Here’s a quick guide in how to run Nth Pong Wars, on a real NABU PC from 1982 or on the MAME emulator. I’m assuming you found this README in some sort of a NthPongWars20260304.zip file, along with the Local Source and Store folders.
There are two parts, a server side that emulates the old NABU cable TV data network, and a client side (MAME or real hardware).
Also see the Nth Pong Wars blog if you need details on how I install things: Blog on FreeNet Blog on Alex’s Server
For the server side, I use the NABU Internet Adapter from nabu.ca. See instructions there for installing in Windows, Linux or Macintosh.
Once it’s working, find its data folder (Linux uses ~/Documents/NABU Internet Adapter) and copy the NthPongWars.nabu file in the Local Source folder from the .zip file into the ~/Documents/NABU Internet Adapter/Local Source/ folder. Similarly, copy the zip file’s NTHPONG folder contents to the ~/Documents/NABU Internet Adapter/Store/NTHPONG/ folder.
Then fire up the NABU Internet Adapter and in the column listing all the channels/programs you can run, inside the Local Source folder, you should find a NthPongWars entry listed there. Select it. The title at the top of the screen will say Channel: NthPongWars, followed by some garbage words like NYHFWBSNULL Owner DirtS DirtR that the Internet Adapter dredged up by looking for seemingly random strings inside the executable file. Once NthPongWars is finished and officially available, I can provide a proper description and an icon. Now the next time a NABU PC boots up, the Internet Adapter will serve out NthPongWars to it.
For real NABUs, you need to connect their oddball serial cable to your server and fiddle with baud rates.
MAME needs some ROM images to run as a NABU. Look for main system ROM nabupc-u53-90020060-reva-2732.bin and keyboard processor ROM nabukeyboard-90020070-reva-2716.bin and put them in a MAME “roms/nabupc” directory. Tell MAME to use that “roms” directory for ROMs, by starting MAME with no command line arguments and adding that directory to the list of ROM folders it searches.
For MAME, you start it up (after first starting the server) with the command line:
mame nabupc -window -resolution 1024x768 -hcca null_modem -bitb socket.127.0.0.1:5716
You need to fiddle with baud rates too, in the Machine Configuration menu you
pop up just when the game starts by hitting tab. Pick 115200 baud in both
directions, 8 bits, no parity, 2 stop bits, no flow control, and 4K BIOS.
Once you exit the config menu, or skip it by hitting a key or joystick button or mouse, it should start up the emulated NABU and then load the game. You might be able to play it then, but should change the MAME input settings so that he keyboard doesn’t also pretend to be a joystick (you end up playing two players at once), the game has both one player keyboard input (arrow keys and YES/F1 button) and four player joystick inputs.
There’s also a version of MAME for the iPhone, called Arcade Mania, which works though you have to make your server accessible over the network. Or use mine (if my NABU Internet Adapter is online and on the Internet) by changing the command line to -bitb socket.www.agmsmith.ca:5716
From the main screen, use the arrow keys or joystick to pick a menu item by direction. You’ve got a tutorial, credits, Classic Pong Wars, quit, and if you hit fire/YES the main game. Or do nothing and see a demo run (which you can join while it plays).
There are just two keys you can type, ESC brings you back to the main menu, and “q” quits (rebooting the NABU).
You can also make your own levels, by editing the level files in the Store/NTHPONG folder. E-mail me any good ones!
- Alex
“Alexander G. M. Smith” agmsmith@ncf.ca, www.agmsmith.ca
May 2026