Matt Leone

Special Projects Editor, Polygon

Looking back on the best, worst, and wackiest in edutainment games

Special Issues

Computer Lab Week

Welcome to the Computer Lab

Illustrations: Kyle Ellingson for Polygon
If you play video games today, chances are decent that your introduction to the hobby happened in a computer lab. From Oregon Trail to Number Munchers, edutainment games offered a little dose of learning alongside the joy of playtime. Computer labs were a gateway to the medium of games, providing access to technology that not every household had &mdash; especially in the &rsquo;80s and &rsquo;90s, before smartphones became standard.
Some of the games in the computer lab ignited our sense of competition, like The Impossible Quiz. Other games encouraged us to create virtual versions of our wackiest imaginings, like Sim City and Roller Coaster Tycoon. And then there were the forbidden games &mdash; Doom, Warcraft 3, and oh-so-many graphing calculator ports &mdash; to be enjoyed with discretion, or with the rare blessing of a Cool Teacher.
In 2022, with the increased availability and mainstreaming of technology, computer labs may not feel as revolutionary and essential as they once did. They still provide a key service to the needy, though &mdash; namely, students who would rather be gaming. This week, we honor every one of those students, and the legacies of the games they played in computer labs of yore.

The top two GOTY 2025 front-runners are AA games and that’s a good sign

The length of Sephiroth’s sword in FF7 actually changes, says Tetsuya Nomura

GameStop employees say scalpers stayed in line for new Pokémon cards through tornado warnings

Critical Role’s Daggerheart TTRPG solves some of D&D’s biggest problems

Don’t be surprised Guillermo del Toro says his Frankenstein won’t be a horror movie

More from Welcome to the Computer Lab

Most Popular

More from Welcome to the Computer Lab

Most Popular

Patch Notes