Written by Andrew "telarium" Langley
This is, without a doubt, the nerdiest thing I’ve ever done. However, as a recent college graduate and the current job market being what it is, I found myself with a little bit of time on my hands. Normally a person would do something productive with that time. Start a community outreach center. Rescue a three legged dog from a burning ice cream factory. Cradle a new born baby in the ruins of a church. Not me, however. I spend my free time playing little jokes on LucasArts that only people like me would find funny. But I hope someone working at the company got a chuckle out of it as well.
It all started at my college graduation party when a good friend of mine gave me an excellent gift. He found a perfect condition Monkey Island box at a thrift store. Not only did the box include the instruction manual, original 5¼ inch floppy disks, copy protection code wheel, and issue #2 of The Adventurer, but it also came with an interesting coupon. Here’s what the circa 1991 offer had to say:
"Thank you for purchasing a 256-Color VGA copy of The Secret of Monkey Island. This product is available in a wide variety of formats and graphics modes. If you prefer to play The Secret of Monkey Island in a different configuration, send us your original set of disks and we’ll exchange them for you free of charge. Or you can receive one of the set of disks listed below by simply enclosing a check or money order for $10.00."
At the suggestion of a friend, I decided to send in this eleven year old coupon. And why not? There was no expiration date. I already had a copy of the 5¼ inch disks lying around, so the only thing I could possibly lose was $10 plus postage.
Now, as you may have seen on the scanned coupon, there were many trade-in options. Sure I could have made it easy on them and requested the VGA 256-Color 3.5 inch disks, but what would be the fun in that? I chose to receive the EGA 16-Color/CGA 4-Color 5.25 inch disks. I sent in my filled out coupon, my original floppy disks, and a check for $10. Note that the address on the coupon is in the name of Lucasfilm Games, but I know that their PO Box number is still the same. I addressed my envelope to exactly what it said on the coupon.
Sure enough, about two weeks later, I received a package from LucasArts in the mail. They cashed my check for $10 and sent a copy of the Monkey Madness CD, which contains the first two Monkey Island games. While I must say that I’m impressed that they even responded in the first place, I still won’t be completely satisfied until I receive my EGA/CGA 5¼ inch disks in the mail.
So LucasArts, thank you for still honoring the eleven year old coupon in some way. I hope someone there got a chuckle out of it. I know I did. Now maybe I should send in the Roland MT-32 Sound Module upgrade coupon that was also in the box. Or maybe I should get a haircut and try to find a real job.