Dope Wars

About

Dope Wars (dopewars) is based on "Drug Wars," a game created by John E. Dell, which the project's "antique" mode tries to replicate as closely as possible. dopewars is a client-server simulation of a drug dealer's life in New York, where the player tries to earn money while starting in debt (with accumulating interest) and evading police. It runs on Linux, Windows, and macOS, has built-in multiplayer support, and is licensed under the GNU GPL; it has been maintained by Ben Webb since 1998, with icons by Ocelot Mantis.

How it differs from the original

Running with the "antique" (-a) flag switches to a mode meant to stay as close as possible to the original Drug Wars game, implying the default mode (with its added multiplayer and other features) diverges from that original.

Getting started

By default the game tries to connect to a dopewars server so multiple players can interact in the same session; a server mode can also be run to host games, and various settings (drug and gun names, the high-score file location, etc.) can be tuned through a configuration file or the client's Options menu.

Media

Additional notes

Gameplay note

The readme hints that the Bronx and Ghetto are "special" locations in the game, without explaining why.