I have such strong nostalgia for that era, but man, every time I try to go back and experience a BBS like this is just feels so empty. There really isn't a way to experience the feelings back then. I admire them for keeping it alive, but the magic was long ago dispelled by ubiquitous internet connectivity.
I can go play a retro videogame and be taken back, but I've never felt that way with a BBS. Maybe it's just the intensity of what the BBS world was back then. It was a way into another world.. an exclusive world.. the first taste of digital life, long before it was taken over by the masses. An intimate community, but also a gateway to esoteric and faraway lands.
I was 12 when I got my first modem in '87. Suddenly I was no longer trapped in my town but connected to something secret yet global. Sure, long-distance charges kept things local for the most part, but it wasn't long before I found a way around that. Stolen calling cards, open PBXes, then Tymnet/Telenet and then in '90 an internet gateway of a local university. Wardialing, finding strange systems in the night... poking around until something gave way. Arrested. Reset. Probation. No computers. It all came to a halt. Then one day at Boeing Surplus I found an old green screen terminal and a 300 baud acoustic modem. Back online.. but the world began to change. MBBS, multi-line systems, and the world began to open. The world wide web began to take shape, Yahoo awoke, and the old steamship rolled into port for the last time.
I feel this. Almost exactly the same experience. 300bps in early days. At some point got a 1200bps. Then 2400, then 14.4 and 28.8 came fast. WWIV variants. CDC. 2600. Phrack. 612-341-2459 for local Telenet dialup at the time, my fingers still know the number unconsciously. War dialing! 5ESS. SS7. Bluebeep. 0700 bridges. Even in the early days of the internet, EFnet had BBS flavor to some extent. Certainly the warez. haha. A lot of the same people. What a time. I remember the first time I was going through Computer Shopper and found the BBS list. First one I ever called was Unlawful Entry... welp. If fate exists, it was busy that day.
I've been hoping someone can make a text based modern version of Lord or TradeWars. Having LLMs generate a lot of the gameplay and text dynamically would be one idea.
I wrote some BBS door games back in the day and was thinking of making a new one today, although not multi-player. It would be in the style of the old games (ANSI-style art and text) but for a single-player and with a daily play limitation as well. You'd only play a few minutes each day and if you died, you'd have to come back the next day. Nothing concrete yet, but I definitely would like to make one just for old time's sake.
Remember when dial-up was “unlimited”, until it wasn’t? I would stay connected 24/7 because I was running FTP servers announced on IRC. Well, eventually unlimited became a restricted number of hours in a month and I had to disconnect. I then discovered the whole BBS underground and was amazed.
I would find BBS numbers online, in magazines, anywhere and everywhere I could find them. Well, I dialed into all of them. All around the world. I would stay connected for hours.
One morning I was getting ready for school and heard my parents arguing like crazy with the phone company. It was a multi-thousand dollar bill. Well, back in the day, not only were there long-distance charges, but apparently there was also a connection charge as well each time. So when I dialed in and would inevitably get disconnected after a few minutes and re-dial, there would be a connection charge each time. My parents were saying (more like yelling), “There is no way we could dial that many numbers!” I had no idea what the heck was going or why they were talking about that. Then it hit me like a shock to the system. “Holy shit, that’s from all my BBS dialing!”
They continued to argue with the phone company about not paying the bill and there must be something wrong somewhere. Then they wrapped up the call.
As we left for school I causally asked what all that was about.
They concluded it must have been the cordless phone and someone was making calls on our line by connecting to our cordless base station.
After my mom kicked me out I went to live with my grandparents. They bought me a c-128d and a 1200 baud modem. Little did they know I had no concept of hourly connection fees or phone billing. It was amazing until they got the first $200 bill from Q-Link and $400 from the phone company. My grandpa was so pissed he kicked me out and fortunately my dad took me in. It was about 7 years before he talked to me again, and it was only a terse, stiff conversation on the phone when he called to talk to my mom. He died not long after. He grew up poor and couldn't get over it. I still appreciate them taking me in. I wouldn't be where I'm at today without them buying me that computer system.
I have such strong nostalgia for that era, but man, every time I try to go back and experience a BBS like this is just feels so empty. There really isn't a way to experience the feelings back then. I admire them for keeping it alive, but the magic was long ago dispelled by ubiquitous internet connectivity.
I can go play a retro videogame and be taken back, but I've never felt that way with a BBS. Maybe it's just the intensity of what the BBS world was back then. It was a way into another world.. an exclusive world.. the first taste of digital life, long before it was taken over by the masses. An intimate community, but also a gateway to esoteric and faraway lands.
I was 12 when I got my first modem in '87. Suddenly I was no longer trapped in my town but connected to something secret yet global. Sure, long-distance charges kept things local for the most part, but it wasn't long before I found a way around that. Stolen calling cards, open PBXes, then Tymnet/Telenet and then in '90 an internet gateway of a local university. Wardialing, finding strange systems in the night... poking around until something gave way. Arrested. Reset. Probation. No computers. It all came to a halt. Then one day at Boeing Surplus I found an old green screen terminal and a 300 baud acoustic modem. Back online.. but the world began to change. MBBS, multi-line systems, and the world began to open. The world wide web began to take shape, Yahoo awoke, and the old steamship rolled into port for the last time.
