Play Sid Meier’s Colonization Online

Game Overview

Sid Meier’s Colonization is one of those games where you blink and suddenly it’s 3 AM. You start with a dinky little ship and a few colonists, dumping them on some random patch of the New World—half the time they’re starving or getting attacked by bears before you even figure out how to plant corn. But once you get the hang of it, there’s something weirdly satisfying about turning a swamp full of mosquitoes into a rum-producing powerhouse.

The king back in Europe starts off all friendly, but give it a few decades and he’s taxing your tea like there’s no tomorrow. That’s when you start printing Liberty Bells (basically colonial propaganda) and quietly stockpiling muskets. The revolution part is brutal—if you didn’t plan ahead, his dragoons will roll over your cobbled-together militia in about five seconds. But pulling it off? Nothing beats that feeling.

Fair warning: The Native villages will trade with you, but they remember if you backstab them. And the Dutch always seem to get the good spots before you do.

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