I've been looking for this game for a long, long time. Well, I was looking for it at a reasonable price, not to mention that the game itself in the Amiga format is r-a-r-e. More rare than I originally imagined.
Ever since I finished the first Starflight (and talked to Fred Ford, the co-creator of both game universes) I'd been looking. Well, finally!
As I opened the box, I saw mostly what I'd expect: manuals, code wheel, disks... all looking really great.
But I also got the original purchase receipt dated November of 1991! I love it when that stuff is still saved in the box. This game originally came from a store in Fairport, New York, called The Software Shop. But it also had two other carefully folded papers I've never seen before: work orders.
From what I've read I think this is what happened. The original owner of the game had an Amiga 500. After purchasing Star Control, he believed it made his machine slow. This particular store not only sold software but apparently was an officially licensed Amiga repair shop, too. $75 was not an insignificant sum in 1991 for troubleshooting a game playing slowly on one's A500. That's $138 in 2018 dollars. Kind of incredible when you consider the game itself back then cost $35 ($65 in 2018)!
The store took the customer's Amiga 500 along with the game to see if all was "normal". There is no other documentation beyond that, unfortunately.
Frankly, I'm willing to bet that Star Control simply seemed a bit sluggish in 7 Mhz by 1991 standards, and the store likely encouraged the guy to purchase a modest accelerator. I'll perform my own tests soon, but that's my uninformed initial guess. Or maybe this guy liked to multi-task while playing and Workbench seemed to drag. I should be able to quickly find out.
So cool that the old paperwork is still in the box! That kind of history... I don't know. It makes me feel a bit like an archeologist when I come across it.
And there was a tiny bit more.
Below the proof of purchase cards, I actually found a movie stub! A movie stub for an exceptional film with Robin Williams, called The Fisher King.
How that wound up in the box, I can't even imagine. But I just love it.
The back of the box is pretty awesome, too.
This is going to be the next game I play through. I can't wait!