Sunday 03 February 2002

I miss Bolo!

This Wired story about a new game by The Sims creator, Will Wright, set me thinking about Stewart Cheshire’s Bolo:

Imagine a simple 2-D tank game based on an island made up of grass, swamp, and water. This island is completely surrounded by deep sea that can only be accessed with a boat. There are bases to refuel on. Drop mines and create craters. Pillboxes shoot at unfriendly tanks. Farm trees to build roads or walls which take damage when shot and eventually turn into rubble.

Bolo battlefield

When I worked at FirmwareDesign, we frequently played Bolo: during lunchtimes and after work on a Friday afternoon. I was never a great player—Herman Coomans used to allow me a handicap of two Brain allies—so I’d usually get soundly trounced but I’ve never enjoyed playing a computer game more.

Although there is a WinBolo, not surprisingly—as you can see from the screenshot—the aesthetics are all wrong. If I ever win the lottery, I might invest as much money as it takes to create a proper Windows port. On the other hand, I could resurrect my old Macintosh or buy a new one.

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Comments

>Although there is a WinBolo, not surprisingly—as
>you can see from the screenshot—the aesthetics
>are all wrong.

Whats wrong with the aesthetics?

John.

Posted by: John on 6 October 2002 at 01:32 AM

bolo was the shiznit...winbolo is pretty good too, i wish they would actually alter the game in that a team ACTUALLY can win though.

Posted by: e on 30 October 2002 at 12:51 PM

have you actually downloaded winbolo and tried playing it?, it is quite similar to macbolo, other than fundimental differences such as how the networking and therefore lag works.

Posted by: Min on 12 November 2002 at 10:18 PM

I just downloaded bolo after playin at school in the school's computer lab. But i was wondering does anyone even play bolo anymore cause I want to play with someone and not a computer.

Posted by: chris on 28 March 2003 at 03:12 PM

I just downloaded bolo after playin at school in the school's computer lab. But i was wondering does anyone even play bolo anymore cause I want to play with someone and not a computer.

Posted by: chris on 28 March 2003 at 03:12 PM

This discussion is now closed. Thank you to everyone who participated.

© Copyright 2002-2003 Jonathon Delacour