8-bit gaming was firmly established by the mid-80s; the rise of the ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64 and BBC Micro as home computers and entertainment units hardly needs going over again. However, as the digital world was booming, another form of gaming was beginning a slow decline.
Play By Mail was an interesting phenomenon in the 1980s. The concept itself was extraordinarily simple but very effective. As the name suggests, you had a game concept and rules as dictated by the game moderator. The game moderator would then announce the start of the game and post all the relevant documentation along with the rules and entry forms to the players. The players would receive the game's documents through the post and begin their go, usually by sending a postal order for a set amount to register themselves with the game.
The player's turn could be written down on a form, such as moving their army to the border of another player and taking the first shot. The game moderator in turn received the form and payment and made a note of it on the game board and informed the other players once he or she got all the other moves in place.
It was a long, drawn-out process, but ultimately it worked, and it fired the imagination of many a young teen.
Its History
Play by Mail or PBM, can be traced as far back as the 1950s in the US, with lengthy games of chess being played back and forth between gamers using the postal system. Who started it and what it started with no one really knows. There are plenty of suggestions, but they tend to end up in arguments over the true pioneer.
Regardless of who started PBM, the bug for conducting games over mail spread across the Atlantic, and soon we were enjoying matching our wits with others and eagerly awaiting the next move through the post.
PBM gamers were overjoyed with the launch of Flagship Magazine in 1983, which detailed current games and was used by game moderators from all over the country (and the world in some cases) to sell their next concept to potential players.
Unfortunately, due to the ever connected world we now live in and the fact that the cost of organising and posting of games is immensely high, Play By Mail has all but died out. There are a few examples still going, and Play By Email is taking up the mantle to some degree, but the art of sending off your final move to become crowned emperor of the Thorne Galaxy looks to have seen its last.
The Good
Amazing concepts. Tactical and diplomatic game playing needed to win.
The Bad
Could get expensive over time. Game moderators sometimes lost interest and dropped a game mid-play. Took an awful long time to complete a game (we’re talking years in some cases).
Conclusion
Play By Mail enjoyed many years of gaming between like-minded players. It’s a lost gaming art, that's for sure, but it still exists online in some form or another. Who knows, maybe it'll return one day when the internet collapses?
Did You Know?
• It's a Crime, by KJC Games, is still one of the most popular PBM and PBeM games going.
• Vorcon Wars was run by a Game Master on a ZX Spectrum.
• Your turn is heavily influenced by the actions of the other players. Often diplomacy was the best method of survival.
• There are still some fine examples going. Look them up and take part.