“Online” golf games under DOS

[wildweasel]

#10530

I initially dropped this factoid in Pix’s thread but I feel like it needs a topic to itself, because there’s other info, too – there’s a fascinating branch of DOS golf games intended to be played Online. Older than you’d think, even.

To start with the one I already mentioned in the other thread, INN 3D Golf is a modified version of Novotrade’s “Wilson ProStaff Golf” that was included with later editions of Sierra’s ImagiNation Network. The INN version removes the setup program and a lot of the options menus (which also means no sound card support), but because it is part of INN, you are (supposedly) able to play a game of golf with an opponent while dialed in to the network service. This is included in the build offered by The INN Barn at https://www.innbarn.com/ – in practice, I’ve only managed to get dialed in once, and managed to crash the program after taking my tee shot. Oh well.

Some random surfing through Discmaster’s AOL File Library archives found me a game called “Prize Golf” – screenshots in my Bluesky post here: https://bsky.app/profile/wildweasel486.bsky.social/post/3lmx5acwg622q – which is, to my eyes, a modified (and potentially unlicensed!) version of Microprose’s “David Leadbetter’s Greens” tied into an (Australian-specific?) internet service. Allegedly you could win cash prizes for playing this game, but as I cannot find any other information about the game online, I’m unsure if that ever happened, or who was supposed to pay them out. The game leans on a Win9x-based launcher that reads and writes leaderboard data that would then get submitted or retrieved from their website, but the game itself is just a regular old DOS program that can be run in whatever.

Finally, here’s one that’s a lot older than you’d expect – CSN, the Computer Sports Network, ran online tournaments in 1990 (or probably even earlier) over their own online service (with software you’d buy from them, naturally). To facilitate this, the CSN software hooks in to Accolade’s “Mean 18,” storing and retrieving tournament score cards through what I’d imagine is a play-by-email-like system. Players would not play simultaneously (I think this is the same case in Prize Golf, above) but would download, play, save cards, and validate them through the CSN software. CSN, too, seem to have offered prizes for winners, but aside from the man in the magazine ad – https://bsky.app/profile/wildweasel486.bsky.social/post/3lmx5acwg622q – I don’t realistically have a way to find out who won them or whether they received such prizes.

There’s probably much more to be found. I’m also sporadically looking into whether any archives exist of user-made Jack Nicklaus courses (for Unlimited and Signature Edition). I did find a bunch for Jack Nicklaus 4, but that of course is not DOS. =P

[TigerQuoll]

#10543

Wow, this is an amazing rabbit hole you stumbled into!
Out of curiosity, do you know what the supposedly Australian internet service was that this “Prize Golf” was connected to?

[Mike]

#10546

INN Barn is great if you can get it working and I think folks in here should check it out. INN’s minigolf is…ehhhhh….but it’s still a good time since you’re playing with other people and everyone dealing with the same issues means it’s still fair. I never played the 3D golf one though.

Unrelated but the Red Baron multiplayer in INN Barn is great

[wildweasel]

#10548

I went looking up Prize Golf again through Discmaster.

https://web.archive.org/web/19991023104510/http://www.prizegolf.com/ – Here is their website archived via Wayback Machine; they state that the service is copyright 1999 by Net Tour New Zealand (so I was a bit off the mark referring to it as Australian). Seems they funded the prize pool by charging $4.95 USD as an entry fee, so really it’s more like gambling than it is an online play service.

https://discmaster.textfiles.com/browse/29222/Hracuv-raj-Sportovni-Hry.bin/Prize%20Golf/Prize_Golf_Installation.exe – This is NOT a direct link to download the exe file (though you can do that); here is the Discmaster link where you can view its contents in the Web page, including the HTML manual and its associated pictures. For what it’s worth, the game can be played offline without using the service at all, but at that rate, you’d probably be better off playing David Leadbetter’s.

[Tijn]

#10549

I’ve actually played some INN golf! BogusMeatFactory on Twitch had put up a server and I played a few rounds with him a year or so ago, was honestly pretty exciting haha