Explore Classic Linux Terminal Games: Install & Play Tetris, Pac‑Man, Snake, and More

Bastet

Tetris is a puzzle game created by Alexey Pajitnov in 1984. Bastet is a clone that deliberately gives you unwanted pieces to increase difficulty.

Install on Debian/Ubuntu: sudo apt install bastet Install on Fedora, RHEL, or CentOS: sudo dnf install bastet Run the game with bastet.

Pacman4Console

Pacman4Console is a terminal version of the classic Pac‑Man game.

Install on Debian/Ubuntu: sudo apt install pacman4console Run with pacman4console.

nSnake

nSnake is a terminal clone of the classic Nokia Snake game.

Install on Debian/Ubuntu: sudo apt install nsnake Install on Fedora, CentOS, or RHEL: sudo dnf install nsnake Run with nsnake.

2048

2048 is a number‑puzzle game created by Gabriele Cirulli in 2014.

Install on Debian/Ubuntu: sudo apt install 2048 On Fedora, CentOS, or RHEL the package is not in the default repo; install the CLI clone: sudo dnf install 2048-cli Run with 2048.

Nudoku

Nudoku is a terminal version of Sudoku, a 9×9 number puzzle.

Install on Debian/Ubuntu: sudo apt install nudoku Install on Fedora, CentOS, or RHEL: sudo dnf install nudoku Run with nudoku.

Moon Buggy

Moon Buggy is a side‑scrolling game similar to Chrome’s offline dinosaur game.

Install on Debian/Ubuntu: sudo apt install moon-buggy Install on Fedora, CentOS, or RHEL: sudo dnf install moon-buggy Run with moon-buggy.

Ninvaders

Ninvaders is a terminal clone of the classic Space Invaders arcade game.

Install on Debian/Ubuntu: sudo apt install ninvaders Run with ninvaders.

Ascii Patrol

Ascii Patrol is an ASCII‑art game where you drive a moon‑buggy and avoid obstacles while shooting UFOs.

First install Snapd (if not already present): sudo apt install snapd On Fedora, CentOS, or RHEL: sudo dnf install snapd Then install the game: snap install ascii-patrol Run with ascii-patrol.

Greed

Greed is a simple terminal game where you move a @ character to consume numbers while avoiding moving back in the direction you came from.

Install on Debian/Ubuntu: sudo apt install greed Run with greed.

BSD Games

BSD Games is a collection of classic Unix games (about 40 titles) such as Hunt, Battlestar, and Air Traffic Control.

Install on Debian/Ubuntu: sudo apt install bsdgames On other distributions you can build from source as described in the references.