It was also a great example of the 'feelies' that came with games back then - the peril sensitive sunglasses and little baggie of belly button lint. It helped bridge the virtual text world with a connection to the physical.

It's interesting that 9 year old me remembers opening the box like yesterday because of those items.

Likewise. I remember the Infocom ads: A photo of a brain and a statement that imagination was the best graphics anyone could get [1].

I never could finish the Hitchhiker's game though.

[1] https://www.atarimania.com/pgepub.awp?param=publisher-&value...

--> "We stick our graphics where the sun don't shine..."

The BBC released an online version for the 30th Anniversary of the Hitchhikers Guide with some additional graphics if anyone would like some nostalgia [1].

I don't know anyone who finished that game. It could be very frustrating. I was very pleased just to get the babel fish. Since then I have read the walk through and I doubt could have ever completed it without help. [2] (spoilers!)

[1] https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/1g84m0sXpnNCv84GpN...

[2] http://www.eristic.net/games/infocom/hhg.html

> A photo of a brain and a statement that imagination was the best graphics anyone could get [...]

Funny enough, that actually applied to computer graphics just as well. Have a look at eg the sprites of Super Maria Bros: there's so little detail, and your imagination fills in the rest.

(In twenty years, we can point at today's graphics and say the same, I guess. It's always easier to see with past works.)

we stick our graphics where the sun don't shine: https://web.archive.org/web/20150923005950/http://web.mit.ed...

we unleash the world's most powerful graphics technology: https://web.archive.org/web/20230117073114/http://web.mit.ed...

I never really played HHGG as a kid but started it up on my Apple //e using this wonderful disk image, which has a great front end for Infocom games, in case anyone hasn't seen it:

https://archive.org/details/PitchDark