such as Challenge, The Space Gamer, and White Dwarf as well as PBM magazines such as Flagship and Paper Mayhem. In 1980, the game enjoyed substantial growth from advertising in science fiction magazines. Starweb is still available for play. After the August 4, 2021 sale of Flying Buffalo Inc. to Webbed Sphere, the PBM games—which were not included in the sale—continued under a new company: Rick Loomis PBM Games. The company, run by Loomis' sisters and their PBM computer expert, continues to offer Starweb by postal mail and play-by-email (PBEM) as of August 2021 to include several variants. Gameplay According to reviewer Jay Reese, Starweb "is a science fiction game of stars and star fleets". Each game has fifteen players, each with one homeworld. These players compete for the 225 available worlds. Six different identities are available for play: Apostle, Artifact Collector, Berserker, Empire Builder, Merchant, and Pirate. Each character type obtains points for different actions. For example, Apostles earn five points per world controlled and one point per ten existing converts, among other methods, to gain points in a given turn. Artifacts provide points as well—the game has ninety standard and various special artifacts available during gameplay. Holding a standard artifact provides a player five points per turn while a special artifact can provide a larger number of points, such as the Treasure of Polaris at 20 points per turn. Diplomacy and player interaction is a critical aspect of gameplay, and Timothy B. Brown emphasizes that "Starweb is a game of diplomacy." The editors of Flagship magazine provided the following as a summary of gameplay in 1983: You are the ruler of a single planet of beings just beginning to explore a web of 225 planets linked by complex and unmapped paths. You can build ships to explore and conquer; each of your ships and planets will get a report on enemy forces at or moving past the planet, as well as a list of the neighboring worlds, thereby enabling you gradually to build up a map of the Web. Loomis stated that in 1979 the Merchant character was winning the most, and was, at the time, "the easiest position to play, generally, and the hardest to stop, once he gets started" while an Empire Builder or Apostle would likely require a longer game to score a victory. As of 1980, player's moves were written in a precise, but