System 6 Hell: Games and Apps for Mini vMac

(updated February 19, 2017) This page provides disk images containing shareware and freeware Macintosh games and applications. Originally, this collection was limited to programs published in the 1980s, but it has been expanded to include some helpful applications and historically important games from the early 1990s. Everything posted here has been tested in Mini vMac running System 6.0.8. The disk images should be usable in Mini vMac running on any host system. The games have been expanded and are ready to play in the emulator. You can probably run many of these games in Basilisk II as well. If a game runs too fast, hit “CTRL-S” in Mini vMac to adjust the speed of the emulation. My sources for these games include: Mac GUI City, Macintosh Garden and Associate.com's MacOS Files Site. In addition, many of the files have been sent in by users. If you have any favorites to recommend, please e-mail me or post in our forum. The official Mini vMac page includes a large collection of software. Some titles are hosted on that site, while others are provided as links to their developer sites.

#

1000 Miles

Written by: Robert Harris

Published: 1987

Download A Macintosh version of the classic French card game “Mille Borne.”

3D Checkers

Written by: Fred Moulden, Jr.

Published: 1989

Download Checkers!

3D-Edit

Written by: Colin Olson

Published: 1986

Download This is cool. It's a 3D modeller released in 1986. The Star Wars walker pictured in the screenshot comes with the download.

3rd Floor

Written by: J. Olson

Published: 1987

Download A neat World Builder adventure game set in a college dorm.

A

AdventureMaker

Written by: Patricia B. Smith

Published by: Epiboly Software, 1988

Download

Create your own adventure games. What a wonderful piece of software.

Air Traffic Controller

Written by: Walter J. Biess

Published: 1992

Download

Guide the planes to safety. I've included a 1992 version of this program, as I have had trouble extracting older versions that fit the 1980s theme of this collection. The manual is included as a MacWrite file, but you can also download a .txt file to read on your host system. Note also that there was a commercial release of this game (under the title “Near Miss”) in 1988.

Amps

Written by: Paul A. Perkins

Published: 1987

Download

Run through the maze avoiding the “amps.”

Artillery

Written by: Kirk Crawford

Published: 1989

Download

Early Macintosh member of the Artillery game genre. Fun Fact: The developer of this oldie has a website. It even has a little section devoted to this game.

B

Backgammon

Written by: Stephen D. Young, Debra Willrett, David Young

Published by: Solosoft, Inc., 1987

Download



A straightforward backgammon game. Fun Fact: Designer Debra Willrett (who also developed MacProject) now heads up a software consulting firm.

Baker's Dozen

Written by: Eric Snider

Published: 1989

Download

Well-designed solitaire game. Fun Fact: Twenty years later, developer Eric Snider is still making solitaire games! He was once mentioned in Entertainment Weekly.1)

Banzai!

Written by: Johnathan Gay

Published by: Silicon Beach Software, 1985

Download

Fight off a never ending onslaught of tanks and soldiers using your trusty mortar. The precursor to Silicon Beach's “Airborne.” Fun fact: Silicon Beach is now owned by Adobe.2)

Battle Mac

Written by: Steve McLaughlin

Published: 1987

Download

Here's another Battleship implementation for the classic Mac. Play against a friend or against the computer.

Best Baseball

Written by: Charles Best

Published: 1989

Download

This is a wonderful baseball sim for two players. One player makes the pitching call and his opponent calls the hitting and baserunning plays. Watch for the fun homerun graphic. There is no option to play against the computer, sadly.

Billiard Parlor

Written by: R. Crandall, S. Gillespie, S. Lew

Published: 1985

Download

Maybe the first billiards game made for the Mac? Check out the programming notes in the “Help” menu. Remember to slow down the emulation, or better yet try running this one on a variation of Mini vMac that emulates as old a machine as possible… it runs too fast under default emulation!

Bird Race

Published: 1985

Download

Pick a bird, make a wager and watch the race. The author calls it a “simple game for simple minds.” Remember to slow down the emulation (CTRL-S)… it runs too fast under default emulation! The game will give you speech if Macintalk is installed.

Black Box

Written by: Hillary D. Jones

Published: 1986

Download

A curious little game based on a Parker Brothers board game I haven't heard of.

