During Facebook's earlier days, a wave of classic games swept across the platform, drawing users from around the world. It's fair to say that many of us started using Facebook primarily because of the wide variety of online games it offered. These games brought friends and strangers together, allowing us to create virtual cities, tend to digital farms, etc.

Last week, we talked about the (rather quiet) revival of Pet Society in the form of Pet Pals City. This time, we've put together a brief list of our all-time favorites from that era. From the immensely popular Restaurant City to other well-known titles like CityVille, there's sure to be a few names that’ll evoke memories of the good old days.

1. Restaurant City

Restaurant City, also created by Playfish, the same team behind Pet Society, was a hit game where we got to manage our own virtual restaurant. We could hire our friends as staff and whip up different dishes for our customers. The main objective was to make our restaurant thrive and top the charts among our friends.

In this game, we could customize our restaurant, expand the menu, and earn in-game currency by serving food. This money allowed us to purchase new items, make the restaurant bigger, and provide a better experience for our customers.

What made Restaurant City fun was the social feature that allowed us to visit our friends' restaurants, trade ingredients with them, and collaborate on special events. It was first launched in 2009, and at its peak, the game had a massive following, with over 18 million players every month. However, by 2012, the player count had dropped to 1.8 million, leading to the unfortunate closure of the game on June 29, 2012.

2. Mafia Wars

Mafia Wars, developed by Zynga, was a big hit when it came out in 2008. This text-based role-playing game let us step into the shoes of a virtual mobster, creating our own crime empire, finishing missions, and competing against other players.

In Mafia Wars, we built our mafia family, getting members to join and making our operations bigger. We did stuff like robbing banks, getting into turf wars, and finishing missions to earn experience points, fake money, and items.

One cool thing about Mafia Wars was its player-versus-player (PvP) gameplay. We could fight with other mafia families and try to top leaderboards. However, since the size of our mafia depended on how many Facebook friends we had, smaller mafias usually couldn't beat much larger ones. The good thing was that the game was still enjoyable enough even with the PvP elements ignored, like a single-player game.

Fun fact: The folks behind another similar game Mob Wars, once sued Zynga, claiming Mafia Wars copied their game. Zynga actually changed Mafia Wars a bit to make it less like the former, but the creator of Mob Wars, David Maestri, still sued. They settled in September 2009 for around $7–9 million, which was less than the $10 million Maestri originally asked for.

A follow-up, Mafia Wars 2, came out in October 2011 but was quickly closed down on December 30, 2012. Zynga did this as part of a plan to restructure and recover from a tough business situation. The original Mafia Wars itself was eventually shut down on June 6, 2016. But in April 2017, they brought the game back on mobile in certain regions, featuring some changed mechanics. Unfortunately, just three months later, in July 2017, Zynga said they were stopping all future work on the game and ending it, as they weren't happy with how the game performed during soft launch.

3. Farmville

Also developed by Zynga, FarmVille was an immensely popular farming simulation game that allowed us to manage our own virtual farms, where we could cultivate crops, raise animals, and engage with the farms owned by our friends and other players on the platform.

In FarmVille, we started with a small plot of land and could plant a variety of things, mainly fruits, vegetables, and flowers. As these items grew, we could harvest them, earning virtual coins that we could use to expand our farm, purchase decorations, and acquire more seeds and animals.

Like many other Facebook games, one of the best aspects of FarmVille was the ability to connect with friends. We could visit our buddies' farms, send them gifts, assist with their farm tasks, and even collaborate on various activities.

When it launched in 2009, FarmVille quickly became the biggest game on Facebook, holding that title for over two years. It reached a peak in March 2010, with an astonishing 83.76 million monthly players. However, its popularity gradually waned, leading to its eventual shutdown by Zynga on December 31, 2020.

4. CityVille

Here's another Zynga game. CityVille was a widely appreciated city-building simulation game on Facebook that let oversee a city’s growth into a bustling metropolis. It hit the scene in December 2010 and quickly became one of the most played games on the platform.

