring Tower Defense Game, The |
This “game” is intended to demonstrate how a video game’s “real time” action actually takes place over a series of discrete turns. It also is example of what a digital prototype might entail. (Browser video game) | |
| X-COM: UFO Defense | A video game from the mid-1990s that combines real time resource management with turn-based strategy/tactics. (Browser-based DOS simulator) | |
| Zamboni Doodle |
A Google “Doodle” in which players control a Zamboni. (Browser video game) | |
| ZZT | A quirky adventure game. (Browser-based MS-DOS video game emulator) |