Posted by jpluimers on 2026/09/14
H2G2 art box – from Wikipedia
Today, 42 years ago the famous Infocom game The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy got released.
There is a bit of confusion on that date, as the above Wikipedia page mentions November 1984 for the USA and January 1985 for the EU.
Those are the time frames the boxes reached the public, but the actual release on 1984-09-14 is documented in [Wayback/Archive] The Infocom Bugs List: The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.
I got reminded last year by [Wayback/Archive] Charles Hawn on X: “Hitchhiker’s guide to the Galaxy was released 41 years ago today on Sept 14, 1984. Written by Steve Meretzky and Douglas Adams. It was #Infocom’s 14th game. What a bad day! As the story begins a bulldozer is preparing to level your house. DON’T PANIC! #Commodore64 #Commodore #C64 …” who was lucky to have the original complete box including button, pocket fluff and fleet (see picture below).
I wasn’t so fortunate back in 1984: I had entered secondary education not long ago, my parents didn’t believe in computers at all, I hardly got any allowance and had no idea where you could by software locally.
An original copy of the game (either Apple II or IBM) is still on my wish list, as well as the InvisiClues hint book mentioned at [Wayback/Archive] Charles Hawn on X: “@odinisamu It took me days to finally figure out how to get the babel fish into my ear to translate Vogon to English. It was before the internet and walk through so you just had to keep trying different things or pay $14.95 for the hint book sold by Infocom. I got this a few years ago. …”
References:
“be out in a few weeks” – The Cincinnati Enquirer • Page 61
Sunday, October 7, 1984
“Infocom is just about to begin distribution” – Chicago Tribune • Page 166
Friday, November 9, 1984
1985
January 3 Infocom publishes an adventure game based on The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy
Spelling mistake is not mine (:
…
Canonical Name Zcode Version Release Correct length Correct Checksum notes … AMFV 4 77 850814 262016 $5031 AMFV 4 79 851122 262036 $4860 HHGG 3 47 840914 112622 $2235 HHGG 3 56 841221 113444 $9235 HHGG 3 58 851002 113332 $7052 HHGG 3 59 851108 113334 $7378 HHGG 5 31 871119 158412 $410d Solid Gold … …
Each bug is given a number. At the beginning of each game’s description is a chart, showing all known versions of the game, cross-referenced with a column for each bug. The column will show a “Y” if the bug appears in that version, and an “N” if it doesn’t appear.
The versions are listed in the format [Release #/Serial #]. For example, 10/880531 is Release 10, Serial Number 880531. The serial number is actually the date that the datafile was compiled. Versions that appear in the IBM version of Lost Treasures of Infocom or The Infocom Masterpieces Collection are preceded with an asterisk.
BUG
VERSION 1 2 3 4
47/840914 Y Y Y Y
56/841221 N N N Y
58/851002 N N N N
59/851108 N N N N
*31/871119 N N N N (Solid Gold)
--jeroen
PS: I asked the commenter on BSKY to also comment below, but they didn’t, so:
[Wayback/Archive] Post by @snark.games — Bluesky
About Lewis Carroll and Douglas Adams’ “42”: https://snrk.de/?s=CarrollAdams42
[Wayback/Archive] Search Results for “CarrollAdams42” – The Hunting of the Snark
Search Results for: CarrollAdams42
Douglas Adams and Lewis Carroll
By Douglas Adams, alt.fan.douglas-adams, 1993-11-03: It was a joke. It had to be a number, an ordinary, smallish number, and I chose that one. Binary representations, base thirteen, Tibetan monks are all complete nonsense. I sat at my desk, stared into the garden and thought ‘42 will do.’ I typed it out. End of story. … Continue reading“Douglas Adams and Lewis Carroll”
Douglas Adams’ 42
In the fourth episode (1978-03-29) of Douglas Adams’ BBC Radio 4 radio series The Hitchiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, the computer Deep Tought hesitatingly gives its famous answer ’42’. That triggered the never ending discussion about what meaning that number might have. And as Lewis Carroll too had a thing with … Continue reading
Images:
Complete C64 H2G2
H2G2 InvisiClues hint book
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