Play LineWars Online

LineWars came out in 1990 as part of the MS-DOS Classic Games collection, a bundle of shareware titles from that era. The developer remains unknown, which was fairly common for many small, self-published games at the time. It fits right in with the kind of abstract, strategy-focused titles that thrived on early PCs, where gameplay often mattered more than flashy graphics.

You control a cursor that places and manipulates colored lines on a grid, attempting to enclose your opponent's pieces while protecting your own. The main objective is to strategically expand your territory by connecting your lines, cutting off the enemy's options until they have no moves left. Signature mechanics include the ability to push existing lines to reshape the board and the risk of being trapped if you overextend without a safe retreat. The pacing is methodical, almost chess-like, but the difficulty ramps up quickly as the AI anticipates your moves. It feels like a quiet battle of wits where every decision carries weight.

Each game uses different controls, most DOS games use the keyboard arrows. Some will use the mouse , "Alt" ,"Enter" and "Space bar".