PDog Posted January 23, 2015 Share Posted January 23, 2015 Looks like there's one for sale. Don't see these too often! Any guesses as to the final price? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
82-T/A Posted January 23, 2015 Share Posted January 23, 2015 Well, couple of things I noticed: 1 - The write protect was cut out with a hole punch. This means that this diskette has clearly been used over the years for other stuff. Whatever was originally on it, has probably been wiped long ago. I'm sure at some point when the guy realized what he had, he chose to put the original game BACK on the diskette from a zip he found of the original online. 2 - The manual included looks like a photocopy. The original did come in a plastic bag, and there were two or three different manuals depending on how or when it was "released"... but that just looks like a scanned / photocopied version. I'm guessing it's going to go upwards of $400... but the only thing real there is the physical disk / label... not even the data on it. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PDog Posted January 23, 2015 Author Share Posted January 23, 2015 (edited) Yeah, the seller mentioned the cover was a reprint, but I've seen other Akalabeths with hole punches on the left that were authentic, so I'm not sure about your conclusion... Edited January 23, 2015 by PDog Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gentlegamer Posted January 23, 2015 Share Posted January 23, 2015 Would a genuine floppy of Akalabeth still work 30+ years later? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BassGuitari Posted January 23, 2015 Share Posted January 23, 2015 Would a genuine floppy of Akalabeth still work 30+ years later? Sure, as long as it wasn't abused or stored improperly. But for the kind of money you'd probably pay for something like Akalabeth, it doesn't really matter since you're probably not gonna try to run it anyway. At least, I know I'd use a backup/copy instead. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
82-T/A Posted January 23, 2015 Share Posted January 23, 2015 Yeah, the seller mentioned the cover was a reprint, but I've seen other Akalabeths with hole punches on the left that were authentic, so I'm not sure about your conclusion... Maybe you're right. I'm not an avid collector of original pre-Origin Ultima games... but I looked at several in Google Images, and didn't see any others with the hole punch, so I assumed. But thankfully, I'm not an Akalabeth Concourse de' Elegance Judge Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+cvga Posted January 24, 2015 Share Posted January 24, 2015 Well, couple of things I noticed: 1 - The write protect was cut out with a hole punch. This means that this diskette has clearly been used over the years for other stuff. Whatever was originally on it, has probably been wiped long ago. I'm sure at some point when the guy realized what he had, he chose to put the original game BACK on the diskette from a zip he found of the original online. 2 - The manual included looks like a photocopy. The original did come in a plastic bag, and there were two or three different manuals depending on how or when it was "released"... but that just looks like a scanned / photocopied version. I'm guessing it's going to go upwards of $400... but the only thing real there is the physical disk / label... not even the data on it. We used to punch holes on the left side of our disks so we could turn them over and save things on the 'back'. That's what I would guess happened to this disk. Disks were expensive back then so if a single sided game was on a double density disk, it got punched. I wouldn't be surprised if the back has game saves on it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Great Hierophant Posted January 24, 2015 Share Posted January 24, 2015 The hole punch is for the back side of the disk, and Akalabeth only uses the front side and does not save to disk. The write tab for the front side appears to be original, so the software itself may still be good. Still, no manual, notched disk and reprinted cover, hardly collector's quality. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FastRobPlus Posted January 24, 2015 Share Posted January 24, 2015 The label is legit at least. I've seen a bunch of CA Pacific and that's definitely the plaque patten they get. Its possible that this game started life as a Akalabeth but was then overwritten by another, two sided game. That's the kind of thing CA Pacific was known to do. I had an Ultima 1 from them once with a far rarer game label underneath. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Great Hierophant Posted January 24, 2015 Share Posted January 24, 2015 I believe that the front side of this disk could contain Akalabeth. If you look at the write tab, it appears to be underneath the label. It is reasonable to suggest that California Pacific Computers used pre-notched, covered tab disks. They were a relatively small outfit and probably would take whatever they could get. However, it appears in this auction that the CPC label was applied over the write-protect tab. If the label is still sticky in that area, that would indicate to me that Akalabeth is likely on the front side of the disk. The write protect tab looks undamaged. The hole-punched write protect hole is for the back side of the disk. The previous owner could have used the back side for whatever. The back side may actually prove to be the more interesting side of the disk. Of course, whether an Apple will be able to read this disk is another story. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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