Travel back in time - before the internet - there was the BBS!
 

so... how many can recall dialing into your favorite BBS and downloading elite warez?

The glory days of 14.4k, 28.8k modems...the protocol wars HST vs V32bis...
The scramble to get your board promoted by big names like Razor1911, etc..
The ANSI login screens..
The lowbies on 2400baud modems trying to get warez...


The boards I used to frequent to get my warez:

Trauma Hounds
Phaseshift
Legend of Ampasaurus (LoA)

there were quite a few... i ran one also although I didn't really take it too seriously: Tyrell Corporation.

here's some ANSI from one of the above boards that are LONG LONG LONG GONE...

https://imageshack.us/scaled/large/41/phaseshift.jpg

I used to play a ton of online games on BBS.

Legend of the Red Dragon
The Pit
...and Trade Wars.

Those were the days..

Barren Realms Elite!

Awesome, I remember all this stuff! I can remember upgrading from a 2400baud modem, to a 14.4! KILLER!

Me and my friend has a BBS that we can from his house, and it was awesome. I can remember I used to go on this chat BBS too in Vancouver, and that was sweet too. Oh man, how things have changed! Good times!

I downloaded a demo of NHL 94 from a BBS once, it was like 8 megs, took over an hour on the phone line! Parents were pissed! And then my computer was too slow to run it! 286, 10megahertz, 128k ram or something. 3G's for all that!

LORD was cool, especially with the add-on packs that some boards had. And the shareware stuff you could get like Jazzy Jackrabbit and Duke Nukem, or the apps from Walnut Creek.

wow didn't realize so many of you played those games too :)

used to play all the time met a new friend, years later, only to find out his brother owned one of the BBS' i visited (Greek Connection) iirc though his was pay2use

i also liked

Falcons Eye

the creator of those games Mehul Patel made a website when the internet kicked off where you could play similar games like BRE and Falcons Eye it was called Solaria Games they ended up changing their name to utopiangames etc etc

just did a search and it looks like its still kicking sort of
Earth Empires - Massive Multiplayer Online Browser Game
Utopia - Home

My favorite BBS game was Land of Devastation. It was a post-apocalyptic RPG, kind of like Fallout. I think I finished that game, too.

EDIT: pimpwars.

I ran a pretty decent sized BBS with my friend in Nanaimo.. also met my first gf on her dad's BBS which was the biggest on the island (4 nodes!!!) (we did go to school together.. she would cheat for me in door games lol)

Anyway yeah those were great days... Door games were always fun, especially the raunchy ones like Cripple Smash and Dopewars. My favourite of all was TradeWars 2002

http://www5.pcmag.com/media/images/2...ewars-2002.jpg

Looking at that brings back a rush of so many memories.. old friends.. wow

Edit: OMGWTFBBQ

wow, that brings back memories....

I used to play TW religiously everyday after school. Were you good or bad? I always was bad and had a corporate flagship...

The reason I can use a number pad faster than all my co-workers is because of all the sector numbers I had to enter. Who knew it would be useful 10+ years later!?!?

trade wars was fucking epic. also, was it MUD that was a game? but if someone knows how to set up a trade wars server, we should all play!

MUD is the term for text based multiplayer games

I didn't get the internet until I moved out in 2001 because my parents were fucking assholes. The day I moved out, they got the internet and a new computer ...

I probably would've been doing all this shit ... Maybe that's why :lol

Dreamscape
Milkyway
Ground Fx


Man, there were a lot too.

Planets, Clans, LORD, LORD II, Usurper, Major Mud, Tradewars

If you were in the MUDs, your were on Dreamscape or ICE online. I could never get into that, for some reason.

MUD = Muti User Dungeon.

I played Usurper a lot...fun game.

Deep Waterz
Milkyway

And a bunch of others. Totally forgot their names. What fun times.

ah yes! milky way rings a bell. good times were had.

Gordon Lewicky was the SYSOP of The Milky way BBS if anyone remembers haha

Sadly he died nearly 10 years ago, I think from a brain tumor or cancer, I don't recall correctly. But, this BBS was my favorite back then, 4 lines of awesomeness. I think two of the phone numbers were 532-4362 and 532-4367.

I remember feeling nostalgic like 5 years ago and setup a telnet bbs for lord. Fun times.

Stumbled upon this list of 604 BBSs:

604 BBS List


I recognize a lot of the names in there. Who remember EdNet? A lot of people from elementary school would be on there, chatting. I also remember Cardz and Deep Cove were good for their chats, too.

I see the BBS I sysop'd :)

Oh god the memories. So many of the BBS'es I recognize in Courtenay.

And chances are I logged on at one time or another to Skinny's BBS if it was in Nanaimo and got in shit for jacking up the long distance on my mom's phone.

Yep.. those were the days.

My fav memories:
Mom picks up the phone making that aweful noise and always killing my connection.
Sitting on redial for hours waiting for a connection.
Definitely Tradewars and The Pit.
0-7 Day Warez.
First time I gambled was online. Playing Poker on this multi chat BBS. Gambled with minutes not cash. But needed to buy minutes with cash.
I ran my own board too.. actually on that list. My BBS software was Renegade!
Best first investment was a 28.8 Hayes Modem. Shit was blazing back then.
Oh yeah.. and we must never forget ansi art.

It was painful when my family only had pulse dialing! Touch tone was extra cost :P

rotary phones FTW!!! I love watching that thing spin...