34 Play by email video games

A play-by-mail game is a game played through postal mail, email or other digital media. Correspondence chess and Go were among the first PBM games. Diplomacy has been played by mail since 1963, introducing a multi-player aspect to PBM games. Flying Buffalo Inc. pioneered the first commercially available PBM game in 1970. A small number of PBM companies followed in the 1970s, with an explosion of hundreds of startup PBM companies in the 1980s at the peak of PBM gaming popularity, many of them small hobby companies—more than 90 percent of which eventually folded. A number of independent PBM magazines also started in the 1980s, including Flagship magazine, Gaming Universal, and Paper Mayhem. These magazines eventually went out of print, replaced in the 21st century by the online PBM journal Suspense and Decision.

Age of Wonders is a 1999 turn-based strategy game co-developed by Triumph Studios and Epic MegaGames, and published by Gathering of Developers.

Age of Wonders II: The Wizard's Throne is a turn-based strategy video game in a fantasy setting. The sequel to Age of Wonders, it was developed by Dutch video game developer Triumph Studios.

Age of Wonders III is a 4X turn-based strategy video game developed and published by Dutch developer Triumph Studios. It is the fourth game in the Age of Wonders series, following Age of Wonders, Age of Wonders II: The Wizard's Throne and Age of Wonders: Shadow Magic released in 1999, 2002, and 2003 respectively. It was released on March 31, 2014 through digital distribution, as well as through retail in select territories for Microsoft Windows. A port to Linux and OS X was released on April 14, 2015.

Age of Wonders: Planetfall is a 4X turn-based strategy video game developed by Triumph Studios and published by Paradox Interactive. The game is the fifth installment in the Age of Wonders series and features a sci-fi setting. It released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in August 2019.

Age of Wonders: Shadow Magic is a turn-based strategy video game in a fantasy setting. Shadow Magic is the third incarnation of the Age of Wonders series, and is a direct sequel to Age of Wonders II: The Wizard's Throne. All three games were developed by Triumph Studios. The series is the spiritual successor to Master of Magic.

Allied General is a turn-based computer wargame set in World War II that features the Allied side of operations. It is a sequel to Panzer General. Players can progress through four campaigns as an Allied general against Axis forces controlled by the computer. In Germany, Allied General was titled Panzer General II, and Panzer General II was named Panzer General IIID.

Ascension: Chronicle of the Godslayer is a deck-building card game created by American studio Stone Blade Entertainment, headed by professional Magic: The Gathering player Justin Gary. The main designers of the game are Justin Gary, Brian Kibler, Rob Dougherty and John Fiorillo. The game is available both in physical and digital formats; the iOS version, developed by Playdek, was released on June 30, 2011, and was later released for Windows on December 16, 2014. Ascension Tactics, a spin-off with similar mechanics, was funded on Kickstarter in August 2020.

Buzz Aldrin's Race Into Space, frequently abbreviated BARIS, is a 1993 space simulation strategy game for MS-DOS. The player takes the role of Administrator of NASA or head of the Soviet space program with the ultimate goal of being the first side to conduct a successful manned Moon landing. It was developed by Strategic Visions and published by Interplay Productions as a computer version of LIFTOFF!, a 1989 board game developed by Fritz Bronner. BARIS was re-released in 1994 on CD-ROM, incorporating the earlier updates to the floppy disk version, a few new updates, improved video of the mission launches, and new multiplayer modes.

Carcassonne is a turn-based strategy video game, based upon the board game of the same name designed by Klaus-Jürgen Wrede for the Xbox 360, published by Vivendi Games under their Sierra Online subsidiary, and developed by Sierra Online Seattle, formally known as Secret Lair Studios. The Xbox 360 game was released on June 27, 2007, and is the second designer board game to be released on Xbox Live Arcade, the first being Catan.

Sid Meier's Civilization II is a turn-based strategy video game in the Civilization series, developed and published by MicroProse. It was released in 1996 for PCs and later ported to the PlayStation by Activision.

Sid Meier's Civilization II Scenarios: Conflicts in Civilization is a single-player historical turn-based strategy game, and the first expansion pack to Civilization II. It contains 20 new scenarios; 12 made by the expansion pack developers, and 8 "Best of the Net" scenarios created by series fans. These were the fan-made scenarios that were "deemed the best by the developers". The game was developed and published by MicroProse. The game was "produced by the players and the development team, including some of the script and the 'new content'". This content contained new worlds, new maps, units, an updated technology tree, and new music. The game also allowed players to create their own custom scenarios. it was released November 25, 1996.

Sid Meier's Civilization III is the third installment of the Sid Meier's Civilization turn-based strategy video game series. It was preceded by Civilization II and followed by Civilization IV, and it was released in 2001. Unlike the original game, Civilization III was not designed by Sid Meier, but by Jeff Briggs, a game designer, and Soren Johnson, a game programmer.

Civilization IV is a 4x turn-based strategy computer game and the fourth installment of the Civilization series, and designed by Soren Johnson under the direction of Sid Meier and his video game development studio Firaxis Games. It was preceded by Civilization III and followed by Civilization V, and it was released in North America, Europe, and Australia, between October 25 and November 4, 2005.

Sid Meier's Civilization V is a 4X video game in the Civilization series developed by Firaxis Games. The game was released on Microsoft Windows in September 2010, on OS X on November 23, 2010, and on Linux on June 10, 2014.

Sid Meier's Civilization VI is a turn-based strategy 4X video game developed by Firaxis Games, published by 2K Games, and distributed by Take-Two Interactive. The latest entry into the Civilization series, it was released on Microsoft Windows and macOS in October 2016, with later ports for Linux in February 2017, iOS in December 2017, Nintendo Switch in November 2018, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in November 2019 and Android in 2020.

