10 city building and management games for armchair tycoons

Before children and Other responsibilities, when I played regularly until the early hours of the morning, playing business sims was one of my favorite activities. I spent countless days building Sim Tower, Simcity, and Amusement park. I ran a studio at Movies, ran a menagerie in Zoo Tycoon, and build the pyramids in Pharaoh. My wicked lairs in Dungeon Guardian 2 and Evil genius were beyond comparison. I have built impregnable castles in Bastion, and I spent days in Game development story-a game on creating games.

These games are the perfect foil to multiplayer madness, providing an absorbing breakout table for one. As the kids got older, I found myself with a little more time to scratch that management and building itch, and these are the games that sucked me in.

A note for potential gamers: While there are often console versions out there, you tend to get better controls and more depth if you’re playing on PC.

Special offer for Gear readers: get a One year subscription to WIRED for $ 5 ($ 25 off). This includes unlimited access to WIRED.com and our print magazine (if you like). Subscriptions help fund the work we do every day.