# Public server
A public server allows one to play NetHack or a variant in a shared space on the Internet where one can encounter other people's bones and see scores in the server's score list. Most NetHack servers usually also add some interface patches and bug fixes; this list will not specify those. You may also choose to watch someone's game that is in progress.
You can access a public server by using a telnet or SSH client, such as PuTTY on Windows (see the PuTTY page for recommended settings) or ssh (OpenSSH) on Linux, other UNIX systems, MacOS, or (under Windows) WSL. Some public servers may not accept both telnet and SSH.

Contents

1 List of public servers
2 Setting up your own server
3 Archives
4 See also

List of public servers

Server

Location

Games

How to connect

nethack.alt.org (NAO)

Virginia, United States (Amazon us-east-1)

Vanilla NetHack 3.6.6 - saved games on older versions of 3.6.x will be played and finished before transitioning to 3.6.6

ssh nethack@alt.org
https://alt.org/nethack/hterm/ (web client)
telnet nethack.alt.org
IRC: #nethack on libera.chat

hardfought.org (HDF)

Virginia, United States
London, United Kingdom
Sydney, Australia

NetHack 3.4.3, HDF version
NetHack 3.7.0, HDF version, includes public server based enhancements
NetHack 1.3d
GruntHack, with bug fixes and UI enhancements
UnNetHack
FIQhack
NetHack Fourk
dNetHack
NetHack 4
DynaHack
SporkHack, with bug fixes and UI enhancements
xNetHack, 3.7.x based variant
SpliceHack, 3.7.x based variant
Slash'EM, version 0.0.8E0F2
notdNetHack
EvilHack, 3.6.x based variant
SlashTHEM
GnollHack

ssh nethack@hardfought.org (United States)
ssh nethack@eu.hardfought.org (Europe)
ssh nethack@au.hardfought.org (Australia)
https://www.hardfought.org/nethack/hterm/ (Web client, all servers)
IRC: #hardfought on libera.chat
Discord: #nethack-hardfought at https://discord.gg/dWMkgHn (irc-to-discord bridge is active)

em.slashem.me

Falkenstein/Vogtl., Germany

NetHack 3.6.6
Slash'EM Extended
SLASH'EM 0.0.7, 0.0.8, and 0.0.7-SLethe
GruntHack, with bug fixes and UI enhancements
SporkHack
DNetHack SLEX
notdNetHack

ssh slashem@slashem.me
play.slashem.me (web client)
IRC: #em.slashem.me on Libera.chat

guis.es

United Kingdom

UnNetHack

telnet guis.es (EU)
http://guis.es/ (web stats)

Cafe / Veekun NetHack

Dallas, Texas, United States

NetHack with a custom patchset

ssh nethack@nethack.veekun.com (password "nethack" or this identity file)
IRC: #cafe on irc.veekun.com

nethack4.org

Bissen, Luxembourg

NetHack 4

telnet nethack4.org

games.libreplanet.org

Boston, Massachusetts, United States

NetHack

telnet games.libreplanet.org
telnet-ssl games.libreplanet.org
IRC: #libreplanet-gaming on freenode (defunct); #libreplanet on Libera (active, but gaming subchannel has yet to be established)

Nethack-CN

Chengdu, China

NetHack 3.6.0 (English)
Nethack 3.6.0 (Chinese-translated version)

ssh nethack@nethack-cn.com -p2222 (password "nethack")

NetHack Live

Gyeonggi-do, South Korea
Iowa, USA

NetHack 3.6.6 - Web-based tile play support similar to DCSS including mobile

Webtiles play (South Korea)
Webtiles play (United States)
Discord: https://discord.com/invite/mNcPSDendT

floatingeye.net

Toronto, Canada

NetHack v3.7.0 with custom patchset. Includes consent and dog #petting.

ssh nethack@floatingeye.net

Setting up your own server
There are several ways to manage your public NetHack server, but the most common is to use dgamelaunch, which manages user accounts and runs the NetHack processes in a chroot jail when a user telnets into the server.
For FreeBSD, there is a work-in-progress document describing how to set up a NetHack server with dgamelaunch, and also provides patches to make auto-login work with FreeBSD telnetd.

Archives
Some servers may provide access to archives of data.

See also
Private server