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A play-by-mail game is a game played through postal mail, email or other digital media. Correspondence chess and Go were among the first PBM games. Diplomacy has been played by mail since 1963, introducing a multi-player aspect to PBM games. Flying Buffalo Inc. pioneered the first commercially available PBM game in 1970. A small number of PBM companies followed in the 1970s, with an explosion of hundreds of startup PBM companies in the 1980s at the peak of PBM gaming popularity, many of them small hobby companies—more than 90 percent of which eventually folded. A number of independent PBM magazines also started in the 1980s, including The Nuts & Bolts of PBM, Gaming Universal, Paper Mayhem and Flagship. These magazines eventually went out of print, replaced in the 21st century by the online PBM journal Suspense and Decision.
Flying Buffalo Inc. (FBI) is a game company with a line of role playing games, card games, and other gaming materials. The company's founder, Rick Loomis, began game publishing with Nuclear Destruction, a play-by-mail game which started the professional PBM industry in the United States. Loomis added games and players while introducing computer moderation and soon incorporated into the company Flying Buffalo Inc. The company published games in other genres, including card games such as Nuclear War and a role playing game called Tunnels & Trolls, a game similar to Dungeons & Dragons. Flying Buffalo acquired its 10,000th customer account number in 1980 and reached its largest size of 21 employees in 1983.
Starweb is a closed-end, space-based, play-by-mail (PBM) game. First published by Flying Buffalo Inc. in 1976, it was the company's second PBM game after Nuclear Destruction, the game that started the PBM industry in 1970. Players today can choose a postal mail or email format. Fifteen players per game assume one of six available roles and explore and conquer planets within a universe comprising 225 worlds. The object of the game is to attain a predetermined number of points which are generated by various actions during gameplay. Multiple game variants are available. Starweb is still available for play as of 2021 through the company Rick Loomis PBM Games.
Rick Loomis was an American game designer, most notable as the founder of game publisher Flying Buffalo, which he managed until his death.
Empyrean Challenge is a strategic science fiction play-by-mail (PBM) game. Published by Superior Simulations in 1978, its introduction was important to the nascent PBM industry. 150 players per game strove to dominate a cluster of star systems. Diplomacy, combat, economics, technological development, colonization, and other factors were important aspects of gameplay. Detailed work was required in all aspects of the game, requiring a significant investment in time for players. Reviewer Jim Townsend stated in 1988 that Empyrean Challenge was "the most complex game system on Earth".
Trajan's Treacherous Trap is a play-by-mail game that was published by Flying Buffalo in 1979.
The Nuts & Bolts of PBM was a magazine dedicated to play-by-mail games, first published in June 1980 as Nuts and Bolts of Starweb, and edited by Richard J. Buda. The magazine incorporated in 1983 to Bolt Publications. Rick Loomis of Flying Buffalo Games stated in 1985 that the Nuts & Bolts of PBM was the first PBM magazine not published by a PBM company. He stated that "It was a fun magazine, but somewhat ahead of its time, and it had no financial backing." Afterward, the name changed to Nuts & Bolts of Gaming.
Heroic Fantasy is a computer-moderated, dungeon crawl play-by-mail game. It has been active since 1982 when it was published by Flying Buffalo. The initial edition involved nine dungeon levels. Flying Buffalo published subsequent editions due to challenging gameplay initially, eventually limiting the game to four dungeon levels with a fifth outdoors level where players can assemble an army and capture one or more castles. The game is open-ended; gameplay continues until players decide to stop.
Galactic Conflict is a space-based, computer-moderated, play-by-mail game originally published by Flying Buffalo in 1982. As August 2021, Rick Loomis PBM Games took over as game publisher. During gameplay, six to fifteen players expand across the galaxy, building industrial capacity and pursuing Civilian Projects through various means. Some player diplomacy is typical. The game received multiple reviews in the early 1980s, receiving generally positive comments.
Gaming Universal was a magazine dedicated to play-by-mail games. The magazine was published between 1983 and 1988, in two separate print runs with Bob McLain as editor of both editions. Its first print run was published by Imagascape Industries between November 1983 and 1985. The first issue was called PBM Universal, with a name change by the second issue. The second edition ran between 1987 and 1988, published by Aftershock Publishing. The magazine received average to positive reviews from other magazine editors and reviewers.
