Bootleggers (video game)

Bootleggers is a real-time browser-based mafia game set during the 1930s prohibition era. Players begin as a low ranked scum during this era and are left nothing to do but petty crimes such as pick-pocketing. As players progress, they increase in rank and are able to commit higher level crimes, transport booze, trade stocks, and more. With thousands of other players competing for the same scare territories, players can find themselves dead and forced to start over without notice.

History
Back in 2003, news was beginning to spread about an up-coming mafia browser-based game as the current ones on the market were beginning to force players to pay. Before long, Bootleggers arrived as a free-to-play alternative in the mafia game market. The game was released to the public on Septembed 27, 2003, being an amateur project by Kyle Kroff under the alias BSF2000. Player traffic began to grow quicker than expected, causing server limitations such as only allowing ~150 players online at any one time. As these issues were resolved, players continued to grow in to the thousands within the first year of release.

While the game was initially intended to serve as an alternative to rival games, it soon began to branch out to form its own style of play. The game has since spread to such countries as the United States, Canada, Netherlands, United Kingdom, Jordan, and more. It has recently entered it's sixth round of play, with each round progressing further in to a more stable and better improved game.

Awards
MPOGD Game of the Month - December 2005

MPOGD Game of the Month - January 2007

MPOGD Game of the Month - March 2008

MPOGD Game of the Month - April 2009