About Bolo
Stuart Cheshire, the original author of the Macintosh version of Bolo, describes his game as; "Bolo is a 16 player graphical networked real-time multi-player tank battle game. It has elements of arcade-style shoot-em-up action, but for the serious players who play 12 hour games with 16 players working in teams in different networked computer clusters around an office or university campus, it becomes more of a strategy game. You have to play it to understand."
The following is an article written by Chris Russo (crusso@alink.net) that was posted to the Internet newsgroup rec.games.bolo in 1994 but it is still pretty valid.
For those of you who haven't given Bolo a good try yet, you're REALLY missing out. IMOSHO I'd have to say that Bolo is my all-time favorite Macintosh game, and a great many other people out there would agree with me. Is there another Mac-only game that has its own rec.* group? Maybe, I don't know of any, though.
Have you played around with Bolo once or twice and not been impressed. That's understandable because it doesn't have flashy graphics or dazzling sounds. More than anything, the interface is functional, so it might be hard to appreciate the genius of the game without playing it more.
Another factor contributing with some people's not being impressed with Bolo on a first outing is the fact that Bolo is a multiplayer game. If you downloaded Bolo for yourself then ran it, and said, "Damn, not much to do here," you probably weren't playing against any other human opponents.
Although there are some 'Bots' that are available which can be fun to practice against, even the author states that Bolo's focus is that of a multiplayer game.
So, if you haven't played it at all, or you're wondering why it has such a cult following, I'll give a little outline of the basics.
The object of Bolo is simple. Pummel your opponent(s) into submission. You achieve this objective by using your tank and the available resources to deprive your opponent of obtaining any resources of his/her own. The resources available to you are several: Refueling bases give you ammo, shields, and mines for shooting, protecting and booby-trapping respectively. Pillboxes are armored gun turrets that can be captured and then deployed in the captors defense. Trees can be farmed to build roads, build structures, repair pillboxes, and build boats for your tank to travel upon.
Sounds simple, right? Well it is, to begin with. As you play, however, you'll come to realize that there's a ton of complexity underlying that simple object.
If you're interested, visit http://www.lgm.com/bolo. While you're there, also grab the FAQ and maybe a couple of extra world maps.
Get together with a couple of friends on a local network and give the game a few hours of your time. Learn how to capture the pillboxes and set them up to defend those fuel bases while preventing your opponents from doing the same.
After you've gotten a little experience, and you're kicking butt on all of your friends, join a game with others on the internet. They'll be happy to disabuse you of your superior attitude. :-) Oh yeah, read the FAQ before joining an internet game. It has a lot of info on strategy that you'll find useful as well as some notes on bolo-etiqutte that other players will really appreciate your knowing.
rec.games.bolo is the main discussion area for Bolo topics, and if you know how to use irc, jump over to the #bolo area. It's a great place to find a game, discuss strategy, or just hang out.
Remember, if you start playing and really like it. Do the right thing and give Stuart Cheshire his shareware fee.
Happy boloing!
Chris (Bolo handle 'C++')
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Introducing Bolo (Click on image for full size version)
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Stuart Cheshire, the original author of the Macintosh version of Bolo, describes his game as; "Bolo is a 16 player graphical networked real-time multi-player tank battle game. It has elements of arcade-style shoot-em-up action, but for the serious players who play 12 hour games with 16 players working in teams in different networked computer clusters around an office or university campus, it becomes more of a strategy game. You have to play it to understand."
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