History of Links
Part 1: Leader Board
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Released in 1986, Leader Board hit PC
screens everywhere. Of course, back then PCs weren't
really known as PCs. It was an IBM or Compatible,
Commodore, Atari, or maybe even a Tandy. Did your
computer support 2 or 4 color graphics? I was lucky
enough to have 16! Needless to say, we are very lucky to
have what we have today. But when I loaded Leader
Board on my old Atari ST, those graphics were
cutting edge! |
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Leader Board was created by Access
Software's Bruce and Roger Carver. Both of them golf
enthusiasts, they worked diligently to recreate the
golfing experience. From the look, sound, and game
play, Leader Board had it all. Not to mention
the plethora of courses available via add-on tournament
disks. |
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Up to four players could compete against each other
playing 18, 36, 54, or 72 holes on one of four courses.
Those of you familiar with the C-style swing gauge will
notice that it's missing in Leader Board. The
swing gauge started out as a vertical bar that was
controlled using your joystick button much the same way
you would use your mouse button now. Aiming was
controlled with a joystick as
well. |
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Leader Board went through several
versions, including World Class Leader Board.
The World Class edition was released in 1987 and
included a course editor. If you think working with the
APCD is difficult, take a look at the course editor
screen shots below. |
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Leader Board launched a legacy that has spanned
15 years. It was followed up by
Links: The
Challenge of Golf in 1990, the first version graced with
the
Links moniker. That's the focus of the next
segment of the History of
Links, Part
2: Links, The Challenge of Golf.
