Path: news.eternal-september.org!eternal-september.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail
From: candycanearter07 <candycanearter07@candycanearter07.nomail.afraid>
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action
Subject: Re: Code Wheels
Date: Mon, 23 Jun 2025 19:30:09 -0000 (UTC)
Organization: the-candyden-of-code
Lines: 60
Message-ID: <slrn105jaov.2tkue.candycanearter07@candydeb.host.invalid>
References: <itkg5k1h53ip0jjsva27vbghrbu46admlf@4ax.com>
Injection-Date: Mon, 23 Jun 2025 21:30:09 +0200 (CEST)
Injection-Info: dont-email.me; posting-host="e35ed6b8dc9d5896dda7b0a70a84e4ab";
	logging-data="1552520"; mail-complaints-to="abuse@eternal-september.org";	posting-account="U2FsdGVkX1+/S/vViOdvc3fREwaV4fecR+xSXJmTFdktLqo/5uRHrQ=="
User-Agent: slrn/1.0.3 (Linux)
Cancel-Lock: sha1:WKHY1NHDkL6juIS+Nal4YrPOH2A=
X-Face: b{dPmN&%4|lEo,wUO\"KLEOu5N_br(N2Yuc5/qcR5i>9-!^e\.Tw9?/m0}/~:UOM:Zf]%
 b+ V4R8q|QiU/R8\|G\WpC`-s?=)\fbtNc&=/a3a)r7xbRI]Vl)r<%PTriJ3pGpl_/B6!8pe\btzx
 `~R! r3.0#lHRE+^Gro0[cjsban'vZ#j7,?I/tHk{s=TFJ:H?~=]`O*~3ZX`qik`b:.gVIc-[$t/e
 ZrQsWJ >|l^I_[pbsIqwoz.WGA]<D

Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote at 19:20 this Sunday (GMT):
>
> Is it just me? Am I the only one who has a soft spot for code wheels?
>
> For those not REALLY REALLY OLD, code wheels were a form of offline
> copy-protection where the game would ask you to input a code, which
> you would acquire by fiddling with two cardboard disks, twisting and
> aligning them until they gave you the correct data.*
>
>  They were used by dozens (hundreds? I don't know if there's a
> complete list anywhere) of games in the mid 80s to early 90s,
> eventually superseded by documentation checks and later by CD-ROMs. At
> the time of their release, photocopiers weren't too common (computer
> scanners were almost non-existent) and the unusual format made it
> difficult for anyone to hand-copy the answers. 
>
> A lot of people disliked them because the wheels were fiddly to use,
> easy to lose, and because some companies demanded you use them too
> often. But I always sort of liked them; there was a hands-on
> interactivity to them that made them more interesting than simply
> answering "what's the third word in the second line of the ninth
> paragraph of page 16" documentation checks. It was like _I_ was
> actually helping in the quest by decoding some secret information.
> When the code wheels fell out of favor, I missed them.

Funny enough, I know of at least one modern game that uses a (virtual)
code wheel as a puzzle mechanic, and it was pretty charming.

> Code wheels weren't really any more effective than other forms of copy
> protection, of course. They were as easily defeated as most copy
> protection questions; most crackers just looked for the code that
> queried the player and JMP'd over it like it never existed. They
> weren't all that cheap to make either, and their bulk demanded larger
> boxes. A lot of budget re-releases of games just stripped them out of
> the game entirely. So their lifespan was limited.
>
> But I liked them. I'm not demanding they make a comeback of course...
> but of all the forms of copy-protection, code-wheels were one of the
> more playful and less annoying. 
>
>
> Anyone else have fond memories of this stupid thing, or is this a hill
> on which I'm going to die alone? ;-)
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> * there are a selection of 'interactive code wheels' here if you've no
> idea what I'm talking about:
> https://www.oldgames.sk/codewheel/


I agree that they seem cute (even if I never was around for it), and
that it is hilariously easy to crack by just photocopying it, but I
probably would've been the kinda person to lose all of mine.
-- 
user <candycane> is generated from /dev/urandom