Blackjack

Written by: Larry Hosmer and Trent Stevens

Published: 1986

Download

A very, very simple blackjack game.

Bouncing Balls!

Written by: Andrew Welch

Published by: Mark 3, 1988

Download

Avoid hitting the bouncing balls. Fun Fact: This delightfully simple game was designed by Andrew Welch, who four years later would found the Very Important company Ambrosia Software. Welch doesn't talk about this game anymore.3)

Brickles

Written by: Ken Winograd

Published: 1985?

Download

A classic (early) Breakout clone for the Mac. This one is so old that you will need to slow down Mini vMac to play it. Fun fact: Developer Ken Winograd is still making software, including updated OS X versions of Brickles! Update: Thanks to René, the disk image now contains Brickles 5.0 in addition to 7.0.

Break the Bricks

Written by: Richard J. Kalagher

Published by: rKal Software and THINK Technologies, Inc., 1986

Download

Another break-out clone. Make sure to slow down your emulation.

Bubba

Written by: Bob Boylan

Published: 1988

Download

Click the circles. Games were simple back in the old days.

Bug Hunt

Written by: Richard E. Rae

Published by: Raecreations Software, 1987

Download

A fun World Builder adventure game. Great sound effects!

C

Cairo Shootout!

Written by: Duane Blehm

Published by: Hometown Software, 1987

Download

For maximum enjoyment, you need to know what letter each symbol in the old Cairo font matches up to. Sad Fact: Duane Blehm, the teenage creator of Cairo Shootout (and also of “Stunt Copter”) passed away shortly after publishing this game. His parents re-released all of his work as freeware.

Cannon Fodder

Written by: John Barnett

Published by: Fantasy Computing, 1989

Download

Early Mac foray into the Artillery Game genre.

Cap'n Magneto

Written by: Al Evans

Published: 1986

Download

Peculiar but very well made adventure game. One of the great games of its era. Fun Fact: Developer Al Evans now plays folky music. And twenty three years later, you can still register this game.

Centipede

Written by: Ricardo Batista

Published: 1987

Download

A freeware version of Centipede. Fun Fact: Author Ricardo Batista has website containing his modern software!

Charlie

Written by: Henrik Floberg (of PHP Innovation)

Published: 1988

Download

A tic-tac-toe game with a large playing board. Thanks to pinballfan9 for the file!

Chinese Puzzle

Written by: Andrew Kirby

Published: 1988

Download

This one was added at the recommendation of J Smith who wrote “this is the only computer game my dad ever really liked, and he still plays it. I've had to install Basilisk on my more recent Macs to be able to keep it working.”

Columns

Written by: Chris Christensen

Published: 1989

Download

A Macintosh clone of the Columns arcade game of the late 1980s. Fun Fact: I think that the author of this software might be this guy.

Connect Four

Published: 1985

Download

Super-simple, super-old Mac version of Connect Four.

Continuum

Written by: Randall H. Wilson

Published by: THINK Technologies, 1987

Download

Fly around the maze and blow everything up. This one also has an official webpage. Fun Fact: This is Mini vMac developer Paul Pratt's favorite game!

Core War

Written by: Robert Martin

Published: 1985

Download

An early (now obsolete) implementation of Core War, a game which 25 years later is still going strong!

D

Daleks

Written by: Johan Strandberg

Published: 1984

Download

The original Macintosh version of “Daleks,” which is a variation on the Robots game created by Ken Arnold. Fun Fact: This game may have been the first freeware game released for the Macintosh. 4)

Daleks, The New

Written by: Bob Arning

Published: 1985

Download

An updated version of “Daleks,” which is a variation on the Robots game created by Ken Arnold.

Darts

Written by: Bob Boylan

Published: 1988

Download

A strange little darts game. I can't figure it out. I always miss.

Deep Angst

Written by: Ronald Wartow

Published: 1987

Download

A rather bizarre World Builder adventure game.

Disinfectant

Written by: John Norstad

Published: 1997

Download

This is the virus scanner of note for Macs running System 6. One probably doesn't care too much about viruses within Mini vMac's emulated environment, but do keep in mind that many (a majority) of the 68K software floating around the internet is infected with the nVIR virus. Fun Fact: Recently retired, Disinfectant creator John Norstad has a very interesting webpage with content both new and old.