Conquest of the New World is a computer game produced by Interplay Productions in the mid-1990s. It is a strategy game, involving one or more players either by hotseat, on LAN, modem, or even PBEM (play-by-email). The game is set starting in the year 1493, and deals with the discovery and conquest of the Americas.

Dominions 3: The Awakening is a fantasy turn-based strategy game created by Illwinter and published in 2006 by Shrapnel Games. It is the third game in the Dominions series, preceded by Dominions: Priests, Prophets and Pretenders and Dominions II: The Ascension Wars. Illwinter's publishing contract with Shrapnel Games expired in November 2012 and Dominions 3 was republished on Desura in late December 2012 and soon after on GamersGate. Dominions 3 went through the Greenlight process and was released on Steam in September 2013.

Dominions 4: Thrones of Ascension is a fantasy turn-based strategy game created and published by Illwinter in 2013. It is the fourth game in the Dominions series, preceded by Dominions: Priests, Prophets and Pretenders, Dominions II: The Ascension Wars and Dominions III: The Awakening and succeeded by Dominions 5: Warriors of the Faith released in 2017. Dominions 4 was initially released in Desura and later at GamersGate. Dominions 4 went through the Greenlight process and was released on Steam in September 2013, which became the most popular platform for looking for multiplayer games and discussions after Desura shut down. Some active communities can also be found on Discord and 4chan.

Dominions II: The Ascension Wars is a 4X turn-based, computer strategy game. It was developed by Illwinter Game Design and published by Shrapnel Games. The game was released on November 14, 2003 in North America for Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X and Linux.

Empire is a 1977 turn-based wargame with simple rules. The game was conceived by Walter Bright starting in 1971, based on various war movies and board games, notably Battle of Britain and Risk. The game was ported to many platforms in the 1970s and 80s. Several commercial versions were also released, often adding basic graphics to the originally text-based user interface. The basic gameplay is strongly reminiscent of several later games, notably Civilization, which was partly inspired by Empire.

Eressea is an open-ended multi-player computer moderated fantasy turn-based strategy game world for any number of players. Players interact with the game via email. As of August 2006, the game has over 900 players, and has had weekly turns since August 27, 1996.

Frozen Synapse is a turn-based tactics video game developed by independent game developer Mode 7 Games, in which players plan their moves at their leisure and turns are resolved simultaneously. Players attempt to win by giving orders to a small squad of armed combatants, most commonly with the goal of eliminating all enemy units.

Lords of Waterdeep is a German-style board game designed by Peter Lee and Rodney Thompson and published by Wizards of the Coast in 2012. The game is set in Waterdeep, a fictional city in the Forgotten Realms campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game. Players take the role of masked rulers of Waterdeep, deploying agents and hiring adventurers to complete quests and increase their influence over the city.

MissionForce: CyberStorm is a turn-based strategy game developed by Dynamix and published in 1996 by Sierra On-Line. The game is set in the Earthsiege universe created by Dynamix, and the player control units of HERCULANs : bipedal warmachines of varying size and construct, more commonly known as HERCs. Although CyberStorm was a limited commercial success, it sold well enough to spawn a 1998 sequel called CyberStorm 2: Corporate Wars. It was digitally released by Activision on July 23, 2019 on GOG.com.

Naked War is a 2006 turn-based strategy video game for two players, developed by Ste and John Pickford.

Panzer General II is a computer wargame by Strategic Simulations, Inc. Released October 15, 1997, Panzer General II is the sixth SSI game in the "Panzer General" series and the first in the "Living Battlefield " series. It takes place during World War II, covering events from the Spanish Civil War in 1938 to hypothetical battles in 1946. In the April 2000 issue of the magazine PC Gamer, it was voted the 44th best computer game of all time, and the highest rating in the Panzer General series. The game was re-released in 2010 on GOG.com.

People's General is a turn-based computer wargame developed by Strategic Simulations, Inc (SSI). It was released in September 1998 in North America and Europe. The game focuses on early 21st century warfare in Asia. People's General, or PeG as it is commonly known, followed SSI's successful 5 Star General Series of World War II war games and their sequel, Panzer General II (PG2). It uses the same game dynamics as these earlier games—turn-based movement & fighting with military units on a hex based map. PeG uses substantially the same "Living Battlefield" game engine as PG2 but features higher quality graphics and many new features.

Stars! is a turn-based strategy, science fiction 4X game. Stars! was developed by Jeff Johnson and Jeff McBride for their own use, and initially released as shareware in 1995. A retail version was later produced for, and published by Empire Interactive, with developer Jason Gaston added to the team for QA, although the shareware version continued.

Steel Panthers is a series of computer wargames, developed and published by several different companies, with various games simulating war battles from 1930 to 2025. The first Steel Panthers game was released in 1995, and the most recent update was released in 2018 and is still updated regularly (yearly).

Terraforming Mars is a board game for 1 to 5 players designed by Jacob Fryxelius and published by FryxGames in 2016, and thereafter by 12 others, including Stronghold Games.

Ticket to Ride is a turn-based strategy video game, based upon Alan R. Moon's German-style board game of the same name, developed by Next Level Games and published by Playful Entertainment, Inc. The game started out as a browser game on November 15, 2004. In February 2017 Days of Wonder abandoned Linux support.

Twilight Struggle: The Cold War, 1945–1989 is a board game for two players, published by GMT Games in 2005. Players are the United States and Soviet Union contesting each other's influence on the world map by using cards that correspond to historical events. The first game designed by Ananda Gupta and Jason Matthews, they intended it to be a quick-playing alternative to more complex card-driven wargames.

X-COM was part of a budget range video game series released in 1999 by Hasbro Interactive for Microsoft Windows that relied solely on the play-by-mail concept.