How to install/play some old games on Wine?

I installed my first Linux system on a VM today (I need it for online classes) and I need to install/play some old game or a game that doesn't weigh that much because I have allocated 50GB of HDD space.

I have to use Wine but I have no idea how to even start. Any tips or commands? I am using Ubuntu 20.04 and I've already downloaded Wine. My host system is Windows 10.

Solution 1:

Good news is that is pretty easy to install and run a Windows game using Wine and a modern version of Ubuntu. So, as you have requested, here is a set of tips and commands:

1. Install wine...

   As you have already done, but my extra tip here is to also install Winetricks:

   sudo apt-get install wine winetricks
   

   Under Ubuntu 20.04 this will get you Wine 5.0, a great and very modern version.

2. Select a game...

   There is a nice Wine database that tests Windows applications that work well under Wine but unfortunately this often out of date. For this request of a small Windows game I have chosen for you a freeware card game. It is small and runs well under Wine as my own testing has demonstrated.

3. Download and install the game...

   Two simple commands will accomplish this from a Terminal window:

   wget http://www.download-treecardgames.com/downloads/123freesolitaire-v102-setup.exe
   wine 123freesolitaire-v102-setup.exe
   

   Then simply follow the default installation prompts and allow the game to install.

4. Play the game...

   The good news is that Ubuntu 20.04 will look after all the messy details and you can select the game from the launcher in the normal way without further use of the Terminal. And I hope you enjoy the game :-)

5. A small cautionary tip...

   This game runs well under Wine but not all games will, so a degree of research and experimentation is required before success is realised. However the basic technique illustrated here is what one will do to get Windows games running under Wine using Ubuntu, at times a more sophisticated approach will be required. However this particular game will run fine, as the screenshot below illustrates: