Play Simant – The Electronic Ant Colony Online

SimAnt: The Electronic Ant Colony is a simulation game released in 1991 for MS-DOS. Developed and published by Maxis Software Inc., it falls within the ecology and nature genre, presenting a side-view perspective on managing an ant colony. The game incorporates biological details about real ants, providing an educational component to the experience.

Players begin by controlling a black queen ant tasked with establishing a colony. The primary objective is to grow this colony and eventually dominate the yard by overcoming rival red ants and other threats. Progression involves managing the production of different ant types: soldiers for combat and defense, workers for gathering food and expanding the nest, and breeders for founding new colonies. Players can directly control individual ants to perform specific tasks, such as collecting food dots on the surface, coordinating attacks on spiders and caterpillars, or assaulting enemy ant hills. Survival requires avoiding environmental hazards like rain puddles and a lawn mower.

The game structure allows players to switch control between ants as needed to address various challenges. As the black ant population grows, breeders can be sent to establish hills in adjacent sectors of the yard and the human house. Players can then shift their focus to these new sectors to continue their expansion. The game concludes when the red ant colonies are completely eliminated and the human residents, along with their pets, are driven from the house due to the pervasive ant infestation. A separate Quick Game mode focuses on battles between ant colonies, and a tutorial is included to explain the mechanics.