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/ Genres / Simulation / SimAnt

SimAnt

DOS - 1991
Also available on: Amiga - FM Towns - Sharp X68000 - Windows 3.x

SimAnt was released by Maxis and is part of the Sim series. In the nineties, several Sim like games were created, Sim Ant is a ant colony simulator.

You have to manage your ants by digging tunnels, find food, protect the queen, expand your territory, fight against many enemies, including the evil red ants ! The conquest of the whole garden and the house will make you victorious.

The game was a hit with more than 100,000 copies sold and was released on many platform. SimAnt was included in the SimClassic pack.

OM commented: ...This was one of the few games that the early pirate groups actively encouraged the "if you like it, buy it!" dogma. When it came out, it actually outsold SimCity and the various cosmetic packs, and there was almost no negativity seen in the reviews published in the plethora of trade rags at the time. Even PC Week gave it an excellent review, and those choads back then were notorious for hating anything that wasn't Lotus 1-2-3.

...IIRC, Maxis toyed around with the idea of a new version of SimAnt. Same gameplay, but if you chose to actively control an ant, instead of the "Dig Dug" view, you became the and and played it as an FPS! Never went beyond comments made by Maxis staffers at the trade shows, but talk about it went on until "Streets of SimCity" came out and royally tanked, which killed off any ideas of FPSing any other Maxis sims. Bastards.

Comments and reviews

Forzalex 23 May. 2026

I keep getting an error saying that file isnt compatible with 64 bit windows. But my DOSBOX is 32 bit!

Would appreciate any advice?

0
Random User 20 Feb. 2024
Top comment

First discovered Sim Ant at my middle school just a few years ago, the owner let me take it and I've been occasionally playing it on my older secondary computer.

7
Chad w 30 Jan. 2024

Had a babysitting job across the street. I always arrived early and was a bit rude. I wouldcl raid their fridge and go through their 286 PC. Found sim ant. That was like 1994. Now its 2024 and have a PC that is a trillion times more powerful but cantcseem to play sim ant again. So sad

3
LibertyToad 28 Nov. 2023

I remember buying and playing this when it came out many years ago. I had a good time with it but thought it was a bit too easy. A very unique game.

0
thelfern 14 Sep. 2023

One of the first games i played growing up in the early 2000s, i loved roaming around the surface, so much nostalgia here!

3
Eminor 07 Dec. 2022

To easily launch the game (DOS version)

in the game's folder you can make a LAUNCH.txt file, and in it copy/paste the following:

start "" "E:\GAMES\Old Games\DOSBox-0.74-3\DOSBox.exe" "E:\GAMES\Old Games\simant-the-electronic-ant-colony\SIMANT.EXE"

Then replace
E:\GAMES\Old Games\DOSBox-0.74-3\DOSBox.exe
and
E:\GAMES\Old Games\simant-the-electronic-ant-colony\SIMANT.EXE
with your own paths for DOSBox.exe and SIMANT.exe respectively, because those are obviously my locations.

Change the file extension from .txt to .bat (so you get LAUNCH.bat)

and use that file to launch the game from here on out.

5
Erick Gunn 16 Oct. 2022

I enjoyed this from my gaming shed in Norway. It was played repeatedly until sundries ended and last time was all done and dusted. It was the only time anyone noticed the long black mountain bike trekking up the andies. We discovered it until only last night with many memories and good times. Thankyou from Asif Town

3
gcheeseau 13 Sep. 2022

thanks for this , i have the original but no longer have any floppy drives .

0
mabith 29 Aug. 2022

A little surprised to learn this was a hit. My first boyfriend was the only person I knew (apart from myself) who had played it.

2
Goolash 07 May. 2022

Empires of the Undergrowth tries to resurrect this experience but falls short in the lack of a open-world yard to conquer.

4
Drakster2020 18 Mar. 2022

This game is challenging

1
snek 14 Oct. 2021

good game for boredorm. the spooder menu when you get killed by it does scare me sometimes lol

2
random salamander on the internet 13 Jul. 2021

this is a good game :D, i wish i could be the queen but oh well,not everything you want will exist!

3
H-GUY 10 Jul. 2021

It's a wonderful game isn't it! Anyone know how to get the mouse 'out' of DOS to close the window (am using task manager atm).

0
zhxwn 30 May. 2021

To get this to run.

