The Nuts & Bolts of PBM
American play-by-mail magazine
The Nuts & Bolts of PBM (also known as Nuts & Bolts of Starweb, or Nuts & Bolts of Gaming, or NABOG) was a magazine dedicated to play-by-mail games, first as a self-published fanzine in June 1980, and then as a magazine published by Bolt Publications in 1983.
Development
The magazine started in mid-1980 in Chicago as the Nuts & Bolts of Starweb, edited by Rick Buda. The magazine's logo was a sword crossed with a raygun, which was integrated into multiple covers in 1983 as part of a puzzle for readers.
The editors of Flagship magazine called Nuts & Bolts of Gaming "the oldest PBM magazine", and Rick Loomis of Flying Buffalo called it the first PBM magazine not published by a PBM company.
According to editor Rick Buda, the magazine was initially a fanzine for Starweb composed of a "Xeroxed copied sheet folded in half … that made four, crude pages". Buda explained how the publication was named as follows: I was enamored with The Berserker character [from Starweb], and really [started] the zine to discuss strategies for playing that part to the hilt. That is actually the source of the name, twofold in its reference. One – The robotic image of machinery (Nuts & Bolts), and; Two – Getting down to particulars within the characters (get down to the nuts and bolts of something).
After demand increased, Buda and Loomis increased the size of the publication, changed the publication rate to bi-monthly, and renamed it to the Nuts & Bolts of PBM. In 1983, Buda incorporated it as Bolt Publications after the load became unmanageable, changing the name once again to Nuts & Bolts of Gaming. This was shortened to NABOG, which was also their mascot's nickname.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “The Nuts & Bolts of PBM” is american play-by-mail magazine. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Nuts, Bolts and American, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “american play-by-mail magazine” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Attribution, date and provenance are strongest when supported by the original work, a catalogue record and documented transmission. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 4, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q55635432. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1980 and 1983.
Titles can refer to several editions, objects or performances, making precise identification essential before interpretation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.
- Identifying works and editions
- Tracing reception history
- Finding collection records
The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “The Nuts & Bolts of PBM”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow The Nuts & Bolts of PBM primary sources, The Nuts & Bolts of PBM archive and Nuts research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
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- Which edition, object, performance or recording is being described?
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This entry incorporates text from “The Nuts & Bolts of PBM” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.