Simulation games for managing hospitals are important because they let hospital managers practice and sharpen their day-to-day skills. For example, in finance, people, machines, and so on.
Hospital management simulation games also make it possible to explore practical solutions to the everyday problems of a hospital, such as selecting/hiring staff, allocating resources, and other decision-making.
Check out the list we put together, in order of release year.
- THEME HOSPITAL (1997)
- EMERGENCY (1998)
- HOSPITAL MANAGER (2004)
- EMERGENCY ROOM (2005)
- HOSPITAL TYCOON (2007)
- KLINIKA (2007)
- HOSPITAL HUSTLE (2008)
- KAPI HOSPITAL (2011)
- MY HOSPITAL: BUILD (2014)
- CLINIC 3D (2015)
- CLINIC (2016)
- HOSPITAL SIMULATOR (2017)
- TWO POINT HOSPITAL (2018)
- PROJECT HOSPITAL (2018)
- HOSPITAL RUSH (2020)
1 – THEME HOSPITAL
Among the simulation games for managing hospitals, this is the oldest, having appeared in 1997 from Bullfrog Productions. Although it is seen as an early game, it was revolutionary and has active players all over the world.
Theme Hospital has many varieties of diseases, and it also lets the hospital manager think about everything, including medications, staff training, and the entire hospital operation. It is one of the pioneers among these games. And it had a new version in 2003, Theme Hospital II.
2 – EMERGENCY
This is a series of simulation and strategy games. To give you an idea, the first game is from 1998 and, from then on, updates and new games came out every year. This includes Emergency 20, an anniversary edition celebrating the franchise’s 20 years.
The developer is Sixteen Tons Entertainment. Players must take on roles in every emergency-response area. It is currently one of the most-played simulation games in the world, with more than 1 million downloads on the Play Store alone.
3 – HOSPITAL MANAGER
Developed by JoWood Productions and released by Strategy First in 2004, Hospital Manager lets players build, manage, and operate the hospital as well. It was created with the aim of making hospital administration easier.
Among its many functions, which let managers learn by playing, are inventory control, staff and patient management, payment planning, medical information, and finances.
4 – EMERGENCY ROOM: CODE RE
This hospital simulation game was released in 2005, created by Legacy Interactive and published by Activision Value. It is based on a fictional hospital, Mercy Hospital, where the player takes on a leadership role and has to solve local problems.
What brings it closest to reality is that the player has to deal with the day-to-day pressures inside a healthcare facility, from limited resources to new medical technologies.
5 – HOSPITAL TYCOON
This PC game that hospital managers can use was developed by Deep Red Games and brought to market by Activision Value. The idea was to let players manage the hospital in all of its environments.
It was released in 2007 for PC. At the start, the player owns a small hospital and has limited resources. Later, the player has to overcome challenges, which means expanding the hospital, improving the service, and becoming a reference across the whole city.
6 – KLINIKA
Klinika was developed by N-Racing and published by UIG Entertainment. The game has existed since 2007 and is a reference for those who want to simulate hospital management. The player has to build new rooms and buy equipment, among other tasks.
Healthcare professionals who have spent long hours on this game say they were able to develop their creativity and improve their use of new technologies. They sum up Klinika as a fun and challenging game.
7 – HOSPITAL HUSTLE
Another hospital management simulation game. Hospital Hustle was developed by Big Fish Games and carried the Legacy Interactive name. One of its distinguishing features is that it lets players build and operate their own hospital.
Among the tasks, the player has to deal with diseases, patients, employees, and finances. The gameplay is quite interesting because it has animated graphics and lets you customize the hospital in a unique way. It was released in 2008.
8 – KAPI HOSPITAL
Kapi Hospital is a little different from the other simulators for hospital managers because it has a very interesting focus: time management. The goal is to care for people, but within the hours of the day, which seem to be very short.
Besides thinking about patients and employees, the player has to decorate rooms and build new departments, for example. And for that, there must be cash on hand. At the same time, new diseases emerge, creating a major pandemic. The game is by Upjers and dates from 2011.
9 – MY HOSPITAL: BUILD
Developed by Cherry Pick Games and published by Ezjoy in 2014, this hospital simulator game is one of the most interesting. One of the interesting points is that the game starts from choosing the site for building the facility.
And the narrative is another strong point. See how it all begins: “on a beautiful spring morning, a small village was struck by a pandemic. The citizens were suffering from a strange disease and there was no hospital in the area.”
10 – CLINIC 3D
Clinic 3D has a name similar to several others, but it is unique. It is by Astragon Entertainment and was released in 2015 for Windows and macOS. From the very first scenes, it encourages players to run a hospital efficiently.
