* If this shows up twice, I apologize I am having problems with my net connection *
Well mine was certainly and adventure... :) One day I was sifting through the gobs of spam that I usually receive on my vintage-sierra account and I noticed one titled "Mt. Drash." I tried not to get too excited because typically people that send these kinds of e-mails either want to buy, want to download, or want to report that it isn't on my site (real helpful)... So I figured what the heck and opened it. Here is what it said: "What would you be willing ot pay for an original Mt. Drash? It's in excellent condition in the original box with the manual and tape (which still works, I tested it in my Vic-20)." I couldn't help but be excited! I immediately replied and asked for more details and a picture. Then I waited... And waited... And waited... And waited some more... I e-mailed again saying I was very interested and to please get back to me. So I waited again... Still no response....So I started to do a little detective work. I 'Googgled', yahooed, webcrawled, etc the guys name and started sifting through the thousands of hits. After about a week of searching I found a guy with the same name posting on a message board. So I posted on the board, pleading for the guy to check his e-mail! Then the moment I had been waiting for! He got back to me!! Keep in mind that this was a nearly a MONTH after his initial e-mail. A month of a lot of sleepless nights from me :) Anyway, in his response he apologized for not getting back to me sooner. He said he hardly remembered sending me the initial e-mail because it was late at night and that all my responses had been buried by spam! Then he proceeded to tell me that the game was NOT his... He had been helping a friend sort through games and noticed it in one of the piles. Remembering playing and loving all the Ultima games he didn't recall playing this one. So he borrowed it, dug out his VIC-20 and spent an hour playing it. He didn't understand why I was so interested in it because he had come to the conclusion that it was a horrible game. "It's interesting from a historical perspective but I can't see anyone actually wanting to play this game. A collector's item, sure, I can see that. I assume that's why you want it... Is there something about Drash that I'm not getting?" Then he told me why he e-mailed me in the first place: "I was looking for information on the Quest games because I only ever played King's Quest, Leisure Suit Larry and Police Quest and wanted to replay them and find out how many sequels there were...When I saw you were looking for Mt. Drash and I had it sitting on the desk beside me, I sent you email." The stars were aligned that night I tell ya!! Then he said he knew his friend was organizing his games with plans to sell off his collection, so he assumed Drash was going to be part of that sale. Of course he wouldn't give me his friends name or e-mail...he simply said he would let him know about our conversation and if he wants to contact me he will and we can talk directly. So of course my heart was in my stomach...I knew there was going to be more waiting involved and not knowing how things were going to turn out was driving me nuts! Finally, approximately two weeks later (after a few more e-mails to the guy begging for his friends name or e-mail without luck) his friend contacted me! He started his e-mail by stating he wasn't sure what to think because he had come back from a trip to find his e-mail box full with everything that had happened so far. Then he said he did indeed have an original Mt. Drash and that he would be willing to sell it. BUT! He was torn about what to do... He figured with all the collectors out there putting it on ebay would fetch the highest price but at the same time wanted to minimize hassles such as maintaining anonymity, avoid grief, etc... He ended his e-mail with: "Honestly, that is the real appeal of putting it on eBay. It might be fun to see how high it goes. I await your response." I knew that the situation was extremely delicate but I had to act fast! So I responded and told him that I would be willing to go to him and do the deal in person. I swore to never divulge from whom I got it. Also I made a hefty offer to show how serious I was and how I wanted to avoid ebay at all costs! He agreed that doing the deal face to face was a good idea because his identity would remain secret and this would avoid the hassles of ebay. After a few more e-mails we agreed on a price, a place, and time to meet and I booked the earliest flight I could. Now keep in mind he did NOT have a camera so I did all this without ever seeing the game. I figured, though it was probably foolish, it would be an adventure. He seemed like a together guy and there was really no advantage for him not to be honest since we were meeting in person and I would have plenty of time to inspect it. So the day finally came for our meeting. The way my flights were scheduled I would have approximately 6 hours to do this. We agreed to just meet in the airport and complete the transaction in one of the "in-airport" restaurants. Everything was on time and he was where he said he was going to be so we connected without any trouble. We soon found a place and sat down. It was great. We talked about games, collecting, Sierra, Infocom, the consoles, LucasArts, etc. As I inspected Drash he told me he couldn't believe I did this. He said I have a couple questions if you don't mind: "Since I didn't have a picture how concerned were you about doing all this without seeing a picture...especially since you didn't even know me?" - Extremely but I thought what the heck I will take a gamble "Will you ever sell it?" - Nope "What is it about this particular game that makes people so crazy over it?" - (I basically explained its history, told him I was an avid Sierra collector on a quest for a complete collection, it is big with the Ultima crowd, etc) "What do you plan to do with it?" - Display it proudly in my Museum :) "Would you consider making backups of the tape and documentation before it is lost forever?" - If I can figure out a way of course, I was thinking about making an MP3 of the tape (not sure if that is possible) So after a fun afternoon of talking games, politics and various other things it was time to go home. I was kind of worried about airport security searching me and destroying Drash but there was no search therefore nothing to worry about ;-) As soon as I got back I had to e-mail Tom and Chris to brag a little :) And Chris pointed me to this list so I joined with an introduction of my latest acquisition! Overall the experience definitely had its highs and lows. A lot of anxiety, a lot of fear, a lot of excitement, a lot of pacing, and an incredible satisfaction when I held the game for the first time! My 3 1/2 year quest for Drash had come to and end. It's funny because just a few weeks before the initial e-mail I had e-mailed Edward (not knowing him at the time) asking if he would sell his. He politely responded with a "NO WAY!" Heheh Of course after this was over I had to e-mail him back saying thank you but I got one!!! :) I have kept the identities of the parties involved secret I don't see how anyone could figure them out from this story but if for some strange reason someone does I would appreciate if he/she would keep it to themselves. Hope you enjoyed! -josh -----Original Message----- From: Jim Leonard [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Monday, March 15, 2004 11:02 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [SWCollect] How did you find your Drash? To all Drash owners on this list: How did you find yours? To at least one person, I recall it "fell into their lap" -- for Edward, it was a 3-year journey. How did you all (including Edward) find your Drash? Or any of your most prized software posessions, for that matter? Any good stories out there? For all my items "worth" over $80, ebay was my location. But for at least two things, they fell into my lap: Radical Rex, arguably the rarest Sega CD game published, was a Buy It Now for $9 (auctions for up to $80). And I found a Central Point Option Board (used to auction for $130, now unstable) was found at a local used software store for $12. -- Jim Leonard ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) World's largest electronic gaming project: http://www.MobyGames.com/ A delicious slice of the demoscene: http://www.MindCandyDVD.com/ Various oldskool PC rants and ramblings: http://www.oldskool.org/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. 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