SimAnt: The Electronic Ant Colony – a classic Maxis simulation
SimAnt: The Electronic Ant Colony is a unique strategy game from Maxis (the creators of SimCity) where you don’t manage a city—you command an entire ant colony. Released in 1991 for PC (DOS), Amiga, Mac, and later SNES, it sold over 100,000 copies and quickly became a cult favorite among simulation games fans.
Today, you can still experience SimAnt through emulators like DOSBox – and it’s just as quirky and entertaining as ever.
Gameplay and features
In our hands-on test of SimAnt, you start as a small black ant digging the first tunnels underground. Right away you feel the balance between survival and expansion. The goal is to build a strong colony that can take over the entire yard—and eventually the house—by defeating the dreaded red ants.
The progression feels natural: first you secure enough food for the queen and larvae, then you expand and defend the colony. You’re constantly making small decisions that have a big impact on your colony’s strength.
The game offers:
✅ Building tunnels and steadily expanding the colony – we watched simple paths grow into a complex network.
✅ Gathering food for the queen and larvae – we tried sending both workers and soldiers, which changed overall efficiency.
✅ Combat against enemies like spiders, beetles, and especially the red ants – battles can get intense when your nest is under attack.
✅ Avoiding insecticides, lawn mowers, and other human-made hazards – we actually lost an entire sub-colony when the mower rolled through.
✅ Strategic management of different ant types (workers, soldiers, etc.) – it’s satisfying to adjust your mix based on the situation.
One thing we appreciated was the flexible control scheme. You can either roam as a single ant and gather resources yourself, or use the cursor to issue orders to the whole colony. Both work well, and the combination delivers a fun blend of action and strategy.
This variety is exactly what makes SimAnt so addictive—you’re constantly switching between “worker ant” and “general” commanding an entire army.
Graphics and design
The graphics are classic early ’90s pixel art, detailed enough to clearly show tunnels, enemies, and swarms of ants in motion. The audio is simple but nails the retro vibe fans love.
Difficulty and controls
During testing, the game felt a bit overwhelming at first—especially because you manage both your active ant and the entire colony. Thankfully, the built-in tutorial makes the learning curve manageable.
Controls are simple: use the small cursor to issue orders to other ants, and they’ll follow immediately. It’s quick and intuitive, yet still demands tactical thinking.
Top 5 tips for SimAnt
SimAnt is a classic Maxis simulation game where you control a black ant colony. Your goal is to defeat the red ants, expand your colony, and eventually conquer the entire yard and the house.
Because SimAnt is a DOS game, you’ll need an emulator like DOSBox to play it on modern computers. Install DOSBox, place the game files, and run it from there.
Yes. You can control a single ant directly or use the cursor to issue commands to a whole group. That way you can quickly mobilize workers or soldiers for tasks.
Besides red ants, avoid spiders, beetles, insecticides, and the human lawn mower, which can wipe out large parts of your colony in seconds.
Yes—especially for fans of retro and simulation games. While the graphics are dated, the game’s unique concept and mix of strategy and action still feel fresh and fun today.
