The Forgotten World of BBS Door Games

Before the Internet linked up every American household, PC users still found ways to make remote contact—and play games—with each other. They did so using ordinary telephone phone lines and dial-up modems, often directing the devices to call Bulletin Board Systems (BBSes) in their local area code. BBSes reigned supreme in the non-academic online landscape from the early 1980s to the mid-1990s.

Once connected to these mostly hobby-run services, users could bring up a list of games to play. These early online games became known as "door games" because once a user was connected to a BBS, the games were accessed and played through a figurative "doorway" between the BBS software and the separate, independently running game program.

Most of the time, these games were multiplayer only in a turn-based sense, with successive users calling in at different times of day to play their allotted minutes of game time or turns. Games played simultaneously with multiple players did exist, but they were the exception rather than the rule due to the expense of running a multi-line BBS system.

And since BBSes were typically accessed through text-based terminal emulator programs, most door games could not provide graphics beside what they could approximate using various multicolored text symbols (unless they used a special graphical client).

While played by limited numbers of people by modern standards—maybe tens of thousands of users worldwide, and I'm just estimating—these early online games form a vital but often overlooked link in the history of the modern game industry. That's because while their original audience was limited, that limited audience was of concentrated importance. BBS users of the 1980s and 1990s formed a core of some of the most computer-savvy members of the general population at the time, many of which went on to engineer the computer-driven world we see today, including modern video games, websites, and smartphone apps.

With that in mind, I thought it would be fun to explore this corner of gaming history by looking back at a handful of my favorite classic BBS door games. This is by no means a ranking or definitive list; programmers released hundreds of door games during the 1980s and '90s. This is merely a small sampling of this rich period in computer history.

To give you a more authentic feel for what these games looked like in their natural vintage environment—an IBM PC running MS-DOS—I have taken actual photos of the games running on a VGA monitor—I also played them through the vintage terminal program Telix, which I used to login to my BBS.

Speaking of that BBS, you can still play all these games today by connecting yourself. To log into The Cave BBS, telnet to cavebbs.homeip.net (port 23), create a user account (type "/s" and hit enter to save the validation message) then see the list of door games by pressing a period (.) at the main menu. Have fun, and please share your memories of your favorite BBS door games in the comments.

1. Operation: Overkill II

First Release: 1988
Creator: Dustin Nulf

In this viscerally descriptive game, created by Dustin Nulf with a dose of inspiration from the PC classic Wasteland, you play as a technologically enhanced soldier wandering a post-apocalyptic world populated with creatures that want nothing more than to kill you. Your viewport into the wasteland comes both from text descriptions and an innovative (for its time) overhead view of your movement on the map through a 3-by-3 grid (the area titled "Infrared scan" in the photo above). Combat is real-time and skill-based, requiring the player to hit the space bar during a certain repeating sequence of letters to score a better hit on the enemy. OOII (as it is called for short) remains one of the deepest and most complex CRPGs available on BBSes.

(Photo: Benj Edwards)

2. TradeWars 2002

First Release: 1991
Creator: Gary Martin

This resource-trading and space-combat game boasts a rich history in the BBS world. Its earliest precursors date back to the early 1980s; all of them borrow thematically from the original Star Trek TV show. The present incarnation of the game, TradeWars 2002, launched in 1991 and has seen continued improvement over the decades while retaining its text-based format. Since that time, thousands of players have been visiting the TradeWars universe non-stop, with the current version, which can be hosted on a modern OS and played online without a BBS, under development by John Pritchett. Considering its astounding longevity, TW2002 remains one of the most important and well-crafted online games of all time.

(Photo: Benj Edwards)

3. The Pit

First Release: 1990
Creator: James R. Berry

At the time of its release, this one-on-one combat RPG stood out for its advanced use of ANSI graphics that depict various status windows and a combat arena. In that arena, modeled after gladiatorial combat, the player moves an omega symbol representing his character from an overhead viewpoint, plotting his next move against a computer-controlled opponent. To ease the burden of low-speed modems with this graphically rich title, its author, James R. Berry, offered a special EGA client program that players could use to connect to an instance of the game and play with very low latency.

(Photo: Benj Edwards)

4. PimpWars

First Release: 1990
Creator: Paul J. Martino

PimpWars combines resource management, business simulation, and a hint of Monopoly with the world of black market prostitution. In other words, it was the perfect game for a teenage boy to play on a BBS back in the 1990s -- and that was the BBS world's primary demographic in most areas. Despite an off-color theme that sees you playing as a pimp managing a stable of prostitutes, PimpWars boasts surprisingly deep gameplay as you attempt to build your empire to the point where you can purchase a local restaurant.

(Photo: Benj Edwards)

5. Freshwater Fishing Simulator

First Release: 1989
Creator: Eric Hamilton

This title represents the most obscure entry in our survey, but it was always a personal favorite of mine. Freshwater Fishing Simulator is exactly what its title says, a simulation of the freshwater fishing experience, down to the rod and bait you choose and the underwater terrain of the lake you're exploring. While a rare sight on modern telnet BBSes, this graphically rich title (ANSI graphics, that is) always provides a welcome break from fantasy and space combat games that tend to dominate the BBS door platform.

(Photo: Benj Edwards)

6. Legend of the Red Dragon

First Release: 1989
Author: Seth Robinson

Along with TW2002, Legend of the Red Dragon (commonly abbreviated as "LORD") remains one of the best known and most popular BBS door games. LORD gained its popularity from its simple, pick-up-and-play design that distilled a fantasy RPG down to its most basic elements: repetitive combat, leveling, and equipment upgrades. Add to that a teenage-level depiction of sexuality (courting and potentially marrying Violet), chance events that bring a gambling-like thrill to the action, and a dose of humor, and you have a classic. LORD innovated by linking up with third-party software modules, allowing site-based customization that enabled the title to remain fresh over the decades.

(Photo: Benj Edwards)

7. Legend of the Red Dragon II: New World

First Release: 1992
Creator: Seth Robinson

In 1992, LORD creator Seth Robinson created an official follow-up to his popular door game, but changed just about everything about it. Whereas the first LORD is a simplistic descriptive RPG where the player is mostly stuck in one spot of a forest, LORD II is a pseudo-graphical game with dozens of locales, navigated in a Rogue-esque fashion by piloting an IBM smiley face ASCII character around various terrain. LORD 2 supported multiple simultaneous players across different nodes of a BBS, which was very unique at the time of its release. Most likely due to the game's extra complexity, it never captured the success of its predecessor. But it's still an amazing game to play.

(Photo: Benj Edwards)