One of the strongest and most decisive points is when these players have to control the available budget. The secret becomes using a performance analysis tool, which is also very valuable in the real world of hospital managers.
11 – CLINIC
Clinic is a game that simulates healthcare clinic management and deserves your attention, not least because it was created by Bossa Studios in 2016 and released for PC and PlayStation 4. It was a success.
The player has to run their own clinic profitably in order to survive in the market. At the same time, they have to maintain patients’ health and employee satisfaction. Whoever survives the pressure wins. But the task is not as simple as it seems.
12 – HOSPITAL SIMULATOR
Hospital Simulator was developed by Excalibur Games and published by Iceberg Interactive. It was released in 2017. The main goal is to keep this healthcare facility in balance, thinking about quality treatment and finances.
It is one of the few hospital simulation games with a multiplayer mode, so you can share and compete with other players. In that case, the challenge is to find out who will be the best hospital manager in the game.
13 – TWO POINT HOSPITAL
One of the most modern simulation games for managing hospitals that hospital managers should know is Two Point Hospital. In fact, it is used as a teaching methodology at FAPUGA.
The game is by Two Point Studios and is published by Sega. It was released in 2018. One of its distinguishing features is the artificial intelligence system used to simulate all the changes and events in a hospital, especially with regard to patients and employees.
Also read – Two Point Hospital: Game-Based Learning for Healthcare Managers
14 – PROJECT HOSPITAL
It is very realistic and one of the best hospital management simulators. This is one of the phrases we found on the internet, from one of the players who fell in love with Project Hospital. The game is by Oxymoron Games and dates from 2018.
In the simulator, players have total control over everything that happens in the hospital. They therefore have the power to make decisions that will completely change the course of events. The challenges are very real and current, such as patient overcrowding.
15 – HOSPITAL RUSH
A strategy game for hospital managers who want to simulate healthcare management. Hospital Rush has won over many professionals and university students who look to gamification for ways to improve their technical skills (hard skills) and behavioral skills (soft skills).
How do you make sure patients receive the best treatments? How do you ensure your employees’ satisfaction? Is it time to raise salaries? Are supplies and equipment modern enough to meet demand? These are common challenges in this game, created by Krealit in 2020.
Simulation games for managing hospitals on smartphones
In addition to hospital management simulation games for PC and consoles, there are also those created with a mobile focus, that is, for smartphones. Meet a few of them, in order of release.
- MEGA HOSPITAL (2009)
- HOSPITAL STORY (2010)
- MY CLINIC (2015)
- OPERATE NOW HOSPITAL (2017)
- DREAM HOSPITAL: CARE SIMULATOR (2017)
16 – MEGA HOSPITAL
Like Hospital Hustle, which is for PC, this mobile version carries the Big Fish Games and Legacy Interactive brands. It was released in 2009, a year after the creation that was a hit among PC players.
So they are very similar, with adaptability and gameplay changing for each type of device. Among comments from people who play on their phones, you can see that the game is important for getting managers to think about several sectors, from pediatrics to geriatrics.
17 – HOSPITAL STORY
The game was released in 2010. And here comes a curious story: it is like an update of Mega Hospital, since it has the same brands behind it, Big Fish Games and Legacy Interactive, but focused on players who choose phones.
The graphics are colorful and dynamic and let fun take over every challenge. This way, hospital managers who want to have fun can do so through an educational program that also brings lessons and improvements for their daily work.
18 – MY CLINIC
How would you go about building a top-level hospital? The answer comes through the choices you make in this mobile game. Thinking about patients’ needs is an interesting point that has to be considered, just as in real life. It is a 2015 game from Spil Games.
It is a hospital simulation game for mobile with an intuitive interface and great animations that make time pass more quickly. Incidentally, time is exactly what the player does not have when making decisions, whether hiring doctors or buying supplies.
19 – OPERATE NOW HOSPITAL
Spil Games released Operate Now Hospital in 2017. It therefore joins the list of newer games that simulate hospital management. Besides being a simulation, it also belongs to the strategy genre because it demands a lot of those skills from its players.
One of the interesting points is that it allows complete work with medical teams, not just hiring new staff but also training. This makes it possible to face daily challenges more efficiently.
20 – DREAM HOSPITAL: CARE SIMULATOR
A 2018 mobile game created by Joyseed Gametribe, a studio entirely focused on mobile games. This helps explain the success of this hospital simulator game. It lets players build and manage these facilities in every respect.
The main takeaway is the chance to gain a broad view of what it is like to manage a hospital, since it lets you learn about finance, human resources, medical treatments, and much more.
