20 Old Computer Games You Completely Forgot About

Before the days of Snapchat, Candy Crush, and Kim Kardashian: Hollywood, there were CD-ROMs. Those old-school discs that you inserted into your computer opened up new worlds of fantasy and adventure — and nowadays, they trigger the best kinds of nostalgia.

How many times did you beg your parents to let you play The Sims before doing chores? Why did Carmen Sandiego always just barely escape or your Zoombinis fail in their quest to return to safety? Many blended educational aspects into the games, but that merely added to their addictiveness.

While CDs are a thing of the past, these games will live on forever in our memories. Click through to see 20 of our favorites from when we spent our days eating Fruit Roll-Ups and had Lizzie McGuire marathons.

Putt-Putt Travels Through Time
The entire Putt-Putt series was lit, but Putt-Putt Travels Through Time truly takes the cake. From covered wagons to primordial soup, this game is the reason millennials know their history in 2020.

Treasure Mountain

This educational game tricked kids into solving math and logic clues in their quest to capture treasure and defeat the Master of Mischief.

**The Oregon Trail**
We hitched our wagons, went prospecting out west, and watched what happened as our “family” members developed dysentery and other diseases. Ah, Oregon Trail, you still reign supreme.Photo: Courtesy Amazon.

**Lemonade Stand**
Cool math’s Lemonade Stand turns kids into business owners. The game, which you can still play today, forces you to be smart about buying your lemonade-making supplies and teaches you to put up with the consequences of unpredictable elements, such as the weather.

**SkiFree**
This Microsoft game was what we used to perfect our slalom skills before the age of 10. The Abominable Snowman haunted our dreams.Photo: Ski.ihoc.net.

**Barbie Cool Looks Fashion Designer**
Before Barbie got her professional redesign, *you* were designing for her. From My-Size accessories to the printer-friendly Fashion Fabric sheets, the Cool Looks CD-Rom had it all. If you didn’t have this game, you *wished* you did.Photo: E-Bay.

Sim Tower

The Sims‘ take on hotel-building was a constant quest for 5-star status (and to please the VIPs who came through unannounced). It was all the glory of Sim City on a smaller scale.

**Roller Coaster Tycoon**
A day spent playing *Roller Coaster Tycoon* wasn’t as fun as the days that we convinced our parents to take us to the real amusement park, but it came in a very close second. Note to self: Developing and running an amusement park is NOT easy. We spent as much time installing trash cans in our parks as we did roller coasters.Photo: Courtesy Amazon.

**Freddi Fish**

It was impossible not to love Freddi Fish and her BFF Luther. We were all about the original, *The* *Case of The Missing Kelp Seeds* — but *The Case of the Stolen Conch Shell* was also worthy of many plays.Photo: Courtesy Amazon.

**Chex Quest**

Who cares if this was actually just a game to make you want to eat Chex cereal? We fought those Flemoids with our zorcher like our lives depended on it.Photo: Courtesy Amazon.

**Myst**

The creepy, abandoned island of Myst captivated our minds for hours on end. We never did figure out which brother was really at fault in this challenging riddle of a game.Photo: Courtesy Amazon.

**Logical Journey of the Zoombinis**

These cute little blue creatures challenged us to top pizzas in a particular order and solve other puzzles in their quest to arrive in Zoombiniville. Damn those mean Bloats.Photo: Courtesy App Store.

**Minesweeper**

Avoid the hidden mines, survive the game. A simple concept, but one that led to way too many on-screen explosions — and way too many hours wasted clicking squares on a screen.Photo: Courtesy Google Play.

**3D Pinball Space Cadet**

No real-life pinball game has ever compared to whacking the little silver balls in this computer version. Space Cadet was our favorite growing up, but the currently available Pinball Star is a similarly satisfying offering.Photo: Courtesy Microsoft.

**Pajama Sam**

Pajama Sam had his faults (as any feisty young boy does), but it was hard to resist assisting the little blue-haired fella in his adventures. He just wanted to be like Pajama Man!Photo: Courtesy App Store.

**Mavis Beacon**

Before there was texting, there was typing, and Mavis was our go-to gal. Call us geeks, but she taught us to command a keyboard like no other, and for that we loved her.Photo: Courtesy Amazon.

**Where In The World Is Carmen Sandiego?**

Carmen Sandiego, the insanely frustrating, red-hat-wearing villain and head of V.I.L.E., evaded capture time and time again. We may have arrested her henchmen, Ruth Less and Joy Ryder, but Carmen was always two steps ahead of us.Photo: Courtesy Amazon.

Paperboy

With a yellow cap and a whole lot of newspapers, this little kid singlehandedly made suburbia cool. Note to newspaper companies: Keeping subscribers back then was hard, too.