terminal and arcade games

Recent window: last 5.4 months (2026-05-01 → 2026-10-11), compared with the prior 5.4 months.

media · 32 members · Data as of 2026-10-14

Terminal and arcade games offer lightweight, retro-style gaming experiences built directly into command lines, SSH sessions, and minimalist web interfaces. They are designed for developers, hackers, and retro enthusiasts who want quick entertainment breaks without leaving their programming environments. Unlike mainstream video games with heavy graphical engines, these titles emphasize text interfaces, ASCII visuals, and developer-centric controls like vim motions.

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Pulled from real Hacker News comment threads on this niche's launches.

Most asked for

Ability to hover/move without flapping on mobile (1)
Raised on Beakdown
Analyze historical submissions (1)
Raised on The HN Arcade
ASCII particle effects for smoke and blood (1)
Raised on asciiQuake
Emacs key bindings toggle in settings (1)
Raised on Zsweep
Extended ASCII or Unicode characters for player representation (1)
Raised on Termcraft
Function keys (f1/f2/f3) to jump to next number in row (1)
Raised on Zsweep
H/L/M (High/Low/Medium) difficulty levels (1)
Raised on Zsweep
Improve character contrast and visibility (1)
Raised on asciiQuake

Concerns raised

2D world makes nether fortress progression tedious and unskippable (1)
Raised on Termcraft
Board state not displayed after hitting mine (1)
Raised on Zsweep
Cannot play without physical shake input (CRT monitor limitation) (1)
Raised on 1D-Pong Game at 39C3
Cardinals at top are overpowered (1)
Raised on Beakdown
Character display issues in Safari (1)
Raised on asciiQuake
difficulty tuning needs feedback (1)
Raised on Chronos, 2 terminal games through 50 years of hacking history
ed editor is arcane and frustrating to use (1)
Raised on Chronos, 2 terminal games through 50 years of hacking history
Escape key to finish game conflicts with 'i' for reveal (1)
Raised on Zsweep

Compared to

Atari Gauntlet (1)
Raised on Termcraft
cssQuake.wtf (Quake port) (1)
Raised on asciiQuake
FastLED library (1)
Raised on 1D-Pong Game at 39C3
Flappy Bird (1)
Raised on Beakdown
freesweep (1)
Raised on Zsweep
HN Algolia search (1)
Raised on The HN Arcade
Hytale (1)
Raised on Termcraft
Joust (1)
Raised on Beakdown

Members

Name	Source	Upvotes ▼	Launched
The HN Arcade	HN	352	2026-01-28
Termcraft	HN	136	2026-03-21
intermission	GITHUB	99	2026-10-02
Zsweep	HN	78	2026-01-18
1D-Pong Game at 39C3	HN	69	2026-01-11
stillAlive-C	GITHUB	49	2026-10-04
termablo	GITHUB	31	2026-09-29
cc-arcade	GITHUB	30	2026-09-13
omarchy-retro-arcade	GITHUB	27	2026-09-11
typesafe-snake	GITHUB	20	2026-09-17
asciiQuake	HN	16	2026-09-02
Chronos, 2 terminal games through 50 years of hacking history	HN	15	2026-07-31
NBSDgames	HN	13	2026-06-10
percolate	GITHUB	13	2026-09-19
Beakdown	HN	11	2026-07-28
Snake-Game	GITHUB	11	2026-09-24
ssh sshfighter.com	HN	10	2026-08-21
Brick_Breaker	GITHUB	10	2026-09-16
Snake	GITHUB	9	2026-09-16
DeskArcade	GITHUB	8	2026-09-15
ASCII Royale	HN	7	2026-06-12
Play nbsdgames to increase your brain (exclamation mark)	HN	7	2026-05-24
CLIRPG	GITHUB	7	2026-09-15
Permanent Underclass	HN	6	2026-02-24
I made a roguelike game playable over SSH	HN	6	2026-01-21
Multi-player poker on SSH	HN	6	2026-07-15
Chess-TUI Play Lichess games in your terminal (Rust)	HN	5	2025-12-11
TermType	HN	5	2026-06-21
Terminal Arcade	HN	5	2026-05-08
Gravitype	HN	5	2026-09-19
Spinlings	PH	2	2026-10-07
Lost in Color	PH	1	2026-09-19