Download DOXBOX from https://sourceforge.net/projects/dosbox/files/latest/download

Once installed, you will have a dosbox shortcut on your desktop.

Download SIMANT, extract all files, drag the SIMANT.exe on to the dosbox shortcut.

Game will start.

Awkward way to start but hey ho, works.

4
ANDY 03 Feb. 2021

If you like this old gem, you will love a very similar game, Empires of the under Undergrowth, that is based on this game - and actually improves on it. You can buy it on Steam.

2
fatmangreg 26 Sep. 2020

just finished the gamesit was sooooooo good dis is a masterpeice that should be put in the hall of games!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

-2
Conorboiis_da_best1234 24 Sep. 2020

wat u need to download??

-4
EldritchNexus 23 Aug. 2020

@STEGOSAURO
You're supposed to click with the mouse.

-3
stegosauro 19 Jun. 2020

why the mouse din't work? when i click the arrow go nowere

-3
Miss My Childhood 24 Apr. 2020

So I tried to play this game just from my browser but I'm assuming since I'm on my phone is the reason I'm having trouble because I don't have a mouse to control anything. I don't have wifi to use my computer, does anyone know if I take my computer somewhere with wifi to download the game do I then still need an internet connection to play the game once its already downloaded?

-1
FREEDOS User who can't figure out how to properly 23 Apr. 2020

I have the original disk, and the original disk for SIM-FARM :D
So, sorry WWW, I've already got the game!

-8
Random Nerd 16 Dec. 2019

Been a while since I played. Try givign it to the queen rather than in front of her maybe. Your workers will automatically feed her, and you should start out making all workers and have them set to first foraging and then tending tending young as well once you have enough food.

1
mexicnabandito 06 Nov. 2019

love it chiled hood meromry got me into ants

0
sam 20 Aug. 2019

if you can't be bothered to play this game or if you don't have the time, READ THE MANUAL! it teaches cool facts about ants!

1
Slightly Confused Ant 26 May. 2019

I have a problem I put food right in front of the queen and she still dies of starvation it's strange... can I have some help?

1
Quil the Great 01 Feb. 2019
Top comment

Oh wow, I still have an original version of this on CD. The popup of the spider eating you still scares me witless, but an absolutely amazing game all round.

8
Jazy Smith 18 Dec. 2018

I Would Love To Play This Praisable Game

2
InsertUberAwesomeNameHere 19 Apr. 2018

@lunch should be a pop up the top area of your browser asking for permission to disable your mouse curser say yes an it should work, if you want your mouse back just hit esc before you hit yes you can use the scroll bar on the side so you can see the whole game box. im using opera though so the little notification might be somewhere else on a different browser

0
lunch 12 Apr. 2018

playing in browser but my mouse won't sync with the game mouse. can't access the top & right parts of game (cursor leaves playing box). anyone know how to fix?

2
Lee B 04 Jan. 2018

I used to play this on Amiga back in the day. If you go straight to the enemy ant nest and kill the queen as soon as you start then theres never any enemy ants to beat you. Makes it a bit boring but still a fun activity to do.

2
ag 06 Oct. 2017

waw

-1
TUTORIAL 11 Aug. 2017

3-part tutorial on beating the full game!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sp6KTA9iXLk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfcBOPdmYOA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0_TfIf5vro

4
The girl Beuatiful 25 Feb. 2017

Hi, I love this game .. the graphics could improve but that's okay, this way, this one's good, too, and I would like to thank those who made this great gam

-6
Ariel Eytan 22 Nov. 2016

OMG my favorite game love that soooooo much......... also i love ants

1
krashd 23 Aug. 2016

@BK: Tried ALT+RETURN? That is the universal combo for toggling fullscreen/window. Works in most apps, but is especially fantastic for emulators such as DOSBox or FS_UAE.

0
Jbs2386 07 Jul. 2016

It was one of my favourite games ever!!!

2
rikodewayne 04 Jul. 2016

nice game, rather educational for my daughter.

0
bk 04 Jun. 2016

loved this back in the day.
loads fine on win 10 64 bit. tiny screen though for which I have to figure the work around

3
Jester 01 Jun. 2016

Broken. :/ I have windows 10, Install it, click SIMANT.EXE I get a 'CAN'T RUN' message. Any ideas? This is a shame.

