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1001 ways to
sell a game
Most people know
Infocom for what now are called "grey boxes" - the
horizontally striped packagings that opened like a book, had
a manual on the left and a tray on the opposite, where game
disk, reference cards and everything else that came with a
title waited to unfold a story for you.
Every box scan
on this site features these grey boxes, as they were indeed
the mostly used packagings and eventually Infocom became a
synonym for them. With their design they linked interactive
fiction to books, as was wished, but they also were practical.
But beyond them
lies a plethora of other packagings used, ranging from a simple
zip-lock bag for the first release of "Zork" to
a saucer for "Starcross."
And if you happened
to have looked at the "specifications" for a particular
title in the list of games and wondered about the entries
for "box", your synapses should now fall in place
with a resounding "click."
When you are finished,
you can return to more or to the
main menu.
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Very
Old Packagings
If you read the
"History of Infocom" on this site, you know that
Zork I was first released by Personal Software, Inc. They
didn't bother much about packaging and simply threw the game
disk and a 36-page manual into a zip-lock bag and sold the
game as "Zork." Although it has to be admitted that
the manual featured quite a pretty artwork on front.
After the ways
of Personal Software and Infocom parted, Infocom apparently
sold the game with the same packaging for a short time, but
switched to the "folios" soon.
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The
Folios
"Folios"
(short for "portfolios") are what Infocom used before
the grey boxes became standard. They mostly don't have a common
format, but can be recognized as being rather large and flat
folders (e.g. 30 x 25 x 3 cm).
They were the first
releases to come with props, and mostly the same that also
came with the later grey boxes, but some at a larger scale.
For example, the letters that came with the folio version
of "Deadline" were the size of real stationary and
the picture of the crime scene was roughly twice the size.
Releases of Zork
I, II, and III beyond those mentioned above but before the
grey boxes are counted among the "folios" as well,
although they looked different and are referred to as "blister
packs." They had a thin cardboard with a plastic tray
attached to the front and contained nothing but a sheet with
instructions and the disk. The disk was either a 5 1/4"
or an 8" and naturally the size of the pack varied with
the disk provided.
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The
Starcross Saucer and Suspended Mask
These two are the
most unique packagings used on any of the games and are called
the way they are for their most outstanding characteristics:
The saucer "box"
was, as the name implies, a round piece of plastic looking
like a UFO and contained a space map, the game disk and an
instruction booklet. Its size was app. 30 x 30 x 4 cm.
The Suspended mask
box (app. 24 x 31 x 7 cm) contained a lifesize white plastic
mask, a laminated map, six plastic pieces as "robot tracking
devices, " a "congratulatory letter" and an
instruction booklet.
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The
Standard Grey Box
The folios were
followed by what Infocom is now best known for: a grey box,
horizontally striped, opening like a book, a manual attached
to the cover, and a tray on the right containing everything
that came with a game. The earlier ones had a glossy finish
on the outside.
Because of their
popularity and availability these are used to characterize
games on this site.
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The
Commodore, Digital and Dysan Repackagings
For the time between
1983 and 1985 Commodore had exclusive rights to publish Infocom
games for their C64 computer. Their releases came either in
a large folder or small plastic case and, mostly, in a much
smaller folder, which Commodore also used on all other software
published under their label. On all of these they used their
own design inside and out and only the game disk and a manual
came with them.
Digital had a similar
agreement for their machines, but they chose to only repackage
the original folios with an outer design of their own, while
leaving the contents the same.
The same is true
for Dysan, with the difference that they used a kind of "mini-folio"
and made minor changes to manuals and props.
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The
"New" Standard Grey Box
These were the
same size as the previous grey boxes, but were actually a
slipcase that contained a cardboard tray where all elements
of a game were kept in. The standard grey color and horizontal
stripe design was dropped on most of these, favoring more
individual looks for each title.
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The
Trilogies
Infocom published
four "theme" boxes, containing three games each:
"Science-Fiction
Classics" (consisting of "Hitchhiker's Guide,"
"Planetfall" and "A Mind Forever Voyaging")
"Classic Mystery
Library" (consisting of "The Witness," "Suspect"
and "Moonmist")
"Enchanter
Trilogy" (consisting of "Enchanter," "Sorceror"
and "Spellbreaker")
"Zork Trilogy"
(consisting of, well, Zork I-III)
Except for the
Zork Trilogy these were composed of the original grey boxes
of each game, put into a special slipcase designed to host
three grey boxes. The Zork Trilogy was a single standard grey
box containing all three games.
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The
Solid Gold and Infocomic Packagings
Six of the original
grey box releases were re-released as "Solid Gold"
titles and came in a flat, gold-colored folder, the same size
as a grey box. They only contained the game disk and an instruction
manual, but none of the props that came with the originals.
The games were modified to contain on-screen hints.
A folder in the
same format was also used for the "Infocomics" and
the only difference lay in the colors used.
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The
"Quadratics"
The role-playing-games
"Journey," "Quarterstaff" and "BattleTech"
were published in a quadratic box, appr. 20 x 20 cm, and with
a cover design radically different from the grey boxes.
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Infocom
from Mastertronic
During Infocom's
final days the British company Mastertronic gained the licence
to publish their own budget version of Infocom games. These
were square boxes, like those mentioned above, but of a smaller
size. They only contained a game disk and a reprint of the
original manual. The boxes picked up bits of the original
Infocom design.
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Others
"Arthur"
was sold in a very cheap and thin bottom-and-top box, slightly
smaller than a grey, due to Activision's then holding the
reign completely over the Infocom leftovers.
"Fooblitzky,"
Infocom's unsucessful try of crossing a graphical game with
a boardgame, came in a unique box reminiscent of a boardgame
box. It's size was about 30 x 22 cm and it contained a booklet
named "Official Ordinances Rules and Regulations for
the City ofFooblitzky," a booklet with rules, four pens
and four workboards.
"Cornerstone"
at first was released in a carrying case, later as budget
version in a cardboard box.
Four-in-one"
samplers, demo versions of four games on one disk, were sold
in small blister packs with no additional material. Two different
samplers were published: The first had Zork I," "Infidel,"
"Planetfall," a non-interactive transcript from
"The Witness" on it, as well as a short tutorial
by Marc Blank on how to play the games . The second came with
"Zork I," "Leather Goddesses of Phobos,"
"Trinity," and "Wishbringer."
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