Drug Wars (video game)

Drug Wars

Industry	Video games
Founded	1984
Founder	John E. Dell
Products	Turn-based strategy video game

Drug Wars is a turn-based strategy video game in which players take on the role of a drug dealer involved in arbitrage. Drawing inspiration from the text-driven BASIC title Star Trader, it was developed by John E. Dell for IBM PC compatible systems and launched in 1984. The main goal is to trade narcotics to settle a debt with a loan shark while generating profit.

Gameplay

In this game, players embody a drug dealer operating within New York City, navigating between neighborhoods such as Manhattan, The Bronx, and Brooklyn. The commodities available for purchase and sale include Cocaine, Heroin, Acid, Weed, Speed, and Ludes. Each transition between locations consumes one day, with a total of 30 days allotted to maximize financial gain.

Players begin with $2,000 in cash, an inventory capacity of 100 units, and no firearms. Initial funding can be secured from loan sharks who impose steep interest rates, making prompt repayment essential to avoid game termination. Random offers encountered during travel may allow players to obtain weapons or expand inventory space. Within each district, players assess drug prices, execute trades, and proceed to the next area.

Law enforcement figures, including Officer Hardass and deputies, may randomly confront players. In these encounters, options include surrendering, attempting to escape, engaging in combat if armed, or continuing business as usual. Players risk injury or death after sustaining ten gunshot wounds, which ends the game. Eliminating officers results in monetary rewards. Additional unpredictable events such as muggings, sudden price increases, and discovering drugs introduce further dynamics.

The session concludes after 30 days. Final scores are calculated by multiplying cash holdings (in millions) by two; accumulating $50 million yields a perfect score of 100/100.

Legacy

Multiple adaptations of John E. Dell’s original title have emerged over time. One of the most acclaimed is Dope Wars for Windows by Beermat Software, which was developed using the original DOS source code. Available from 1998 until early 2005 on CNET's download.com, it amassed over 6.5 million downloads and consistently appeared in the "50 Most Popular Games" weekly chart for more than six years. Beermat Software later reintroduced this version for Android (November 2015) and iOS (June 2017), accessible via Google Play and the Apple App Store on smartphones and tablets. Other significant iterations include Ben Webb’s Dope Wars, Drug Wars – Underworld, and the fantasy-inspired Dragon Trader.

In 1998, Michael Swain adapted the original TI-82 Drug Wars for TI-83 and TI-83+ graphing calculators. Jason Roberts followed in 1999 with DrugWars 2: International for TI-83, incorporating RPG-style elements such as confrontations with police. A TI-Basic title named PimpWars (1995) introduced mechanics like sex trade involvement and addiction management.

A variant appears within the Nintendo DS title Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, where players purchase six types of drugs from Liberty City gangs; price fluctuations are displayed on a map alongside notifications through in-game email.

The game has been ported to numerous platforms including web browsers, mobile phone applications, Windows and Linux clients, Palm OS devices, Newton MessagePad 2100, Pebble smartwatches (2015), and Mac OS X Dashboard widgets.

The DOS game Drug Lord (1991) and its sequel Drug Lord 2 (2000), both created by Fred Bulback, also gained recognition. The sequel was later ported to Android but was rejected by Apple’s App Store.

Inspired by Drug Wars and Drug Lord, Otto Bohn developed Pimp Wyld in 1997—initially programmed in BASIC before Anon Bosch converted it to C—adding pimping-related gameplay features.

Zynga produced a social media adaptation for platforms like Myspace, transforming the concept into an MMORPG that included drug dealing, employee management, fight clubs, gambling activities, missions, and cartel development. This version was discontinued by Zynga in December 2009.

See also

• Grand Theft Auto
• NarcoGuerra
• PimpWars
• Star Trader
• Schedule I

External links

• Official DopeWars Website hosted on sourceforge.net
• Dopewars Details about the original Drug Wars title including source code access