Hamurabi is a simple management sim based on the gameplay of the first segment of The Sumerian Game from 1964. Earlier versions of it were known as King of Sumeria and The Sumer Game. As the titular ruler (whose proper spelling is Hammurabi), govern an ancient Sumerian city for a term of ten years.

Gameplay consists of a sequence of prompts that is repeated for each year, starting with the option to buy land. If none is bought, owned land can be sold. In either case, each acre is worth the same amount of bushels of wheat, which are also used as food and seed. Feeding the population is next. Letting too many people starve in a single year leads to being deposed and ends the game. Seeding land is last, requiring both laborers and wheat. An account of the year follows. The population will have increased due to immigration, but a plague might have reduced it by half. The harvest isn't safe either since rats will frequently have consumed a portion of it.

The game ends after ten turns and offers to provide an assessment, which is based on how many people starved and how much land is available for each subject.