Hyborian War is a play-by-mail game published by Reality Simulations, Inc. It takes place during the Hyborian Age in the world of Conan the Barbarian created by Robert E. Howard. The game has been continuously available for worldwide play since its inception in 1985 and has changed little in its overall format. It uses a computer program to adjudicate player orders. Although it relies on postal mail or email and has turnaround times which are relatively long for the digital age of video games, Hyborian War has remained active into the 21st century.
Paper Mayhem is an out-of-print play-by-mail (PBM) game magazine that was published in Ottawa, Illinois. The staff published the initial issue in July 1983 and the magazine ran until mid-1998. Its format was 40 pages published six times per year. The magazine was the most well-known of the play-by-mail periodicals of the period, providing articles and reviews of play-by-mail games, as well as reader-informed ratings of play-by-mail companies, game masters (GMs) and games, both intermittently and on an annual basis. The magazine, along with its long-time editor-in-chief, David Webber, was influential in the play-by-mail community, even echoing into 21st century play-by-mail activities. The publication ceased suddenly in mid-1998 following the unexpected death of Webber.
Warboid World is a play-by-mail game originally published and moderated by Adventures by Mail in 1983 in which players build up armies of robots and send them to destroy other players' robot factories.
Lords of the Earth (LOTE) is a play-by-email game, first published by Thomas Harlan in 1983 during a growing era of PBM games. Initially played by postal mail, the game featured mixed moderation—computer moderated with some human assistance. By 2002, the publisher processed turns by email (PBeM). Lords of the Earth comprises multiple campaigns, each one a separate game. Campaign 1 is the oldest, set in the mid-1800s in the "Age of Air and Steam". Other campaigns begin from 2000 BCE to 1400 CE. Settings were global in scale, with one campaign featuring an outer space setting.
Battle Plan is a closed-end, military strategy, play-by-mail (PBM) wargame. It was first published by Flying Buffalo Inc. in 1972, as one of the company's game offerings after Nuclear Destruction, the game that started the PBM industry in 1970. In August 2021, Rick Loomis PBM Games began publishing the game.
Victory! The Battle for Europe is a closed-end, military strategy, play-by-mail (PBM) wargame. The game was first published by Rolling Thunder Games, Inc. in 1991 after a period of initial growth in the PBM industry. The game centers on Europe while including parts of North Africa, the Middle East, the United States, and Canada. Forty players start each game with equal resources among countries, although geography causes differences between starting positions. Games last for about three years each. The game received positive reviews and rankings in the PBM magazine Paper Mayhem in the 1990s, including tying for second place in its Best PBM Game of 1995 list.
Feudal Lords is a closed-end, computer moderated, play-by-mail game set in medieval England. Starting as a game run through a magazine in 1977, it was first published by Graaf Simulations, later run by Flying Buffalo, Inc, and is today published by Rick Loomis PBM Games.
Quest is an open-end, fantasy, play-by-mail (PBM) role-playing game. Initially released in the United Kingdom in 1991, by Adventures by Mail, it later became available for play in the United States, Australia, and other countries in Europe. The game has a First and Second Age, initially comprising about twenty worlds of up to 1,000 parties controlled by players. After the year 2000, the worlds consolidated into four. The current publisher is KJC Games.
Mobius I is a closed-end, space-based play-by-mail (PBM) wargame of space conquest. The game was first published in 1984 by Mobius Games and was subsequently published by Flying Buffalo, Inc. and Rick Loomis PBM Games.
References
- ↑ Jackson, Steve (Summer–Fall 1984). "Steve Jackson's Column". Gaming Universal. No. 3–4. pp. 14–15.
- 1 2 3 4 Loomis, Rick (Summer–Fall 1984). "Buffalo Chips". Gaming Universal. No. 3–4. pp. 48–49.
- 1 2 Loomis, Rick (July–August 1985). "Keeping Posted: Rick Loomis on Play-By-Mail". Space Gamer. No. 75. pp. 35–36.
- 1 2 3 Esterson, Brian (January–February 1978). "Lords of Valetia". The Space Gamer . Metagaming (15): 30.