Donkey Doo

Written by: Gary Dauphin

Published: 1987

Download

A sort of Donkey Kong clone.

Dragon

Written by: Mark Nutter

Published: 1988

Download

Chase the dragon around the grid to save the kingdom. I like this game.

Dungeon

Created by: Tim Anderson, Marc Blank, Dave Lebling, Bruce Daniels

Published: 1991 (this version)

Download

Dungeon is the mainframe version of what went on to become “Zork,” and can thus be distributed as freeware. This build dates from 1991 and runs in System 6. It was put together by Magnus Olsson. However, this is not the final version of Dungeon, and for a more rewarding experience, you may wish to get a build based on version 3.2B (from 1994) from this site. They have builds than run in System 7 and Mac OS X.

DungeonWorld II

Written by: Jeff Derstadt

Published: 1987

Download

Another World Builder adventure game. This one has Dungeons and Dragons theme.

Dungeon of Doom, The

Written by: John Raymonds

Published by: Woodrose Editions, 1986

Download

A fondly remembered roguelike RPG. It was later commercially released as The Dungeon Revealed. For more information, check out the game's fanpage.

Dutil's NIM

Written by: Marc E. Dutil

Published: 1988

Download

Reminds me of a drinking game I learned when I was young.

E

Eidisi

Written by: Det Konnor

Published: 1987

Download

Another World Builder adventure game. The graphics are more basic than most.

Enigma

Written by: Joe Sensendorf

Published: 1985

Download

A rubik's cube sort of game.

F

Ford Simulator II

Published by: The SoftAd Group, 1989

Download

This is awesome. Test drive the hottest Ford cars from 1989 and get more information before making your purchase. Fun Fact: The company that made this advertainment still exists!

G

Glider

Written by: John Calhoun

Published: 1991

Download

One of the all-time great Mac games. It's a paper airplane flight sim. Really fun, really addictive. This is actually a 1991 release, since the version 1.x and 2.x releases from the 1980s seem impossible to find these days. Please note that all versions of Glider are totally free now, and can be downloaded from the author's personal page. The page includes a Windows version.

Glypha

Written by: John Calhoun

Published: 1990

Download

Another all-time great. Like Glider this is a 90s version of the game - the original 1980s versions are impossible to find. Check out the Glypha page for all the latest Glypha news.

Gnop!

Written by: Alex Seropian

Published: 1990

Download

This is another 1990 release. I include it here for historic reasons - it is the first ever release from the legendary Bungie!

Go

Written by: James Logan & Lynn Buess

Published: 1986

Download

An early Macintosh version of the (very) ancient Chinese game of Go.

H

HangMan

Written by: Ken Winograd

Published: 1985, 1988

Download

Another Ken Winograd classic (see “Brickles,” above)! This disk image contains two versions of Winograd's classic HangMan game. Fun Fact: decades later, Ken Winograd is still making Hangman games for the Mac.

HeloMath

Written by: Mark Day

Published: 1988

Download



It's edutainment! Fly your helicopter and learn some arithmetic while you do it.

Hex

Written by: Andrew McDaniel and Michael H. Dickman

Published: 1988

Download

Puzzle game. Try to make a line of hexes across the gameboard before the AI does. Fun Fact: Developer Andrew McDaniel has a puzzle page.

Hotel Caper, The

Written by: Bruce and Aeron Muckala

Published: 1988?

Download

Another WorldBuilder adventure game.

HyperCard Player 2.4.1

Published by: Apple, 1998

Download

Obviously this one doesn't fit the 1980s theme of the collection, but I think that version 2.4.1 of HyperCard (player) is the only version I'm legally allowed to distributed. And of course HyperCard is necessary to play some cool games from the era!

I

Iago

Written by: David Reed

Published: 1984

Download

This is a really wonderful Reversi implementation.

Inigo Gets Out

Written by: Amanda Goodenough

Published: 1987

Download

Inigo the cat explores the outdoors. A historically important (early) hypercard exploration game. It's really wonderful.

J

Jump-It

Written by: Joseph H. Silverman

Published: 1988

Download

Jump the pegs.

