Rediscovering Telnet: A Blast from the Past

The author recounts a memorable Telnet experience: a Star Wars-inspired ASCII animation found at towel.blinkenlights.nl 23. This sparked a rediscovery of other Telnet resources, leading to a list of interesting Telnet games and applications, including online chess, a Star Trek-inspired space combat game, and an Arpanet/Usenet simulator with over 60 text-based games. A cautionary note is added about Telnet's plaintext communication and the risk of exposing sensitive information.