L'Histoire de Drug Wars

Origins (1984)

Drug Wars traces its origins to John E. Dell, who created the original game in 1984 for DOS-based computers. Written in BASIC, the game was deceptively simple: players took on the role of a drug dealer in New York City, buying and selling narcotics across different boroughs while avoiding police and paying off a loan shark.

Dell's version was text-based, with no graphics beyond ASCII characters. Despite this, the gameplay loop was addictive. The core mechanic — buy low in one location, travel to another, sell high — tapped into fundamental economic principles packaged in a transgressive theme that made it irresistible to players in the early personal computing era.

The game was distributed as shareware, spreading through BBS (Bulletin Board Systems) and floppy disk swapping. Its small size — typically under 50 kilobytes — made it easy to copy and share, contributing to its viral spread across college campuses and offices.

Gameplay Mechanics

The original gameplay was turn-based and revolved around a 30-day time limit. Each "turn" represented one day, during which players could:

• Buy drugs at varying market prices (cocaine, heroin, acid, weed, speed, and ludes)
• Travel between locations (the Bronx, Ghetto, Central Park, Manhattan, Coney Island, Brooklyn)
• Sell drugs at hopefully higher prices in different areas
• Visit the bank to deposit cash safely
• Pay off the loan shark who charged daily interest

Random events added unpredictability: police raids could result in lost inventory or arrest, prices could spike or crash due to supply disruptions, and muggings could cost players their cash on hand. The loan shark mechanic created urgency — starting debt with compounding interest meant players had to generate profits quickly or face increasingly dire consequences.

The TI-83 Calculator Era

Drug Wars experienced a massive resurgence in the late 1990s and early 2000s when it was ported to Texas Instruments graphing calculators, particularly the TI-83 and TI-83 Plus. Students across America played it during math class, passing calculators with the game pre-loaded via link cables.

The calculator version, often called "Drugwars" or "DrugWarz," became arguably more famous than the original. For an entire generation, it was their first exposure to the concept. The constrained platform — a 96x64 pixel monochrome screen with a keypad — forced elegant simplification that somehow made the game even more compelling.

Ports and Variations

Drug Wars became one of the most ported games in computing history. Notable versions include:

• Dope Wars — The most popular PC clone, created by Ben Webb for Unix/Linux and later Windows
• Dopewars for Palm OS — One of the most downloaded Palm Pilot games
• Drug Lord — An expanded version with additional mechanics
• Various mobile versions — Multiple iOS and Android adaptations
• Web browser versions — JavaScript implementations starting in the early 2000s

Each port typically added its own flavor: expanded drug lists, new locations, weapons systems, property ownership, and deeper economic simulation. The core buy-low-sell-high loop remained sacred across all versions.

Cultural Impact

Drug Wars holds a unique place in gaming culture. It predated the "controversial game" debates that would later surround titles like Grand Theft Auto by over a decade. Its text-based simplicity somehow insulated it from the moral outrage that graphically violent games would later face.

The game inadvertently taught millions of young people about supply and demand, arbitrage, risk management, compound interest, and portfolio diversification. Many players have reflected that it was their first practical exposure to economic concepts.

The game's influence extends beyond direct clones. The buy-low-sell-high trading loop appears in countless modern games, from Elite Dangerous to Eve Online to No Man's Sky. Drug Wars proved that simple economic mechanics could be endlessly engaging.

Drug Warz AI: A Modern Take

Drug Warz AI continues this tradition with a modern browser-based implementation built entirely in vanilla JavaScript. It expands the classic formula with:

• 19 international locations across 4 regions
• 12 drugs with dynamic pricing and trend analysis
• Full combat system with 8 weapon types
• NPC dealer alliance and confrontation system
• Underling management with AI-driven selling
• Property ownership with passive income
• Federal heat system with government strikes
• Procedural sound effects and particle animations

Built with zero frameworks — just ES modules, CSS custom properties, Canvas API, and Web Audio API. A tribute to the original's minimalist philosophy: maximum gameplay, minimum bloat.