Software:1830: Railroads & Robber Barons

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1830: Railroads & Robber Barons
Developer(s)Simtex
Publisher(s)
Designer(s)Stephen Barcia
Programmer(s)Russ Williams
Artist(s)Steven Ray Austin
Jeff Dee
Patrick Owens
George Edward Purdy
Composer(s)David Govett
Platform(s)MS-DOS
Release1995
Genre(s)Turn-based strategy
Mode(s)Single-player, multiplayer

1830: Railroads & Robber Barons is a video game developed by Simtex and published by Avalon Hill in 1995 for MS-DOS.

Gameplay

1830: Railroads & Robber Barons is a multiplayer computer game adaptation of the Avalon Hill board game, 1830. With default settings, the game is a very strict implementation of the board game. Starting with a relatively small amount of seed capital, players purchase shares in eight different railroad companies; ownership of a majority of a company's shares makes a player its president, letting them dictate how the company lays track on a map of the northeastern US, builds stations, buys trains, and runs them on routes to generate revenue. The game ends when the players have collectively earned a certain amount of money ("breaking the bank") or when a player or computer opponent goes bankrupt, at which point a player wins by having the highest total of stock valuation plus cash on hand. As in the board game, tactics such as looting companies of their assets, using buy/sell patterns to manipulate the stock market, and dumping unprofitable companies on other shareholders are prominent aspects of play.

The game has many options to alter game play, both minor (such as modifying the way trains become obsolete, or providing variable instead of fixed dividends per share) and major (adding a ninth railroad). Some variants, such as allowing random game maps or an unlimited number of the different types of track segment, are unique to the computer version, as they would be difficult to impossible to realize with a physical game.

The game can be played by a single player against one to five computer opponents, or multiplayer with hot seat play. There is no built-in facility for play over network, but modern players have done so by running a hot seat multiplayer game in a virtual desktop. Solo mode has four levels of computer opponent difficulty; at higher levels, the computer opponents collude so as to try to have any one of them defeat the player rather than having each maximize its own position (behavior that would not usually arise in a game among human players).

Reception

Reception
Review scores
PublicationScore
CGWStarStarStarStarHalf star[4]
DragonStarStarStarHalf star (DOS)[1]
Next GenerationStarStar[2]
PC Gamer (US)80%[3]

The game sold less than 40,000 copies, at the time Avalon Hill's computer game sales record, set by Kingmaker.[5]

Computer Gaming World's Bob Proctor wrote, "1830 has made the transition from table to computer very well. If you like pure strategy games, this game will give you hundreds of hours of pleasure."[4] T. Liam McDonald of PC Gamer US praised the game but found it overly limited by its faithfulness to the original board game. He summarized, "Where MicroProse's Tycoon titles are large, sprawling canvases on which to paint an entire empire, 1830: Railroads and Robber Barons is a thumbnail sketch; interesting, but ultimately quite small."[3]

The game was reviewed in 1995 in Dragon #219 by Jay & Dee in the "Eye of the Monitor" column. Jay gave the game 3½ out of 5 stars, while Dee gave the game 4 stars.[1]

Next Generation reviewed the PC version of the game, rating it two stars out of five, and stated that "SimTex created a faithful rendition of the classic boardgame, but it stopped right there. The result is a simulation that feels two-dimensional, at least in comparison to what PC gamers have come to expect."[2]

Reviews

  • Pelit - Jun, 1995
  • PC Player (Germany) - Jun, 1995

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Jay & Dee (July 1995). "Eye of the Monitor". Dragon (219): 57–60, 65–66. 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Finals". Next Generation (Imagine Media) (8): 72–73. August 1995. 
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 McDonald, T. Liam (June 1995). "1830: Railroads & Robber Barons". PC Gamer US. http://www.pcgamer.com:80/reviews/1333.html. Retrieved 2018-08-23. 
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Proctor, Bob (July 1995). "Working on the Railroad". Computer Gaming World (132): 156, 158. 
  5. ↑ Coleman, Terry (August 1996). "No Joystick Required". Computer Gaming World (145): 179, 180. 
  • MobyGames is a commercial database website that catalogs information on video games and the people and companies behind them via crowdsourcing. This includes over 300,000 games for hundreds of platforms.[1] Founded in 1999, ownership of the site has changed hands several times. It has been owned by Atari SA since 2022.

Features

Edits and submissions to the site (including screenshots, box art, developer information, game summaries, and more) go through a verification process of fact-checking by volunteer "approvers".[2] This approval process after submission can range from minutes to days or months.[3] The most commonly used sources are the video game's website, packaging, and credit screens. There is a published standard for game information and copy-editing.[4] A ranking system allows users to earn points for contributing accurate information.[5]

Registered users can rate and review games. Users can create private or public "have" and "want" lists, which can generate a list of games available for trade with other registered users. The site contains an integrated forum. Each listed game can have its own sub-forum.

