Absinthe BBS

08/29/2026

Darkness 2.0 is live on aBSiNTHE, with all-new art by aNACHRONiST!

Darkness 2.0 is a modern cyberpunk take on the beloved LORD door game formula by Jack Phlash. He has given his blessing on the new art. It is inspired by Ungennant's original designs. The title art is ASCII by JP, colorized by aNSt.

Come play this killer game, now featuring an Amiga coat of paint!

Call today at absinthebbs.net port 1940 for telnet, 1941 for SSH!

08/27/2026

Impure-Ascii-1940! brought our A game to evoke. Big congrats to H7 for the textmode sweep!

08/26/2026

Behold, "GLYPHNOSIS" from Impure-Ascii-1940!

-------------------------------------------------------------------...

08/23/2026

aBSiNTHE BBS expands its presentation with killer new support for tall terminals. New features. More art. aBSiNTHE grows!

* oVERDRiVE v1.0 - This is a CPU and Memory monitor with overall system status that let's you know when the board is experiencing heavy system load.
* Our auto-BRB (Be Right Back) mod now features multiple enhancements for tall screens including a node list WHO that updates in read time.
* Multiple interfaces and mods have been updated with tall screen enhancements and additional art. aBSiNTHE at 50 rows is nuts.
Our system auto-adjusts upon login with extra features at 30, 37, 47, and 50 rows. The minimum is 25.
The recommended terminal that takes advantage of all of this is TERMinator. Grab it for your system and OS here:
https://deadmodemsociety.com/terminator/

Also: HUGE CONGRATS to H7 for sweeping both the Amiga and PC One screen ANSI/ASCII compo at this year's evoke! What an achievement. It's well-deserved!

Visit us at: absinthebbs.net port 1940 for telnet, 1941 for SSH.

08/12/2026

With Sixteen Colors ANSI Art and ASCII Art Archive – we just made it onto their weekly engagement list by being one of their top engagers 🎉Support those who support the BBS scene!

08/12/2026

aBSiNTHE Diablo has seen major updates and is now v1.3.0! Be sure to do a hard refresh (CONTROL+SHIFT+R) at the web portal absinthebbs.net/Diablo to ensure that you're on the latest version.

Highlights:

* Run in town toggle under Options a la Hellfire/DevilutionX

* Inventory auto-sort! There's a new button on the paper doll. Alternatively, you can use the 'R' shortcut

* New BBS info splash screen

* Difficulty progression Normal -> Nightmare -> Hell in single player without hacks!

* Vestigial "Multiplayer" option removed

* "Single Player" is now "Solo Ranked"

* Item dupe exploit patched

* Tons of updates to the BBS leaderboard.

* Various small updates

This is the way to play Diablo! Go kill stuff! >:)

08/02/2026

You may now play the original Diablo in single player mode in your desktop and mobile browser at absinthebbs.net/diablo!

So, what's the big deal besides being able to play Diablo in a browser? It's been modified to track and rank players' progress on the BBS! Players may call into aBSiNTHE to see the ranking, stats, and more on the leaderboard. We are running three seasons per year. The top spot after each season gets an exclusive avatar, aBSiNTHE points, bragging rights, and is displayed all year round.

Is this Earth-shattering? No. Is it @ #$%ing cool? YES. Come compete in season one which JUST started as of this post.

You will need the DIABDAT.MPQ file from your Diablo installation or .ISO to play. If you don't have it, it's very easy to get.

Where else but aBSiNTHE BBS? Telnet to absinthebbs.net:1940 or SSH to absinthebbs.net:1941!

07/21/2026

We're proud to welcome Knight Shadow to the team as the sub operator of our new "Japan" message subboard! Knight Shadow speaks the language, has lived in Japan and traveled extensively throughout, and is a long-time aficionado of all things Japanese.

The culture of Japan has left an undeniable and indelible mark on cyberculture through manga, anime, and other media. Many of our callers, including myself, love many aspects of that wonderful country. This is a perfect fit for aBSiNTHE.

He joins the sysop aNACHRONiST, cosysop K-Guide, and subops Soda7 and Hollowone as a member of the aBSiNTHE team. DJbase has stepped down from his subop duties due to time constraints and is no longer on staff. We appreciate his time on the team.

aBSiNTHE grows!

07/19/2026

When I first programmed this feature years ago, I was only thinking of the convenience. It's great to get hourly updates on the board's activity and current status. I was very happy to finally have it available in its complete form.

However, I have had a moment of clarity: Alexa is philosophically incompatible with aBSiNTHE BBS.

Alexa is essentially a corporate device in your home that is always listening. What has been uncovered about private data use in the years since I first came up with the status skill concept is alarming. I want nothing to do with it.

It is being removed now for download from the Alexa Skill Store. However, it will still function for a few weeks and give a notification that it is going to be shut down for good.

Just because a modder can do something does not mean that he should. I'll look for another way to offer similar functionality, but in a more responsible form.

aBSiNTHE marches on!

07/08/2026

The new FIRE pack is out and includes a sick new aBSiNTHE BBS scroller ANSI from Tainted! Go view the full FIRE pack here: https://16colo.rs/pack/fire-46