TRACON is a software program that simulates an air traffic control environment on a personal computer. The game lets you play the role of controlling the air traffic at Los Angeles International (LAX) airport. The game play screen only consists of air traffic control radar, indicating incoming air traffic. Besides the radar, synchronized speech also alerts your attention of the incoming traffic. Directing traffic is done so by typing in commands to designated airplanes.
The game familiarizes a player with the difficulty of tracking many events simultaneously. Every aircraft is moving in a dynamic environment. The player must develop a feel for three-dimensional space represented in two dimensions on the screen. Generally, aircraft must be kept separated by 1,000 vertical feet and three miles horizontal separation. A series of alarms sound if adequate space between aircraft is not maintained. A few separation conflicts can quickly wipe out the player's entire accrued point value. The closer aircraft get, the more severe the warnings. A mid-air crash ends the game.
Source: Wikipedia, "Tracon II", available under the CC-BY-SA License.