History

Logo used until March 2014

MobyGames was founded on March 1, 1999, by Jim Leonard and Brian Hirt, and joined by David Berk 18 months later, the three of which had been friends since high school.[6][7] Leonard had the idea of sharing information about computer games with a larger audience. The database began with information about games for IBM PC compatibles, relying on the founders' personal collections. Eventually, the site was opened up to allow general users to contribute information.[5] In a 2003 interview, Berk emphasized MobyGames' dedication to taking video games more seriously than broader society and to preserving games for their important cultural influence.[5]

In mid-2010, MobyGames was purchased by GameFly for an undisclosed amount.[8] This was announced to the community post factum , and the site's interface was given an unpopular redesign.[7] A few major contributors left, refusing to do volunteer work for a commercial website.{{Citation needed|date=June 2025} On December 18, 2013, MobyGames was acquired by Jeremiah Freyholtz, owner of Blue Flame Labs (a San Francisco-based game and web development company) and VGBoxArt (a site for fan-made video game box art).[9] Blue Flame Labs reverted MobyGames' interface to its pre-overhaul look and feel,[10] and for the next eight years, the site was run by Freyholtz and Independent Games Festival organizer Simon Carless.[7]

On November 24, 2021, Atari SA announced a potential deal with Blue Flame Labs to purchase MobyGames for $1.5 million.[11] The purchase was completed on 8 March 2022, with Freyholtz remaining as general manager.[12][13][14] Over the next year, the financial boost given by Atari led to a rework of the site being built from scratch with a new backend codebase, as well as updates improving the mobile and desktop user interface.[1] This was accomplished by investing in full-time development of the site instead of its previously part-time development.[15]

In 2024, MobyGames began offering a paid "Pro" membership option for the site to generate additional revenue.[16] Previously, the site had generated income exclusively through banner ads and (from March 2014 onward) a small number of patrons via the Patreon website.[17]

On February 13, 2025, Freyholtz stepped down as the site lead to move onto new projects, leaving operations to Tracy Poff, a veteran coder on the site, and Atari staff.[18]

See also

  • IGDB – game database used by Twitch for its search and discovery functions

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Sheehan, Gavin (2023-02-22). "Atari Relaunches The Fully Rebuilt & Optimized MobyGames Website". https://bleedingcool.com/games/atari-relaunches-the-fully-rebuilt-optimized-mobygames-website/. 
  2. ↑ Litchfield, Ted (2021-11-26). "Zombie company Atari to devour MobyGames". https://www.pcgamer.com/zombie-company-atari-to-devour-mobygames/. 
  3. ↑ "MobyGames FAQ: Emails Answered § When will my submission be approved?". Blue Flame Labs. 30 March 2014. http://www.mobygames.com/info/faq7#g1. 
  4. ↑ "The MobyGames Standards and Practices". Blue Flame Labs. 6 January 2016. http://www.mobygames.com/info/standards. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Miller, Stanley A. (2003-04-22). "People's choice awards honor favorite Web sites". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. 
  6. ↑ "20 Years of MobyGames" (in en). 2019-02-28. https://trixter.oldskool.org/2019/02/28/20-years-of-mobygames/. 
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Plunkett, Luke (2022-03-10). "Atari Buys MobyGames For $1.5 Million". https://kotaku.com/mobygames-retro-credits-database-imdb-atari-freyholtz-b-1848638521. 
  8. ↑ "Report: MobyGames Acquired By GameFly Media". Gamasutra. 2011-02-07. https://www.gamedeveloper.com/game-platforms/report-mobygames-acquired-by-gamefly-media. 
  9. ↑ Corriea, Alexa Ray (December 31, 2013). "MobyGames purchased from GameFly, improvements planned". http://www.polygon.com/2013/12/31/5261414/mobygames-purchased-from-gamefly-improvements-planned. 
  10. ↑ Wawro, Alex (31 December 2013). "Game dev database MobyGames getting some TLC under new owner". Gamasutra. https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/game-dev-database-mobygames-getting-some-tlc-under-new-owner. 
  11. ↑ "Atari invests in Anstream, may buy MobyGames". November 24, 2021. https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2021-11-24-atari-invests-in-anstream-may-buy-mobygames. 
  12. ↑ Rousseau, Jeffrey (2022-03-09). "Atari purchases Moby Games". https://www.gamesindustry.biz/atari-purchases-moby-games. 
  13. ↑ "Atari Completes MobyGames Acquisition, Details Plans for the Site's Continued Support". March 8, 2022. https://www.atari.com/atari-completes-mobygames-acquisition-details-plans-for-the-sites-continued-support/. 
  14. ↑ "Atari has acquired game database MobyGames for $1.5 million" (in en-GB). 2022-03-09. https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/atari-has-acquired-game-database-mobygames-for-1-5-million/. 
  15. ↑ Stanton, Rich (2022-03-10). "Atari buys videogame database MobyGames for $1.5 million". https://www.pcgamer.com/atari-buys-videogame-database-mobygames-for-dollar15-million/. 
  16. ↑ Harris, John (2024-03-09). "MobyGames Offering “Pro” Membership". https://setsideb.com/mobygames-offering-pro-membership/. 
  17. ↑ "MobyGames on Patreon". http://www.patreon.com/mobygames. 
  18. ↑ "An update on MobyGames leadership". 2025-02-13. https://www.mobygames.com/forum/3/thread/269628/an-update-on-mobygames-leadership/#post-269628. 
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