User talk:Rich/18xx Play By Email
Introduction
The term 18xx refers to a series of board games that, with a few exceptions, recreate the building of railroad corporations during the 19th century. These board games are described more fully on this Wikipedia page.
This current page will discuss tools, developed by the gaming community, that can be used to support 18xx Play by Email games. These tools are used either alone or in combination with other tools (EG: spreadsheets) to support game play from remote sites. Some of the tools discussed below can be used for other gaming purposes (EG: live play) or can be used for non 18xx games. But the thrust of this discussion is Play by Email games.
Play By Email Tools
The following table lists six currently active tools that meet the above criteria. A brief paragraph discussing each of them will follow.
| Tool | Description |
|---|---|
| 18xx.games | Play async or real-time 18xx games |
| BOARD18 | displays game boards and stock market charts |
| cyberboard | displays game boards and stock market charts |
| rails | can act as a moderator to speed up face-to-face games |
| RR18xx | online 18xx support |
| Tabletop Simulator | Playing board games via the interweb |
| VASSAL | Play live on the Internet or by email |
18xx.games
BOARD18
CyberBoard
The CyberBoard board gaming system makes playing board games by mail and electronic mail a more enjoyable experience. The system allows you to easily graphically design the various parts of a board game on your computer. The players can make their moves and exchange recorded versions of the moves with their opponents via emails.
CyberBoard supports mostly military war games but it can also be used for 18xx games.
The oficial CyberBoard web site is at cyberboard.brainiac.com. And a list of CyberBoard game boxes for 18xx games can be found on this board game geek page.
rails
RR18xx
Tabletop Simulator
Tabletop Simulator uses the STEAM engine.
It has its own Wikipedia page so please go there for more information.
VASSAL
Vassal is a game engine for building and playing online adaptations of board games and card games. You can use Vassal to play in real time over the Internet or by email. Vassal runs on all platforms, and is free, open-source software. [1] The Vassal game engine was originally designed by Rodney Kinney. It is documented on the VASSAL open-source boardgame engine web site. But there is no direct mention of 18xx games at this web site. The 18xx game modules for VASSAL are listed at and can be downloaded from this Module:18xx VASSAL WIKI page.