Welcome to a time when graphics still needed imagination and sound scraped out of a sound blaster card! The 1990s were the golden age of PC gaming – an era in which we juggled floppy disks and words like professional artists “Create boot disk” brought a cold sweat to our foreheads.

Strap on your Velcro sneakers and blow hard into the dust cover of your floppy drive, because we’re going back to a decade when pixels were big enough to be called by their first name. Here are the absolute time wasters from the 1990s that kept us glued to our CRT monitors all night long.

#1 “Age of Empires”

“Wololo!” – From the handaxe to the Imperial Age, we have invested hour after hour building wonders of the world and managing resources.

#2 “Command & Conquer”

Building the base and collecting green Tiberium or ore was addictive. The iconic film sequences (full motion video) from the strategy game series, filmed with real actors, were legendary “Command & Conquerin which the charismatic villain Kane (played by Joseph D. Kucan) plays the main role.

#3 “Diablo”

The dark atmosphere in the catacombs under Tristram and the constant hunt for better loot (loot spiral) invented a whole new addictive principle.

#4 “Anno 1602”

The first Anno game from Germany brought the perfect endless loop of production, taxes and the constant lack of tools.

#5 “Sid Meier’s Civilization II”

The epitome of the phenomenon “Just one more round…” – until the sun rose again outside.

#6 “The Settlers II”

Watching the little men’s bustling activity and optimizing transport routes had an unbeatable, calming effect… until the night was over.

#7 “Baldur’s Gate”

Anyone looking for epic stories and in-depth Dungeons & Dragons rules lost hundreds of hours in the Sword Coast and had little sleep.

#8 “Doom & Doom II”

Running shotgun through Martian pixel hells revolutionized the PC market and kept us awake thanks to adrenaline.

#9 “Half Life”

The gripping production surrounding Gordon Freeman and the Black Mesa research facility set completely new standards for story shooters in 1998.

#10 “The Secret of Monkey Island”

The point-and-click gem from LucasFilm Games kept us awake with brilliant humor, insult-fighting and tricky puzzles.

#11 “Myst”

The beautiful, photo-realistic still images at the time and the extremely cryptic puzzles had us writing rows and rows of notepads next to the keyboard.

#12 “Bundesliga Manager Professional”

Calculate spreadsheets, expand stadiums and negotiate contracts. You’ve been busy for a whole weekend trying to make your club successful.