Factory sealed pc game?

[reasonman]

Hi there. I'm a pretty avid pc game collector but one thing that still stumps me from time to time is whether a game is still factory sealed. For instance, I just bought a sealed copy of Gabriel Knight 3. It came to me as advertised, in shrink wrap, but claimed to be factory sealed. Now, I can't for the life of me recall how this game came packaged. I have other Sierra games and I don't believe they were shrink wrapped. I know that most, if not all, pc games of the time came in the big box with a sticker seal on the top and bottom openings, and no shrink wrap. This game came in full, but torn, shrink wrap and the stickers. The box itself is in immaculate condition, not even a finger print on it, with the exception of half of the system requirement sticker that's poking out of torn wrap: it's a little dirty. This tells me that it has indeed been shrink wrapped early on in its life. But, the top sticker has been broken, then another sticker placed on top of it. The curious thing though, is it doesn't look as though the box was actually opened, as there is no creasing on the opening side spine, and the little tabs on either side of the opening flap are not bent or in any way disturbed. The door on the face that opens to show more game details doesn't seem to have ever been opened, as theres no creasing on that spine either. The only explanation I can come up with is that in the process of being sealed, it broke, and another one put over it. Then maybe whatever retailer had the box, also shrink wrapped it(if not at the factory. If anyone can shed some light on this it'd be great. Attached are some pictures.

http://reasonman.com/pics/1.jpg
Bottom with system requirement sticker.
http://reasonman.com/pics/2.jpg
http://reasonman.com/pics/3.jpg
http://reasonman.com/pics/4.jpg
"Door" spine
http://reasonman.com/pics/5.jpg
This shows the tear on the top sticker. If you look to the far right you can see the 2 stickers, one of top of the other.

[Kitsune Sniper]

I'm fairly sure that the copy of the game I bought all those years ago wasn't shrinkwrapped; it only had that stupid sticker. But it only had one, not two.

[Baloo]

never had that experienced!...


nice link!...thanks!...


looks good!....not too bad!...

Judging from the sound of your posts, you seem like a bot.

[reasonman]

I'm fairly sure that the copy of the game I bought all those years ago wasn't shrinkwrapped; it only had that stupid sticker. But it only had one, not two.

Like I mentioned in the OP, the only thing I can think of is that something happened during production and they placed another sticker on, as the box top doesn't look like it was opened. You know how you open any cardboard box like a game, or an electronic device, the ends of the opening side have these notches that catch on the inner flaps, and when you open it, you almost always end up with the "lid" buckling in the middle and the little notches bend. There's none of that. From what I can tell, the box has never been opened, or even touched by anyone outside the production or retail areas. The pictures don't really do it justice.

[phreakindee]

I am also a collector of PC games and have several sealed Sierra games as well. Each of them have almost exactly the same type of plastic wrapping that you show in those photos, same seams and everything. Many of these games came sealed this way from Sierra, multiples in a shipping box. The same with Microsoft and Maxis. Now, games from Electronic Arts for instance came with the stickers you mentioned, rarely were those wrapped in plastic until they started doing the "CD-ROM Classics" collection.

As for the two stickers, many game stores such as Babbages and Software Etc used to do this with games that were either opened by employees or returned, but potentially this was done at the distributor - I have a copy of Lode Runner Mad Monks Revenge that looked like that.

[Jorpho]

ou know how you open any cardboard box like a game, or an electronic device, the ends of the opening side have these notches that catch on the inner flaps, and when you open it, you almost always end up with the "lid" buckling in the middle and the little notches bend. There's none of that.Someone cautious enough to attempt to duplicate the sticker could probably easily get the lid open without bruising the lid or the little notches.

Really, if you are not completely satisfied with the condition of this box, why not get another one?

[reasonman]

I am also a collector of PC games and have several sealed Sierra games as well. Each of them have almost exactly the same type of plastic wrapping that you show in those photos, same seams and everything. Many of these games came sealed this way from Sierra, multiples in a shipping box. The same with Microsoft and Maxis. Now, games from Electronic Arts for instance came with the stickers you mentioned, rarely were those wrapped in plastic until they started doing the "CD-ROM Classics" collection.

As for the two stickers, many game stores such as Babbages and Software Etc used to do this with games that were either opened by employees or returned, but potentially this was done at the distributor - I have a copy of Lode Runner Mad Monks Revenge that looked like that.

Thanks for the lesson. I also received a copy of Kings Quest 8 with it(you can see it in the background there). It came with the stickers, but no plastic wrap, but the condition is just as great.

I was able to safely slide the plastic off the box to get a better look at it, and after getting a closer look, the tear only goes about a quarter into the sticker, and wasn't fully cut. Probably just a defect that they corrected in the factory.


Someone cautious enough to attempt to duplicate the sticker could probably easily get the lid open without bruising the lid or the little notches.

Really, if you are not completely satisfied with the condition of this box, why not get another one?

Well, the box itself is in excellent condition, and overall i'm happy with it. I'm just trying to figure out whether or not it was actually opened and resealed(which I can see now it wasn't), and to get a little perspective by knowing the background of other older games, not only for this one, but future purchases.