When Games Came Through the Post
Long before app stores and instant downloads, independent developers relied on something far simpler: the postal service.
Graham Cluley’s interactive fiction games Jacaranda Jim and Humbug were distributed as shareware—software you could copy and share freely, but were encouraged to register and pay for if you enjoyed it. Cluley placed adverts in computer magazines, inviting curious players to write in.
The games then travelled on 3½ and 5¼-inch floppy disks, physical objects that had to be duplicated, labelled, and mailed one by one. Every new player meant another envelope, another trip to the post box.
Paying Players Got More Than Just a Game
To nudge people from casual copying to paid registration, Cluley offered something valuable: tips and maps. These weren’t downloadable extras; they were incentives sent out to those who had paid their fees, giving them an edge in cracking puzzles that could otherwise keep them stuck for nights.
This relationship between creator and player was oddly personal. You weren’t just a user; you were someone the developer had quite literally posted a disk to.
From Shareware to Public Domain
Both Jacaranda Jim and Humbug earned high praise, being dubbed “shareware masterpieces” in PC Review. In time, Cluley chose to place his games in the public domain, removing even the small financial barrier that remained. Now they can be freely downloaded or played in-browser from his website.
It’s a reminder of a more hands-on age of computing—when indie success meant stamps and floppy disks, and a game’s “support model” might simply be: send the author a cheque and they’ll mail you a map.