Copy Protection

For several years on the fledgling Internet a website existed called the Sierra Copy Protection Compendium.  The Sierra Community archived the website (small by today’s standards) and for many years made it available in various ways for download and use.  It is largely redundant with the information on this page but having it preserved for history is part of archiving the history of Sierra.  In addition it is a self enclosed way to access the material stored here.  The entire website is contained in the .zip file linked below.  Just download it, unpack it to a location on your hard drive and launch the index file.

 

Many of the Sierra games relied on some level of physical document checks to assure ownership of the game.  In the days before scanners, easy access photocopiers and digital cameras this was an excellent anti-piracy step.  Enjoying classic games today in a world without physical manuals can be a challenge.  Over the years many Sierra fans (and Sierra) have created great cheat sheets to work through the physical copy protection checks.  Those sheets will be collected here.