Bolo

Bolo

"Although it is a similar game," says author Stuart Cheshire, "Bolo has no connection with the game of the same name for the Apple II", also a top-down tank game, one whose name was chosen from the nickname for the AI-driven supertanks in Keith Laumer's SF writings. Chalking up the namespace conflict to "an unfortunate coincidence", his choice of the name is said to have been arrived at through suggestion by his Indian wife, Pavani Diwanji, through the Hindi word for "communication" -- in reference both to computer networking but also to team strategizing. He elaborates in the FAQ:

"Bolo is about computers communicating on the network, and more importantly about humans communicating with each other, as they argue, negotiate, form alliances, agree strategies, etc."

References

The first (and for a long time, only) multiplayer map, "Everard Island", is named after author Stuart Cheshire's Sidney Sussex College classmate James Everard with whom he began the BBC micro networking experiments (stringing 50 metres of serial cable between dorm rooms) that would culminate in the development of this game.