K

Karth of the Jungle I and II

Written by: Erik Batzloff Published: 1988, 1989 Download

A World Builder adventure about a tarzan-like hero. Part three of this game was not made, as far as anyone can tell.

Kid Pix

Written by: Craig Hickman

Published: 1989

Download

This is the original shareware version of the classic art program for children. Fun Fact: Kid Pix creator Craig Hickman has a website that includes some Kid Pix remembrances (and lots more cool stuff).

Klondike

Written by: Michael Casteel

Published: 1989

Download

Here's the super rare 4.0 version of Michael Casteel's venerable Klondike for the Mac. This is the last version released in the 1980s. I found the file at the MacGUI Vault. Note that this program is still developed… newer versions are described at the author's homepage.

L

Lembracs

Written by: Michael D. Speir

Published: 1989

Download

A cute word scramble game.

Let's Get Tanked

Written by: Bill Hensler

Published: 1987

Download

This one is a fun tank combat game. Go head-to-head with the computer. Use the mouse to move and click to shoot. For best results, play in full screen mode. Fun Fact: I think that designer Bill Hensler wrote this book about designing Mac games and is now a Vice President at Adobe. Cool.

Lunar Lander

Written by: Kevin Lund

Published: 1987?

Download

An early Macintosh version of the Lunar Lander game.

M

MacBandit

Written by: Dan Jacoby

Published: 1989?

Download

A System 6 slot-machine. Thanks to 24bit for the file.

MacCasino

Written by: Neil Jacobson

Published: 1987

Download

Another casino game. This one includes Roulette, a slot machine and something called “chuck-a-luck.” Mac Bandit (above) has a better slot machine, for what it's worth.

Mac Pong II

Written by: David L. O'Conner

Published: 1987?

Download

A simple PONG clone.

Mac Pork Barrel

Written by: Jordan Zimmerman

Published: 1988

Download

Catch the tax bills coming out of congress with your moused controlled pork barrel. How political!

Mac Trek

Written by: Travis Butler

Published: 1987

Download

A Star Trek game. Warp around the galaxy and fight Klingons. I can't quite figure out how to find the Klingons. You might have better luck, Captain.

Mac Word Hunt

Written by: Fred & Rhoda Moulden

Published: 1987

Download

A fun word game. Try to make as many words as possible using connected tiles (yes, it is like BOGGLE).

Mines

Written by: Daniel Griscom

Published by: The Computer Museum, 1988

Download

A variation on Minesweeper. The goal is to move from the top left of the grid to the bottom right without hitting a mine. Click to move, shift-click to mark squares. Fun Fact: The author of this game has a consulting firm.

Missile

Written by: Robert P. Mufano

Published: 1984

Download

This is a golden oldie. Can you believe it dates back to 1984? The author has a web presence that includes an interesting description of the game and the source code, too!

Monopoly

Written by: Tom Fosson

Published: 1987

Download

A remarkably solid Monopoly game. You can even implement some common “house rules” which is more than one can say about some common Monopoly games. It's shareware, though I'm not sure if the author had permission from Parker Brothers. Thanks to pinballfan9 for the file!

N

NetTrek

Written by: Randy Carr

Published: 1994

Download

This is version 3.51d of NetTrek. It was provided by the original author, Randy Carr. It was added to the System 6 Hell collection at the request of John, though you should probably run the game in Basilisk II if you want to play network opponents. Note that you can also play NetTrek on modern systems, since the game is still being actively developed.

O

Orion

Written by: Robert P. Munafo

Published: 1988

Download

A space flight simulator. Use some not-simple controls to pilot your faster-than-light vessel around the galaxy. Try visiting Wolf-359, perhaps. This game was developed by Robert Munafo, who is an E-Maculation forum member. TIP: Using Mini vMac's magnification feature will make this game a lot more fun. You might also try tinkering with the speed of the emulation (check that you aren't using the 8x emulation be default… try 2x instead).

P

Pharaoh

Written by: Robert Martin

Released: 1989

Download

A wonderful sim game. You play as an upstart pharaoh and must buy land, grow crops, trade goods and cut deals with your neighbors. You should also download the manual, generously provided by Macintosh Garden. A user, also on Mac Garden, contacted Robert Martin, the game's author, and he was cool enough to provide a registration code: fnjfgr,=k,su

Phrase Craze Plus

Written by: Bradley R. Pettit

Released: 1986

Download

A very good Wheel of Fortune adaptation. The best part is that you can edit the puzzle file to add puzzles of your own creation. Note that you must slow down Mini vMac to 1x speed for the sound to work properly. Fun Fact: The author of this game has a website.