-8
Iziay 30 Apr. 2016

I like your games

1
danielroxheaps 13 Apr. 2016

I have a thing for the Sim/The Sims/SimCity series', so when I found this on here, it made me so happy. I managed to get this working on my Windows 10 with DOSbox, so smiley faces for days!!! :) :) :) :)

0
J.H. 27 Mar. 2016

When you get sick of the spider killing your ants whatcha gonna do? Take him over and become the spider :)

1
zorch 23 Feb. 2016

You have to have DOS to play the game, it won't work in windows. Download Dosbox or ScummVM.

1
Rem 22 Feb. 2016

I cant get it to work, it says my computer does not support it. I know little of this stuff and my computer is a windows 10. I miss this game.

1
Juli 11 Jan. 2016

Lovin it!

0
H 12 Dec. 2015

I remember this game from when I was a kid at school, Dam red ants kept spoiling my fun!!!

0
scigod 05 Nov. 2015

most all of these dos games work on dosbox

1
bulcsu 12 Oct. 2015

jo jatek

1
Megara 13 Sep. 2015

Wish my mouse allowed me to click more than one spot on the screen.. Can't download due to 64bit computer

0
Dimwit 12 Sep. 2015

I owned this game back in the day. What has to be mentioned is the game manual! It was 20% game manual, 80% ant facts. I know SO much about ants because of that one game manual.

1
benleonheart 13 Aug. 2015

I actually own a legit copy of this.
Love this game.

1
Dittoslash 03 Jul. 2015

Download is french.

1
SoYeonCutez 20 Apr. 2015

Good morning..

-3
JonTron 14 Apr. 2015

Came here after seeing ProJared's video

2
ThePathfinder 15 Feb. 2015

Installation is a problem.When running install it ask me install from A: or B:,so I have to create a floppy image and copy files there.However when run install again it says it is not installation disk.
I use PocketDOS for Windows Mobile PDA.

-1
anonymous 13 Feb. 2015

Hi i like this game

0
BloodHawk 07 Sep. 2014

Get Do Box for WIN8

1
Nightarix 31 Aug. 2014

@cube scroll down to just above "similar games" and there should be a download button and an ad right above it (click the button not the ad) the button above the comments section seems to be so people can skip down to it directly(i guess it's incase the comment sections expanded?)

0
Tinted Cube Gaming 30 Aug. 2014

Whenever I click "download" it just reloads my current page and does nothing. What do I do?

-1
Darkie4646 25 Jul. 2014

When I try to play SimCity on my Am5x86 DOS PC, All text is garbled
I'm using MS-DOS 6.22 and have a S3 Trio64V2

2
Matrix 05 Jul. 2014

get d-fend reloaded or dosbox and it will work with windows 8

0
Zed 08 Jun. 2014

is there any way to get it to work on Windows 8? All mine says, when I hit the "install" application (or any other application for that matter) is that the application cannot run on my PC, and that I had to find another version from the "software publisher".

Help?

0
smash 03 May. 2014

wow......

-3
Alice 19 Apr. 2014

One of the first games I remember playing. I was 4 years old, my father brought me to his work, sat me in front of the computer, turned on SimAnt and left for business meeting with the client. Half an out later a crying 4-year old runs into the board room wailing "My ant is dying!"
The entire office staff still reminds me of that incident 23 years later... :-)

3
Tachy 02 Apr. 2014

I remember playing the SNES version of SimAnt obsessively as a young child (younger than 9 - I know I didn't have it after around 9 years of age). So when I found the original PC version some time later in a bundle of games I was thrilled. The original, I found, gave more control, but I sort of missed the 'Scenario' gameplay added to the SNES port.
Why I loved this game? It kept me busy. There was rarely just waiting for something to grow or finish, I always had some task to do! Get more food, dig more tunnels, tend to the eggs, fight off invading red Ants! But it didn't take any fancy timing or tricky button combinations, just quick thinking and planning. Controlling caste and behaviour was great too... and I admit, it was easier to control with point-and-click with a mouse, as opposed to with a SNES controller. Last, but not least, I loved reading about the different kinds of ants and ant anatomy included with the game! I honestly wish there was another SimAnt with more mechanics at play and more focus on the nursery aspect, as well as unique challenge scenarios (reach a colony of ### ants, defeat Red Ants before x time, defeat N amount of spiders) to keep the game fresh and force one to change their priorities. Stealing eggs of the opposite ants and assimilating them into your colony instead of eating them would be cool! There are some ants that will do that!
Over all, I have always enjoyed this game.

