This is the computer that Sid Meier built Civilization on – it's still running

Civilization 7 is the big talk this week in the gaming world. The seventh game in the classic strategy series will be released in February 2025. A number of magazines and websites have been able to test out the advanced demo at the developer’s headquarters, and they report that much of it is the same as usual.

The game is still in development by Firaxis, the company Sid Meier founded in 1996 with Jeff Briggs and Brian Reynolds after leaving Microprose. That company was in turn founded by Sid Meier with Bill Steele and Andy Hollis in 1982, and it was there that Sid Meier developed Civilization. As founder, no one objected when Sid Meier brought his old Microprose workstation with him, which is now on display in the front office of Firaxis’ Maryland office, PC Gamer reports.

The computer, a Compaq Deskpro 386 with CRT monitor, keyboard and mouse, is set up along with the black leather work chair that Sid Meier sat in during development. Both are covered in glass, but still working. computer games.

Firaxis's Pete Murray tells the site that the computer's hard drive sings in the final verse, but it contains a near-complete copy of the original Civilization that can be played. When the company's staff last tested the computer in 2023, they had to go to eBay and also search other old computers for replacements for some of the components that had failed, but after that it started up fine.

Sid Meier’s old workstation had 640KB of working memory plus an additional 16MB of expansion memory and a Sound Blaster sound card. It’s not clear how big the hard drive was. The monitor he used was a Viewsonic 15ES, but it’s not possible to tell from the PC Gamer photos who made the keyboard and mouse. A nearby dashboard reveals that the leather armchair was Bill Stilley’s idea. He wanted a “cool executive chair” and thought Sid Meier should have one, too.