The Games: Winter Challenge, was a 1991 DOS game with an unusually cunning copy protection system that checks repeatedly for special variables set by the original challenge. As a result, every version released since, including the current one of GOG, subjects the player to subtle and annoying problems. Only one cracked version works—the one cracked by famed warez/demo group Razor 911 days after its original release. Even the publisher's own crack, as found in every official version since the original floppy release, breaks the game.
As it turns out, all widely available versions of this game are improperly cracked this way and trigger these hidden copy protection checks, including the version you can buy on GOG, as well as all the various online playable or downloadable versions.. Worse still, the GOG version has the improper crack baked into the binary they distribute, so you don't even have the option to use an uncracked version and enter the code wheel answer yourself (as of March 2025).
There are two versions of his investigation, one for lay readers and one for those interested in all the technical details. Read the latter, even if you're not an assembly ace!
Previously: Wedding Ring Cipher contest winners
• Help someone finish the Commodore 64 RPG they started making when they were a kid 40 years ago