0
Mousliseah 22 Feb. 2014

It;s awesome

0
somebody 15 Feb. 2014

After I play for 30 sec this game make an error and stops

0
f 06 Jan. 2014

this game is a little bit complicated to play. i like to think it gets better though

0
David Hashmi 26 Dec. 2013

The Legend of Egypt 2 Full PC Game

-1
donald westington 19 Dec. 2013

Pretty lame.

-4
yh 16 Oct. 2013

Use DosBox Game Launcher, works like a charm. 8)

0
Dave 21 Sep. 2013

I d/led D-Fend reloaded because i have windows vista. I unzip the files for the game and attempt to run them in dos box and it just keeps saying illegal command.

-1
gragggg 11 Sep. 2013

omglol

0
Minercarter 09 Sep. 2013

theres no files in the folder when put into boxer! :(

1
dz 05 Sep. 2013

bagus* game nya gan.. !!

0
daria 04 Sep. 2013

I really enjoyed this game when I was a child!

0
Anon 28 Aug. 2013

If you consider downloading a 10 year old game "piracy" you're an idiot, after 3 to 4 years game developers cease getting money from purchased games. You aren't helping them by buying it...

1
To: THe Police By:-Auni38 23 Aug. 2013

In your logic, all the other games when old and download in these sites (abandonware), is piracy.

0
APE 02 Aug. 2013

ok? i pressed download all i got was a folder what am i supposed to do now?

0
THe Police 25 Jul. 2013

This is piracy.

-4
unknown 15 Jul. 2013

the game frezzes every time

0
i lke it 13 Jul. 2013

i love it is so cool!.

1
battaman 08 Jul. 2013

Played the game for days straight when I was a kid. :-). :-). :-)

0
Anonymous 07 Jun. 2013

For anyone who wants to play the game, download it right here, and use DOSBox. I don't know how to configure it properly so I just make a new shortcut and then change the Target to run SIMANT.EXE. (http://www.dosbox.com/wiki/DOSBoxShortcuts#Windows)

-1
ToBeAdvised 20 May. 2013

Awesome, who thought a game about ants would be so fun? ;)

0
dannydex 13 May. 2013

wow

0
kaffy-waffy 24 Apr. 2013

I remember playing this game all of the time! Now I can't find the actual disk for it, so I'm really glad that I can download it online :3 I had such a sad childhood :P

0
weeby 14 Feb. 2013

Good game

0
sigaar96 11 Feb. 2013

looks funny

0
Gabby 13 Jan. 2013

can you update it for macs? my pc`s broken so i use my mac now but if you can update it for macs that perfect

0
zalan 05 Jan. 2013

Good classic game

0
Oph 31 Dec. 2012

You probably need DosBox to run this. Search for it. Not very hard to setup and there are tutorials. DosBox will run any of this old abondonware.

0
ginga 20 Dec. 2012

cuba

0
DMC14 24 Nov. 2012

I had this when i was a kid too Wow. but none of this stuff is compatible with my laptop.

0
dildoezer 15 Nov. 2012

damn guys it says i need to enter a disk? is that true

0
Boone 08 Oct. 2012

I fucking love this game!!!

0
the en coment the hcer lua fotnav ç 02 Oct. 2012

your wret s wail the de nomimahl

0
Sprite 04 Sep. 2012

If you're running D-Fend and when you go to play it will not load, make sure than when you set it up it's trying to run simant.exe, not info.exe

Hope that helps some people

0
Anonymous 15 Aug. 2012

I believe that If you're using a 32-bit version of Windows 7, it should work.(SimAnt is a 16-bit application)

0

No comment nor review for this game at the moment.

Comments posted on the beta are not kept. We delete them at 08:00 Paris time and they never reach the live site. Post on myabandonware.com if you want your comment to stay.

Downloads

DOS version
Game file
United Kingdom English
706 KB
LGU Repack by Bladez1992

DPKG by HorrorWeed

United Kingdom English
4 MB
Game file
France French
1 MB
Windows 3.x version
Win3xO release
United Kingdom English
17 MB
LGU Repack by Bladez1992

DPKG by HorrorWeed

United Kingdom English
13 MB
Amiga version
Game file
United Kingdom English
8 MB
FM Towns version
Game file
Japan Japanese
1 MB
Sharp X68000 version
Game file
Japan Japanese
472 KB

Extras

Manual Manual 1
Extra file
DOS 709 KB English English

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