5 Retro Arcade Games You Can Play On Your Computer

There’s something about playing retro-style games that takes us back to the good ol’ days when we could get sucked into a game for hours and stay up all night long - or until our parents yelled at us to go to bed! It takes us back to a time when we had little responsibility and few worries. These days, life is filled with stress, ups and downs, and everything that comes with being an adult. Retro arcade games that you can play on your computer are easy to find and they help relieve anxiety. Some even say they are great exercise for your brain, and help to improve your cognitive function! Here are a few you can play right now with no downloads or wait time.

Bubble Shooter

Bubble Shooter is super easy to learn how to play and can be very addictive. You can play it on your computer, but you can also download the app to your mobile device to play on the go when you don’t have an internet connection. It comes down to being as simple as a matching game. The game gives you a colored bubble that you shoot at a board filled with other colored bubbles. Your goal is to blast your bubble into two or more of the same color. This will send the bubbles popping away, and the fewer moves you use to blast the board away, the higher your score will be.

As you play, the game adds more rows of bubbles. If the bubbles reach the bottom of the board, the game is over and you can restart it. You’ll find out you can do bounce shots off the side of the game board to sneak your bubble into tricky spaces. The game lets you know what your next bubble color will be so you can plan out strategic moves. With such simple gameplay at your fingertips, Bubble Shooter is fun and easy to play.

You can find Bubble Shooter on Ilyon’s website and on Facebook.com. Both have quick links that immediately bring up the game for you to play. Share it with all your friends today! It’s completely free and requires no downloads.

Oregon Trail

Oregon Trail is a classic 90s computer came that you probably remember from your elementary school days. The graphics were blocky and pixelated, but historic scenarios were pretty solid for the early settlers. The archived version of this game is exactly the way you remember it, with plenty of rivers to ford, checking of your rations, trading to reach the Great Northwest, and of course, dying from dysentery. If you use your best reasoning skills, you just might make it to Oregon!

You can also see what the actual trail map to Oregon was like back in its hay day. While the Oregon Trail game may not be the most exciting and fast-moving retro game you can play, history buffs love it, and parents like it for the educational values it can teach their kids about the Old West. Just when you think you’re getting close to beating the game, virtual life can hit you like a ton of bricks with deadly illnesses and unexpected weather!

Power Pop Bubbles

Power Pop Bubbles is a matching game similar to Bubble Shooter, but the gameplay is pumped up with flashy graphics and cool booster items, like fireballs and bombs, that blow holes in the bubble game board. In this souped-up version, you can swap out your ammo bubble for another color to give yourself a competitive advantage. Use your strategic skills to do bounce trick shots and clear the bubbles. The game will keep giving you more challenging levels and puzzles to test your ability to keep up.

This game is available on mobile-only at this time but is very similar to the web-based Bubble Shooter game.

Brick Breaker Unicorn

Brick Breaker Unicorn is like a more colorful version of Pong. The colors and explosive action may cause your brain to double-take and become confused. But, if you love playing loud, colorful, random animal-themed penny games in Las Vegas, this is definitely a game for you. While the gameplay can get very busy, it’s a simple game to learn how to play. It’s free, there are no downloads, and you can get started playing right away without having to read instructions.

Instead of the Pong ‘paddles’, you have two unicorn heads with a bouncy carpet stretched between them at the bottom of your screen. When you click the screen once, a ball begins to shoot around and you can bounce it with your unicorn duo. Try to bounce it into the bricks until they are all broken. As the ball cracks the bricks, booster items are released that can equip your unicorns with blaster guns, added time, bonus hearts, and other fun items. Just don’t let your ball fall off the bottom of the screen, or you won’t get it back again. Each level presents new brick layouts and more challenges.

Stupid Zombies

This zombie game isn’t like others you’ve played that make your pulse race and your anxiety go up. It’s a lot like Angry Birds, in which you solve puzzles and challenges to eliminate all of the zombies. Luckily, the zombies don’t attack your character. Everything stands in one spot while your zombie apocalypse hero, who looks a lot like Rick from The Walking Dead, can take aim and shoot a bouncy bullet to take down the zombies.

As the levels progress, the game throws in some wooden crates, exploding barrels, and other items that can hinder or help your attempts to send the zombies back to their grave. With no downloads, you can easily get started playing it right now.

For those of us who don’t want to spend a few hundred dollars on expensive gaming systems, there is plenty of fun, retro arcade-style games for your computer that can satisfy your gaming itch. You can play them on PC equipment you already have at no extra cost.

About the Author:

Aaron Smith is an LA-based content strategist and consultant in support of STEM firms and medical practices. He covers new industry developments and helps companies connect with clients. In his free time, Aaron enjoys swimming, swing dancing, and sci-fi novels.