''Bolo'' is a video game written by Jim Lane for the

Apple II The Apple II (stylized as ) is an 8-bit home computer and one of the world's first highly successful mass-produced microcomputer products. It was designed primarily by Steve Wozniak; Jerry Manock developed the design of Apple II's foam-m ...

and published by

Synergistic Software Synergistic Software was a video game developer based in Seattle. Founded in 1978, the company published some of the earliest available games and applications for the Apple II family of computers. They continued developing games for various platfo ...

in 1982. It was inspired by

Keith Laumer John Keith Laumer ( – ) was an American science fiction author. Prior to becoming a full-time writer, he was an officer in the United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United State ...

's 1976 science fiction novel '' Bolo: Annals of the Dinochrome Brigade'', which featured self-aware tanks.

Gameplay

Upon startup ''Bolo'' requests a level number (1–9) and density (1–5); the game then generates a random rectangular

maze A maze is a path or collection of paths, typically from an entrance to a goal. The word is used to refer both to branching tour puzzles through which the solver must find a route, and to simpler non-branching ("unicursal") patterns that lea ...

containing six enemy bases. The higher the density specified, the more walls appear in the maze. The player controls a

tank A tank is an armoured fighting vehicle intended as a primary offensive weapon in front-line ground combat. Tank designs are a balance of heavy firepower, strong armour, and good battlefield mobility provided by tracks and a powerful engin ...

, and must destroy the six enemy bases to advance to the next level. The player can view 1/132 of the maze at one time; indicators on the right side of the screen show the player's position within the maze, the direction of the enemy bases and the

fuel A fuel is any material that can be made to react with other substances so that it releases energy as thermal energy or to be used for work. The concept was originally applied solely to those materials capable of releasing chemical energy but ...

remaining. Enemy tanks constantly emerge from each of the six enemy bases. Different levels feature different types of enemy tanks; some move randomly while others pursue the player. All enemy tanks fire deadly shells. If the player collides with a

bullet A bullet is a kinetic projectile, a component of firearm ammunition that is shot from a gun barrel. Bullets are made of a variety of materials, such as copper, lead, steel, polymer, rubber and even wax. Bullets are made in various shapes and co ...

, an enemy base or tank, or a wall, a turn is lost. A turn is also lost if the player runs out of fuel; destroying an enemy base will replenish the player's fuel supply. The player is provided with four tanks per game, and no opportunity is provided to earn more. Once all six enemy bases are destroyed, the player is presented with a congratulatory message from the Dinochrome Brigade, and a new maze (with the same level and density) is generated. The player can turn the tank's gun turret with 1 and 2 keys, a necessity in more advanced levels as enemies give chase as fast as the player's tank can move. Bolo uses pixel-perfect collision detection.

Reception

'' Softline'' in 1983 said that ''Bolo'' "is a hot game. Who ever said that the only good arcade games were in the arcades? ... Animation, graphics, playability—''Bolo'' is in every way a superior 'game' to ''

Tron ''Tron'' (stylized as ''TRON'') is a 1982 American science fiction action-adventure film written and directed by Steven Lisberger from a story by Lisberger and Bonnie MacBird. The film stars Jeff Bridges as Kevin Flynn, a computer programmer a ...

''". ''

Electronic Games An electronic game is a game that uses electronics to create an interactive system with which a player can play. Video games are the most common form today, and for this reason the two terms are often used interchangeably. There are other common ...

'' called the game's graphics "a bit plain" compared to

Sir-Tech Sir-Tech Software, Inc. was a video game developer and publisher based in the United States and Canada. History In fall 1979, Sirotech Software was founded by Norman Sirotek, Robert Sirotek and Robert Woodhead. Sirotech Software published ''Info ...

's ''

Star Maze ''Star Maze'' is a space-themed shooter taking place in a multidirectional scrolling maze published by Sir-Tech in 1982. It was written by Canadian programmer Gordon Eastman for the Apple II, based on a design by Robert Woodhead. Atari 8-bit fam ...

'', but "''Bolos play-action is, in its way, every bit as entertaining as the earlier game". ''Bolo'' tied ''

Choplifter ''Choplifter'' (stylized as ''Choplifter!'') is military themed scrolling shooter developed by Dan Gorlin for the Apple II and published by Broderbund in 1982. It was ported to the Atari 8-bit family the same year and also to the VIC-20, Com ...

'' for SoftTalk Magazine's #1 game of the 1982 yearForum post from James Lane, author of ''Bolo''
/ref> In 2010, ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...

'' columnist

Lev Grossman Lev Grossman (born June 26, 1969) is an American novelist and journalist who wrote ''The Magicians Trilogy'': '' The Magicians'' (2009), '' The Magician King'' (2011), and '' The Magician's Land'' (2014). He was the book critic and lead technolog ...

ranked ''Bolo'' at number three out of "The 10 Greatest Games for the Apple II". Grossman praised the game's fast action, smooth scrolling, elegant graphics and AI enemies.

References

{{Reflist, refs= {{cite book , title = Popular computing, Volume 2 , publisher =

McGraw-Hill McGraw Hill is an American educational publishing company and one of the "big three" educational publishers that publishes educational content, software, and services for pre-K through postgraduate education. The company also publishes referenc ...

, year = 1983 , page = 42 , url = https://books.google.com/books?id=1epVAAAAMAAJ {{cite magazine , title = The 10 Greatest Games for the Apple II , url = http://techland.time.com/2010/01/06/the-10-greatest-games-for-the-apple-ii/ , first = Lev , last = Grossman , authorlink = Lev Grossman , magazine =

, date = January 6, 2010 , accessdate =February 8, 2012 {{cite journal , url=https://archive.org/details/byte-magazine-1983-05/page/n509 , journal =

Byte The byte is a unit of digital information that most commonly consists of eight bits. Historically, the byte was the number of bits used to encode a single character of text in a computer and for this reason it is the smallest addressable unit ...

, title = Software Received , volume = 8 , number = 5 , page = 509 , year = 1983 {{cite magazine , url=http://www.cgwmuseum.org/galleries/index.php?year=1983&pub=6&id=10 , title=Bolo , magazine=Computer Gaming World , date=March 1983 , accessdate=28 July 2014 , author=Hunter, David , pages=37 {{cite web , last1=Hague , first1=James , title=The Giant List of Classic Game Programmers , url=https://dadgum.com/giantlist/ 1982 video games Apple II games Apple II-only games Multidirectional shooters Single-player video games Synergistic Software games Video games developed in the United States