Updated on August 23rd, 2024
AD – Sponsored | Several years back I rewatched 3 scary children’s movies, and this time around I wanted to replay children’s games I used to play on the computer.
Putt-Putt Saves the Zoo (1995)
I had several Putt-Putt games as a kid, and I remember playing Putt-Putt Goes to the Moon, Putt-Putt Saves the Zoo, and Putt-Putt Travels Through Time. I know I did not like Goes to the Moon that much, but I loved Saves the Zoo and Travels Through Time and played them more than once. For this post, I decided to replay the game Putt-Putt Saves the Zoo with my daughter, which I purchased on Steam. In the game, the Cartown Zoo is having a grand opening, but all the baby animals are missing and you need to help reunite them with their parents.
My daughter controlled the mouse the whole time, and I helped her with where to go since this was the first computer game she actually played. She loved the game, and she also liked the mini-game of finding 5 of the same animals and taking pictures of all the animals around the zoo with the in-game camera. The game took around an hour to finish, and it was fun to experience the story again. We have since played Putt-Putt Joins the Circus and Putt-Putt Enters the Race, which I never played as a kid, but my daughter loved them as well.
Cruise Ship Tycoon (2003)
I played a bunch of tycoon games as a kid including Zoo Tycoon, Cruise Ship Tycoon, Mall Tycoon, School Tycoon, and Roller Coaster Tycoon. I also remember playing Theme Park World, which is similar to Roller Coaster Tycoon. For this post, I decided to replay Cruise Ship Tycoon. In Cruise Ship Tycoon, you manage a fleet of cruise ships by building up the interiors and maintaining the happiness of the passengers. I played the game several times, but I lost the cruise ship the first time because it hit a rock and sank. I forgot that at times I had to change the angle the cruise ship was traveling in to avoid obstacles.
After the third playthrough though, the game felt repetitive because I was building the cruise ships the same way every time with the larger lower decks for the rooms, the smaller upper decks for restaurants, shops, and entertainment, and the outdoor decks for activities. There are only a small number of different amenities and decorations, so I was constantly using the same items over and over again on the cruise ship. You do receive feedback from the passengers, and they will say there are not enough places to shop, eat, or rest so you know what to focus on to improve guest happiness. You have staff as well to help repair and build things, keep the cruise ship clean, and cure sick passengers.
Cruise Ship Tycoon was fun to play through a few times, but now I do not have the desire to play anymore because of how limited and repetitive the gameplay is.
Zoo Tycoon (2001)
Since Cruise Ship Tycoon was a bit of a letdown, I decided to replay Zoo Tycoon as well. In Zoo Tycoon, you build and manage a zoo. I never played Zoo Tycoon with the Marine Mania or Dinosaur Digs expansion packs, so I decided to play with them, and it was fun. I loved playing through the different scenarios, but there is a sandbox mode as well. Even though Zoo Tycoon does have a set number of different amenities like in Cruise Ship Tycoon, I never built the same exact zoo because I always had different animals for the scenarios. You also need to complete research to unlock more animals, buildings, etc., so you do not have access to everything at the start of the game.
I liked building enclosures because the animals will have a happy or sad face depending on the changes you make to the terrain, fauna, rocks, and housing. You also have staff to manage including zookeepers and maintenance workers, and you can assign zookeepers to certain enclosures, which is helpful if you have a large zoo. You can also adjust prices for entrance, food and drinks, and amenities, and you can get an overview of the guests and see if they are happy, hungry, thirsty, etc. so you know if many guests are hungry you need to build a place to eat. I have spent many hours playing Zoo Tycoon without getting bored because there is always something different to do.
Scooby-Doo! Show Down in Ghost Town (2000)
As a kid, I also played a lot of Scooby-Doo games including Scooby-Doo! Jinx at the Sphinx, Scooby-Doo! Show Down in Ghost Town, and Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed. I replayed Scooby-Doo! Show Down in Ghost Town, and in the game you solve the mystery of who the Faceless Rider is. The game is cute, and the gang is voiced by many of the same voice actors in the movies and cartoon series. You also explore different areas of the ghost town, solve puzzles, and gather clues. The game is geared towards younger kids so it was not challenging to complete, but it was still fun to reminisce.
Classic Minesweeper
I also spent many hours playing the preinstalled games on my computer including Minesweeper. In Minesweeper, you have a rectangular board with mines, and you have to uncover the spaces without uncovering the mines. I was never really good at the game, and I do not believe I won a single time. I played the Classic Minesweeper Game on Plays.org, and it was fun even though I did not win a single game haha. Plays.org has hundreds of other free retro, arcade, logic, and different types of games to play that require no downloading, and they are adding new games every day. Along with playing Minesweeper, I have spent quite a bit of time playing various games under the “Random Plays” section as well.
Space Adventure Pinball
Another preinstalled game I played all the time was pinball, and I played the Space Adventure Pinball Game on Plays.org. In the game, you have 3 pinballs to try and score the most points possible and you control the left and right flippers. It is fun seeing how high of a score I can get and trying to get the combos. Many of the games like this one are also mobile friendly so you can play on your phone or tablet as well.
OK, I feel very old now because the only game I recognise and used to play a lot was Minesweeper. I think I won a few times but usually lost big time, it’s a hard one! I also used to love Tetris, which I think is the basis for a lot of games like Candy Crush nowadays 🙂
Haha 😂 I played Minesweeper a lot too because I thought that one day I would be able to win haha. Tetris is a fun game & omg I haven’t played Candy Crush in forever!
