2.7: Installing Pygame

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Pygame does not come with Python. Like Python, Pygame is available for free. You will have to download and install Pygame, which is as easy as downloading and installing the Python interpreter. In a web browser, go to the URL http://pygame.org and click on the "Downloads" link on the left side of the web site. This book assumes you have the Windows operating system, but Pygame works the same for every operating system. You need to download the Pygame installer for your operating system and the version of Python you have installed.

You do not want to download the "source" for Pygame, but rather the Pygame "binary" for your operating system. For Windows, download the pygame-1.9.1.win32-py3.2.msi file. (This is Pygame for Python 3.2 on Windows. If you installed a different version of Python (such as 2.7 or 2.6) download the .msi file for your version of Python.) The current version of Pygame at the time this book was written is 1.9.1. If you see a newer version on the website, download and install the newer Pygame.

For Mac OS X, download the .zip or .dmg file for the version of Python you have and run it. For Linux, open a terminal and run "sudo apt-get install python-pygame".

On Windows, double click on the downloaded file to install Pygame. To check that Pygame is install correctly, type the following into the interactive shell:

>>> import pygame

If nothing appears after you hit the Enter key, then you know Pygame has successfully been installed. If the error ImportError: No module named pygame appears, then try to install Pygame again (and make sure you typed import pygame correctly).

This chapter has five small programs that demonstrate how to use the different features that Pygame provides. In the last chapter, you will use these features for a complete game written in Python with Pygame.

A video tutorial of how to install Pygame is available from this book's website at http://invpy.com/videos.