Q: Buy an macintosh in order to play some old game

A G3 PowerBook is probably best suited to your needs. It runs OS 9.22, has a CD ROM, and one with an ethernet port will give you a connection for FTP or access to Macintosh Garden with the Clasilla browser.

Any Mac running the prior OS to Mac OS x or the first version of Mac OS X. .   The OS was referred to as System (version number) prior to the Mac OS X.   The last version was System 9.x  before Apple brought out the completely new Mac OS.    The first versions of Mac OS X had a compatibility mode if they were run on non-intel  chips, aka the Older G3, G4 and G5 chips.  However some games had issues with the compatibility mode as the there was a hardware abstraction layer.   You need a Mac with on the above chips, and early version of Mac OS X  (10.1, or 10.2) or an earlier Mac with System 9 or earlier. All of these are 10+ years old now.   I have an iBook G3 which still works but the the battery no longer charges. You might find something around.  Be wary though, parts are hard to come by for the laptops.   Apple except for Video Cards used common parts in there desktops (drives, monitors , floppies etc).  Also be wary of the Apple Graphics Port  (AGP) in some desktops.   . The video card although it was an nVidea or ATI had only the AGP connector and fit a special slot in the motherboard.   It was single connector that  provided videos, USB and power to the monitor.   You would need a monitor with an AGP connector.  I tried selling mine, no luck and it eventually went to the electronics recycler.

SofEvans,

The error message you encountered is very generic.  Your challenge is greater than finding a great 'bridge machine' like the laptop recommended above.  Buying a machine that runs in Classic mode is not your answer.  Here is why.

I found instructions for a game that turned then, here's an extract :

"Hellcats requires a Macintosh-based 68020 processor or better with at least 2 mega byte RAM and system 6.x or later .

Hellcats runs on any Mac II , LC, SE30 , Classic II , powerbooks 140 and 170, quadras.

Hellcats is incompatible with the "mac plus", macintosh classic, SE and portable.

In any case , a minimum of 800K of RAM is required to play.".

The version of Mac OS does not matter to me, it will not be connected to the Internet .

I need a CD drive and a floppy drive.

You need to find a gaming machine that is specific to the era of the game.  When you see software requirements like a 68020 or better, you are talking about CPUs that were created before 1990.  The transition from '020' compatible software was rocky.  When the requirements say that it was '020' or better, that meant '030' or possibly even a quadra based computer.

Today, you could find the ultimate 1990 machine and still not get your game to work.  The Mac IIfx, based on the 68030 chip was called 'wicked fast' in it's day, but that did not mean that it would behave well will software titles that pre-dated the CPU.  You would also have to turn off certain extensions to run software that was not 32 bit compatible.  The OS would gobble up every bit of RAM it could as a system resource until you restarted in 32 bit mode.  In addition to that, Apple never finished writing the software updates for the IIfx because the Quadra line eclipsed the fx in price and speed.  The '030' chip was a blip on the speed radar that quickly vanished.  Software had to be rewritten for the newer chips so if your software was not updated for a PPC, it will not behave well on ANY machine that uses USB or optical drives.  A big clue would be if your software is on a CD.  That speaks volumes as to its generation.

Speaking of RAM, when we went to add one meg of RAM to our first SE, the dealer could not get the RAM to work with the accelerator card that was installed.  The company - Radius - had been sold and the non-monitor division had been discontinued.  No support for the card meant that no factory technician could answer the Apple dealer's questions.  I told the technician to fill every RAM slot and see if it would work without jumpers or a resistor being cut.  It worked.  But RAM was $100 per meg so the solution was not cheap.

What does all this mean in simple terms?  Your game may not work with a Quadra or '040' chip.  It may not work with a PPC chip.  You need to find some user group with an old timer that has working machines from thirty years ago to test your software.  You may only have a five year hardware window in which to work.  You could buy a lot of antique machines and still find no joy.

Where in the world are you?  Seattle has a store that could help you once you know just what will work.

"When you see software requirements like a 68020 or better, you are talking about CPUs that were created before 1990.  The transition from '020' compatible software was rocky.  When the requirements say that it was '020' or better, that meant '030' or possibly even a quadra based computer."

While you say that, I can remember playing many such games as a child on a 68040 based mac (36M Ram, 1M VRam), purchased in 1995, which was our only computer until late 1999(!!) when a "blueberry" iMac 'G3' was purchased. Many of those games simply did not function on the new PPC mac.

Still remember System 7.5.5, Netscape Navigator 4.7 and Software FPU. The main reason for things not to work on the '040 was the lack of hardware FPU. Once that was dealt with, there was never any trouble running old stuff which had been compiled for the 68000 series chips. 32-bit addressing could be disabled in earlier versions of Mac OS (system 6?), but not the later versions of system 7. Software which (mis)uses the higher bits of the address is rare though.

I wish I could say I still had them, but the both were sent to recycling this year. The old machine was still in perfect operating condition, along with v32.bis modem, ADB mouse and keybord and StyleWriter Pro inkjet printer.

I think the best option is to use an emulator to run the old software. They are going to be easier to support than the increasingly rare old dinosaurs.
If however you still do want an old mac, check out the "low-end Mac" website. They provide a wealth of information on where to get old macs, what will run on them, software archives and spare parts.

From my experience I would recommend getting one of the 3400 (Hooper) or 3500 G3 (Kanga) Powerbooks. They have multiple swappable expansion modules  that give many choices for use of data media (Floppy, Zip, CD, PC Card, 2nd HDD). With OS 9.1 installed I can play most all the games and flight simulators from the 1990s. HellCats over the Pacific is one of my all time favorites which works perfectly (see screenshots I just took, I used 1/2 size for the pic). You can usually find these on eBay. Batteries are non existent but plug in adapter is good.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PowerBook_3400c

http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/powerbook/specs/mac_powerbook3400c_200.htm l

http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/powerbook_g3/specs/powerbook_g3_1st.html