Welcome to The MajorBBS Emulation Project!

MBBSEmu Telnet Login Screen

The MajorBBS Emulation project is home to MBBSEmu, the world's first Open Source self-contained, cross-platform emulator for Galacticomm's The MajorBBS and Worldgroup Bulletin Board Software Add-ons. With MBBSEmu can play your favorite original, unmodified MajorBBS or Worldgroup Modules in your local console or over telnet without having to install and configure any Bulletin Board Software. Additionally, Sysops running Synchronet or Mystic can allow their users access to MajorBBS and Worldgroup Modules on any platform without having to run a Virtual Machine!

MBBSEmu was created in order to lower the effort required to enjoy Games and Applications that were written for DOS versions of both The MajorBBS or Worldgroup on any modern operating system. While today it is still possible to install and configure The MajorBBS or Worldgroup inside a Virtual Machine, the effort and technical know-how required is a huge barrier for many people. Many have fond memories of using Bulletin Board Systems to play games with their friends, but not many are nostalgic about going through the long technical process of setting up and running a BBS.

The MajorBBS Emulation Project was started in November 2019 with the primary goal of offering an easy, fast, and free way to enjoy The MajorBBS and Worldgroup Modules we all fondly remember. MBBSEmu is a cross-platform emulator much like DOSBox, where not only the underlying hardware required to execute the modules (in this case, a 16-bit Intel 80286 CPU) is emulated, but also the host software as well. This allows Modules to be hosted on any platform including Linux, OSX, Windows, and both Intel and ARM platforms thanks to MBBSEmu utilizing the latest version of Microsoft .NET.

Thanks to the support of the Open Source community, MBBSEmu has amassed an impressive list of features, including:

  • Full Support for the majority of Modules compatible with The MajorBBS 6.25 through Worldgroup 2.0
  • High Performance 16-bit x86 Processor written entirely in C#!
  • Btrieve v5 support without the need for antiquated drivers
  • Telnet and Rlogin allowing you to host a private server to play with your friends!
  • Local Console Mode so you can play your favorite game without having to use a Telnet Client
  • Support to run EXE files required to perform offline maintenance for modules such as MajorMUD
  • Visit our Wiki to learn more about the full capabilities of MBBSEmu!

You can download the latest Official Release from our GitHub Releases, or try one of our Automated Experimental Builds which contains the most recent experimental enhancements!

If you would like to directly contribute to the continued development of MBBSEmu, there are several ways enthusiasts of any skill level can help! You can help the project by testing, submitting issues, or if you're a C# hacker, head over to our GitHub and help us keep these great MajorBBS & Worldgroup games available and easy to use for years to come!