I feel this. Almost exactly the same experience. 300bps in early days. At some point got a 1200bps. Then 2400, then 14.4 and 28.8 came fast. WWIV variants. CDC. 2600. Phrack. 612-341-2459 for local Telenet dialup at the time, my fingers still know the number unconsciously. War dialing! 5ESS. SS7. Bluebeep. 0700 bridges. Even in the early days of the internet, EFnet had BBS flavor to some extent. Certainly the warez. haha. A lot of the same people. What a time. I remember the first time I was going through Computer Shopper and found the BBS list. First one I ever called was Unlawful Entry... welp. If fate exists, it was busy that day.
The community was gone. I guess that’s the reason. Nowadays discord and HN and other forums keep the same vibe.
PTT is still one of the largest BBS discussion forums in Taiwan to this day.
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PTT_Bulletin_Board_System
- https://term.ptt.cc/
Hello, any 鄉民 here?
I’ve thought for a long time about setting up an old BBS. Inviting people to play Legend of the Red Dragon and Usurper. Well done.
I have been playing LoRD here and other places for a while
http://lord.stabs.org/playlord.html
I used to host LoRD and Usurper on a local Renegade BBS back in the mid 90s
Still a great game that doesn't get boring. Every year or so I'll play it again for a few months in a row.
We need a ripscript version for the web!
But what about Galactic Empire?
I've been hoping someone can make a text based modern version of Lord or TradeWars. Having LLMs generate a lot of the gameplay and text dynamically would be one idea.
I wrote some BBS door games back in the day and was thinking of making a new one today, although not multi-player. It would be in the style of the old games (ANSI-style art and text) but for a single-player and with a daily play limitation as well. You'd only play a few minutes each day and if you died, you'd have to come back the next day. Nothing concrete yet, but I definitely would like to make one just for old time's sake.
Don't forget some BRE and TW2002
InterBBS BRE is still one of my favourite turn based "online" strategy experiences, working together to defeat other BBS's, so good
I used to connect to that exact BBS over dialup in the early 90s. I'm old.
Has anyone captured a Fidonet forum archive anywhere or is this form of human communication forever lost?
It’d be really sad if so.
BUSY
Server closed connection.
I'll have to wait my turn! :)
Oh wow - I did not suspect there were BBS’s still running!
There's quite a lot. Check this out:
https://www.telnetbbsguide.com/
Over a thousand systems accessible over telnet (sometimes ssh too, sometimes even proper, honest actual dial-up modem)
More and more are popping up, same for IRC channels. A lot of older gens are headed back. I love my local BBS, met a lot of interesting people.
Check out this TAP+ protocol they've made to work with old door games to give them graphics and music.... tilesets, etc. It's pretty cool!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6RPdD2DyJs
and here at 2:52....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sdms0rIL7TY
Story time.
Remember when dial-up was “unlimited”, until it wasn’t? I would stay connected 24/7 because I was running FTP servers announced on IRC. Well, eventually unlimited became a restricted number of hours in a month and I had to disconnect. I then discovered the whole BBS underground and was amazed.
I would find BBS numbers online, in magazines, anywhere and everywhere I could find them. Well, I dialed into all of them. All around the world. I would stay connected for hours.
One morning I was getting ready for school and heard my parents arguing like crazy with the phone company. It was a multi-thousand dollar bill. Well, back in the day, not only were there long-distance charges, but apparently there was also a connection charge as well each time. So when I dialed in and would inevitably get disconnected after a few minutes and re-dial, there would be a connection charge each time. My parents were saying (more like yelling), “There is no way we could dial that many numbers!” I had no idea what the heck was going or why they were talking about that. Then it hit me like a shock to the system. “Holy shit, that’s from all my BBS dialing!”
They continued to argue with the phone company about not paying the bill and there must be something wrong somewhere. Then they wrapped up the call.
As we left for school I causally asked what all that was about.
They concluded it must have been the cordless phone and someone was making calls on our line by connecting to our cordless base station.
:->
My BBS days were obviously over.
After my mom kicked me out I went to live with my grandparents. They bought me a c-128d and a 1200 baud modem. Little did they know I had no concept of hourly connection fees or phone billing. It was amazing until they got the first $200 bill from Q-Link and $400 from the phone company. My grandpa was so pissed he kicked me out and fortunately my dad took me in. It was about 7 years before he talked to me again, and it was only a terse, stiff conversation on the phone when he called to talk to my mom. He died not long after. He grew up poor and couldn't get over it. I still appreciate them taking me in. I wouldn't be where I'm at today without them buying me that computer system.
Dude! I was a SysOp of TopForce BBS in Belgrade, Serbia long time ago. Founder of SETNet, Fido compatible network. So long ago.
I hosted Barren Realms Elite and we had so much fun with it.
Great to see this.