In CityVille, we began with a small piece of land and gradually expanded our city by building structures, roads, decorations, and more. The game offered a wide range of buildings for us to customize our cities, from residential zones to commercial establishments and cultural landmarks. The main goal was to complete tasks, which were displayed on the top left corner of the screen, and earn coins. We could also produce our own goods through commercial activities like farming and shipping, and then trade and sell them. Plus, the game’s social features allow us to send gifts to other players and help them with some of their goals.

A sequel called CityVille 2 came out in December 2012, but it was shut down just three months later in February 2013. Other spin-offs of the game, like CityVille Hometown for iPhone and iPad, as well as CityVille Monopoly, a variation of the Monopoly City board game, were all closed down along with the original game on April 30, 2015.

5. Uber Strike

UberStrike, created by Cmune for Facebook, was a first-person shooter (FPS) game that first brought multiplayer FPS action to the social media platform. It started as Paradise Paintball in November 2008, being promoted as the first 3D browser game with real-time micropayment systems, meaning that players could buy virtual items without leaving the game. Later, on November 16, 2010, the game was renamed UberStrike.

In UberStrike, we could personalize our characters with various weapons and equipment. The game had a diverse collection of weapons, from firearms to melee options, allowing us to pick our loadout based on our preferred style of play. Battles unfolded across different maps and game modes, including team deathmatch and free-for-all. We could earn virtual currency by participating in matches, which could then be spent on acquiring new weapons, gear, and customizations.

What stood out about UberStrike was its accessibility via Facebook. It allowed us to quickly jump into matches and connect with friends who were also in the game. This social integration greatly contributed to the game's popularity, letting us compete against our Facebook friends or join forces in team-based matches, which was really a big draw during the heyday of social media. Unfortunately, on April 13, 2016, Cmune announced the closure of UberStrike through the game's website, and the game servers were ultimately shut down two months later.

6. Nightclub City

Nightclub City was another much-loved Facebook game that gave us the chance to step into the shoes of a nightclub owner. Booyah released this game in 2010, offering a virtual playground for us to create, manage, and expand our own nightclubs.

As the club owner, we had the freedom to customize the décor, set up dance floors, handle guest lists, and even hire DJs to keep the party vibe alive. The main objective was to enhance the Popularity and Luxury of our clubs, all while grooving to the popular tunes of the era. The game also featured social elements, enabling us to invite our friends as guests to our clubs and compete with other players to see who could craft the most popular and electrifying nightlife hotspot.

Sadly, in March 2014, Booyah went out of business and had to close down its website, resulting in the shutdown of all game servers, including Nightclub City.

7. Tetris Battle

Tetris Battle, a variation of the timeless puzzle game specially designed for Facebook, was created by Tetris Online, Inc. The game added a competitive twist to its familiar gameplay, giving us the opportunity to play solo or go head-to-head against friends and other players in intense Tetris matches.

In Tetris Battle, we could engage in thrilling 2P matches with our opponents. Besides the Battle 2P mode, the game also offered a variety of modes, such as Marathon, Sprint, Sprint 5P, and more. We could send attacks to disrupt our opponents' gameplay, adding an exciting strategic element to the battles.

As with many classic Facebook games, Tetris Battle enjoyed its peak popularity but eventually saw a decline in active players, leading to its discontinuation on May 31, 2019, along with the closure of the developer. Lucky for us, there’s still tons of Tetris games available on the market, each offering its own unique charms and features.

So, there you go! A fond look back at some of the classic Facebook games that brought us together and created lasting memories. These games were more than just entertainment; they were shared adventures that brought happiness and connections. Although many of these games are no longer active, their influence lives on as a reminder of the sense of community and fun that gaming can provide.

For those seeking a nostalgic trip, the good news is that some of these games still exist in the form of sequels, like FarmVille 2: Country Escape available on mobile platforms. There are also numerous similar games inspired by their legacy, easily discoverable by searching related terms (e.g., "FarmVille") on the Apple App Store or Google Play Store.

Did we miss out on any of your favorite games from back in the day? Let us know in the comments!