R

Radical Castle

Written by: Christopher Kent Wigginton

Published: 1986

Download

Radical Castle is considered one of the all-time great World Builder engine adventures. I added it to our page after it was featured as a Macscene.net Retro game of the Week.

Rassling

Written by: Mike Gleason, Jr.

Published: 1988?

Download

This is neat. Pick two 1980s pro wrestlers and watch a simulated play-by-play of them in the ring. Requires hypercard.

Risk

Written by: Tone Engle

Published: 1986 It's (an unauthorised implementation of) Risk! This is a slightly modified version of the original file. I was inspired to add Risk to the collection by these fond remembrances of the game.

S

Scarab of Ra

Written by: Rick Holzgrafe

Published by: Semicolon Software, 1987

Download

Here's Scarab of Ra, one of the great Mac shareware titles of the 1980s. Explore a maze-like pyramid looking for treasure while overcoming tramps and animals. Fun Fact: Semicolon software is still in business… so pay your shareware dues! And you can check out developer Rick Holzgrafe's blog, too.

Social Climber

Published by: CSI Design Group, 1986

Download

Dodge the elevators. Pretty cool. Thanks to René for sending the file!

The Incredible Story Maker

Written by: Chris Calabrese

Published: 1988

Download

A cute little party game. You write a sentence to start a story and another player continues the story but is only allowed to see the last four words of your sentence. Repeat, repeat, repeat.

Stuffit 1.5

Written by: Raymond Lau

Published: 1988

Download

This includes Stuffit 1.5.1. and UnStuffit 1.5. I believe these were the final shareware versions of the software released directly by designer Raymond Lau. This is here mostly for historic reasons. You'd be better off using version 4.0.1 (below) instead. Thanks to fanman93 for the file. Fun Fact: Stuffit creator Raymond Lau now works for a company called EveryZing!

Stuffit 4.01

Written by: Anthony Shore, et al.

Published by: Aladdin Systems, 1996

Download

Here's Stuffit 4.01. This is the latest version that Mini vMac's emulated system is capable of running, and the version you should be using. Included is the installer.

StuntCopter

Written by: Duane Blehm

Published by: Hometown Software, 1986

Download

Another all-time great from the era… and probably one of the most recognizable Mac titles from the era, too. This includes versions 1.0, 1.2, 1.6 and 2.0. Scroll up for “Cairo Shootout,” another great game by the same author.

T

Theldrow

Written by: Glenn Andreas

Published: 1989

Download

This one is a lovely RPG similar to the early Might and Magic games. Thanks to Mac GUI City for the file. Fun Fact: Developer Glenn Andreas is still making software.

Toxic Ravine (aka "Orlando Poon's Toxic Ravine Cleanup and Rescue Service")

Written by: Glenn R. Wichman

Published: 1989

Download

Fly a blimp back and forth and rescue the POON clone. To help with this, you've got smart bombs, balloon bombs and a robot at your disposal. A classic! I was inspired to add this game after reading this review of it, which also includes detailed instructions for play. Fun Fact: This game was designed by Glenn Wichman, one of the creators of Rogue. He has a webpage.

Trek

Written by: Richard Harvey

Published: 1988

Download

This is a remarkably detailed Star Trek game. Do battle with Klingon ships. Thanks to darknation for the recommendation. Fun Fact: Trek designer Richard Harvey later designed the Fly! series of flight-sims.

W

Wator

Written by: Robert Martin

Published: 1985

This one is great. The game simulates sharks eating fish. You tell the game how many of each to start with and the game simulates their population levels over time. And that's it. It goes on and on and on…

Wheel

Written by: Bob Boylan

Published: 1986

Download

A “Wheel of Fortune” clone. Thanks to René for the file!

Window Demo

Written by: Andy Hertzfeld

Published: 1982

Download

A real oldie. I pulled this one from the Mac GUI vault, which describes it as “possibly the earliest-surviving Macintosh program ever.”

Z

Zoony