Oh the hours wasted on Minesweeper!
I sometimes crack out the classic games for my niece and nephew and they love them. Sonic, Mario Bros etc, but my favourites were text adventure games and point & click adventure games.
Haha I spent a lot of time playing Minesweeper too trying to win at least once.
That’s nice they love them! My daughter likes playing older games too like the Putt Putt games I mentioned as well as various GameCube games.
Zoo tycoon is awesome! I loved playing rollercoaster tycoon 1 & 2. I could play that for hours! I would love to start playing them again, but I may not get any work done 😂🙈. Thank you for sharing the other ones!
I agree Zoo Tycoon is great! Haha yes. They can be addicting!
SO many memories from this post! Pinball and minesweepers were my go-to on my PC! Also, they used to do CD’s with games in cereals in Italy, mostly based off Disney and used to spend afternoons on them x
They’re fun games! Ooo I think they did that in the US too before they banned having toys/nonedible objects in food.
What a blast from the past! I always played the hell out of Theme Hospital and a game series called “Mulle Mekk”, where you make weird cars from all sorts of weird parts. I also played the Flåklypa game a lot. And Elder Scrolls games, but they’re not really children’s games.
I never played Theme Hospital but I feel like I’m missing out haha
Ooo those sound interesting!
Haha yes the Elder Scrolls aren’t really kids games, but they’re fun nonetheless!
OMG! Pinball and minesweeper!! I remember those so well! I loved Freddy Fish and my parents bought a bunch of fun Lion King typing games too. Jogged some deep memories there! Thanks for sharing, Karalee xx
Lynn | https://www.lynnmumbingmejia.com
Haha yes! I never played Freddy Fish even though they’re the same company that made Putt Putt. No problem!
This is a very good post. It reminded me of the good old days. I also missed some old PC and video games. Thank you for sharing.
Thank you! What games did you play?
I was thinking about Rollercoaster Tycoon the other day and as soon as I get a new laptop, I’m getting that game again because I was obsessed! I didn’t know there was a Cruise Ship Tycoon – that sounds amazing! x
Yes do it! It’s a fun game & I have it on my laptop too!
Cruise Ship Tycoon is fun to play a few times & there’s a tycoon game for pretty much everything haha
Oooh, I love the idea of replaying old games. I was actually thinking last night of going back to my old Pokemon games. This was an enjoyable post and so sweet that you were able to play the games with your daughter!
Thank you & you should! I started playing the older pokemon games with my partner!
Oh these games are so classic! I used to love playing PC Games growing up!
Yes! I still love playing PC games now haha
I love this! My favourites was Alex Kidd and that Chip game that was on the windows ‘best of entertainment games package. Chip challenge I think it was called!
Corinne x
Thank you! I never played Alex Kidd or the Chip challenge game, but they look fun!
Omg zoo tycoon! I LOVED that as a child, that and Theme hospital were my jam! I also loved all the games on the Cartoon network site, they were very addictive. Thanks for taking me down memory lane, I have to try get a hold of Zoo tycoon somehow haha
I never played theme hospital, but I loved zoo tycoon & still do!
YES! I played a ton of games on cartoon network too. I tried seeing if I could find any to play for this post but I couldn’t 😥
I’ve been using https://www.myabandonware.com/ to download older games like zoo tycoon that I can no longer buy.
Minesweeper and Pinball were my favorite games when I was younger. I loved those games. They were so much fun.
They are fun! Were you any good at Minesweeper?
This just gave me such nostalgia! Thanks for posting!
You’re welcome!
I love Minesweeper 😊😊 such a great game 👍🏻 thanks for sharing
Have you ever won a Minesweeper game?! If so, tell me your secrets! Haha 😂
Minesweeper is hard 😂
Haha it is!!!
What a throwback! My sister had rollercoaster tycoon which she occasionally let me play – I loved every second of it 💗
Haha that’s nice she let you play! It’s a fun game!
This is amazing! Putt Putt was so cute and fun. Only the best Tycoon games. So many childhood memories. 🙂
Thank you! I agree Putt Putt is cute & fun & tycoon games are so fun too!
Minesweeper is STILL the bane of my existence.
Haha how do people win?! I’ll think I’m doing okay but then nope 1 wrong move & it’s all over
My first or second move is always the one that explodes. I’m literally going to go watch a video on the purpose of that game lmao cause I NEED TO KNOW!
My husband replays his childhood games, like roller coaster tycoon and a bunch of others that I don’t remember 😂 He’s also a sims fan and still plays the sims to this day.
The other day he downloaded super Mario games from Super Nintendo and has been playing these games for the past 2 weeks (SNES). He also downloaded some super Mario 64 games for me. We play them on the computer hooked up to the TV (he even bought a special controller for it). For some reason, I remembered these games being a lot more fun as a kid. Now they seem a bit “blah” compared to the games we have now, which saddens me.
Haha he has good tastes in games! Roller coaster tycoon is a fun game & I still play the sims too!
My partner has been playing a ton of old games on the gamecube like Mario party & super Mario sunshine
Aww. Yea sometimes games don’t live up to our expectations we we as a kid
oh my gosh! i love this post so much. i remember playing putt putt & zoo tycoon. i also played other rollercoaster tycoon games and the sims religiously!
Thank you! Haha that’s awesome you played putt putt & zoo tycoon too! YES! I played the sims A LOT!