Yes I did... Do you have a copy too? He used to run auctions fairly
regularly, but I haven't seen or heard anything from him in months. By
the way, which Phoenix games are you missing? I think I have an extra
copy of Masquerade, and perhaps another game, though I'd have to check.
C.E. Forman wrote:
Stephane,
You got your BotF from the former
president of Phoenix, didn't you? I recall he was selling some stuff
awhile back, I got a few pieces from him myself.
-----
Original Message -----
Sent:
Tuesday, January 06, 2004 8:34 PM
Subject:
Re: [SWCollect] Mt. Drash cassette and market value
Well, for one thing, some of the games (or variations) you mention
below were produced in extremely small quantities, and I doubt that
many copies survive to this day, except perhaps with the author or
publisher - and even then, not in all cases. Furthermore, not many
people know or care about them... If I recall, the sales figures for
the "rare" Akalabeth were in the tens of thousands, and similarly even
the rarest Infocoms sold many thousand copies (except perhaps for the
TRS-80 release of Zork for which I recall hearing that something like
1500 copies were sold - still, that's over a thousand). Contrast that
to perhaps 150-200 copies for Birth of the Phoenix (and that might be
pushing it!). As far as numbers, it's a lot rarer than Akalabeth. No
doubt someone has a copy stashed somewhere, but that doesn't mean it'll
show up on eBay (incidentally, I have a copy of that one stashed very
close by... :-) Of your list, besides BotP, I have also seen a few of
the early Synergistic releases. Interestingly enough, I have a manual
for "Odyssey: The Compleat Apventure", but no diskette... I have never
seen one.
Brian the Fist wrote:
Incidentally, here's a few games I have never once seen (other than
perhaps a loose disk) on eBay, in several years of searching - no idea
why - Labyrinth of Crete (Scott Adams), Birth of the Phoenix, Black
Magic (Datasoft, US Boxed version), Coveted Mirror (Comprehend version),
Crypts of Terror (In-Home software, saw loose disk once..), Dungeons
Dragons and Other perils (XLent software), Fraktured Faebles (American
Eagle), Gelfling Adventure (Sierra), Palace in Thunderland (Micro Lab),
Quarterstaff (Simulated Environment Systems, before Infocom bought it),
Secret of Easter Island (Three Sigma), Seventh Sword of Mendor
(Grandslam), Sorcerer of Siva (Epyx), most Synergistic Software early
games, Spirit of Glenmore Castle (On Target), Troll's Tale (Sierra),
Zombies (Bram). And my personal holy grail of hard to find games,
Dungeons of Despair (Wizardry Zero??). There are very few references to
this latter one, though it is on the Giant Game Programmers list, and
from what I can scrounge, this may have been a Wizardry I beta demo,
released to the Apple user group community as the game was being made?
Anyone know any more on this one? and as for the other games listed
here, have any of you ever seen any of them, ever, anywhere? Maybe I've
just had bad luck? I suppose some of these, might not exist though I
know most do. Anyhow, these all appear to be rarer than Akalabeth and
friends. Oh yes, there's also the Dysan 3 1/2" Infocoms, and DEC
Rainbow ones...
One that immediately comes to mind is Destiny by Software Investments
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