How to Play Classic Games on Your Mac Terminal

There are many games hidden away in your Mac Terminal (assuming you update your Mac system at least once a year). In this How-to, you’ll be able to access the list of games you can play in the Mac Terminal as well as how to play with them.

View the List of Games

First, cd to the directory that contains Emacs. Emacs is a text-editor built into the Mac operating system.

cd /usr/share/emacs

Copy and paste the previous script.

Next, type “ls” to see the results. You should have only 2 results, one that says “site-lisp” and another that is a number.

It Should Display Results Like These - If it doesn't, don't worry, only the number is of concern

Next, type “cd” and then the number. In this case type:

cd 22.1

Then, copy and paste the next line of code into the terminal

cd lisp/play

Finally, type “ls” and you’ll see a list of games you can play

List of Games, as Per Lion OS

How to Play the Games

Now I’m sure you want to play the games.

First, open a new window of Terminal

Second, type “emacs.” Emacs user interface should appear.

Emacs Interface in Terminal

Next, press the Escape-key, followed by the letter “x.” In the prompt at the bottom of the window, type the desired game you want to play and press the enter key.

Just Like This - Then Press "return"

Finally, enjoy the game! There are many other options such as Dunnet, a text-based RPG, or two-player Pong.

Enjoying a Game of Pong

Comment if any problems occur.