Play Where in the U.S.A. is Carmen Sandiego? (Enhanced) Online

Remember that red trench coat? Yeah, Carmen Sandiego’s still at it, stealing landmarks and vanishing into the night. This MS-DOS version throws you into ACME’s detective shoes with way better graphics than the original—those pixelated city skylines actually look like cities now. You start off with a frantic call about a stolen Liberty Bell or something, and suddenly you’re flipping through a database of suspects, squinting at clues like "last seen near the Corn Palace" (which, turns out, is a real place in South Dakota).

The mouse support makes it less of a typing slog, and the witness descriptions get weirdly specific—like "wearing a polka-dot bowtie while eating a chili dog." Mess up your geography, though, and you’ll waste precious hours chasing leads in the wrong state while Carmen’s gang slips away. There’s something oddly satisfying about finally cornering a henchman in Albuquerque because you remembered they mentioned saguaro cacti (which, pro tip, don’t grow there). It’s half trivia, half frantic travel agent simulator, and somehow it works.

Also, the network mode means you can embarrass your friends by solving cases faster. Just don’t blame me when you start muttering state capitals in your sleep.

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