RxWars

About

Drug Wars is a 1984 turn-based strategy game written by John E. Dell for IBM PC compatibles, in which the player deals drugs to pay off a loan shark and turn the biggest profit by the end of the game. RxWars (also called Prescription Wars) is a multiplayer web-based simulation, built in JavaScript with Bootstrap and the Meteor framework, where teams of players run gangs buying real prescription medicines from pharmacies and reselling them illicitly on the street while managing arrest risk and loan-shark debt, with each team's profit shown live on a scoreboard.

How it differs from the original

Unlike the original single-player game, RxWars is played by multiple teams at once, models specific real prescription drugs (such as alprazolam, hydrocodone, and oxycodone) instead of generic illicit drugs, and includes an admin-configurable set of historical policy scenarios (e.g. the Controlled Substances Act, decriminalization) that change arrest risk and prices live during play.

Getting started

It's typically run by an instructor: after the application is deployed and the market is started from its settings page, players create accounts and log in through a web browser to join the live simulation.

History

It was created by a pharmacy school instructor as a teaching tool for classes on prescription drug abuse as a public health issue, letting the administrator adjust market conditions live to illustrate different real-world government strategies for combating the problem.

Additional notes

Gameplay mechanic

Players can pay a fee to anonymously arrange for a rival player to be arrested on their next transaction, a "snitch" mechanic.

Detail

The default admin login is admin/admin and is meant to be changed immediately after setup.