OpenTTD packages exist for MS Windows (95/98/ME/2000/XP/Vista/7), OS X, Linux (32- and 64-bit) and *BSD (FreeBSD, NetBSD, and OpenBSD), Solaris, and the Nintendo game console. These packages can be found in the official repositories of the distributions. To install, use the usual package manager.

If you want to play the latest version (currently 1.3.2), the installation is a bit tricky and requires several steps. On Debian Wheezy, you first install the openttd package from the repositories, which installs openttd-data as a dependency. Replace both with the corresponding DEB packages from the project website [16]. The specified DEB package includes all the data from openttd and openttd-data:

# apt-get install openttd
# apt-get remove openttd openttd-data
# dpkg -i openttd-1.3.2-linux-debian-wheezy-amd64.deb

As a result, you can start the game as a normal user by entering openttd at the command line. If you then see a message that the graphics and sound sets are outdated, first open the menu and select Get More Extensions; set the open filter; then select OpenGFX, OpenSFX, and openMSX from the list and download them. OpenGFX is a free basic graphics set, whereas OpenSFX a free soundset and openMSX a free compilation for background music. All three packages allow you to play OpenTTD without owning a commercially licensed TTD.

The authors thank Wolfram Eifler and Arne Wichmann for their critical remarks and comments in the preparation of this article.