Yes, the ValuPriced software did have nice documentation. Not original, but very high quality. (Example, the KQ5 book is not embossed, and the inside is greyscale instead of colored for the copy-protection symbols, but it still has a nice color cover.
When you mention the “slash” releases, is that a specific company that Sierra gave license to to distribute the older titles after they were “obsolete”? My KQ2 version is probably the cheapest re-release I own with a photocopied manual and a dot-matrix-printed label on the disk. The slip cover of the box is slightly smaller and non-glossy. (The interior box was crap, so I tried to use an extra Sierra box I had and the slip cover wouldn’t fit.) I almost want to find a way to print a new label for it so that it at least APPEARS to match the rest of my collection! 🙂
Back to the discussion on the labels, upon closer inspection of the tan/mountain ones I mentioned that some were matte, some had a glossy mountan pic but the label itself was matte, and then finally the full lablel had a gloss. I’ve noticed that the changes also reflect a change in copyright on the information on the back (or bottom for 5.25)… reason? The phone number on the disks changed. The changes occurred in 1987, 1989 and 1990. My KQ disks actually have a mix of the labels, so I guess whichever disk you grabbed gave you a 1 in 3 chance of a right number, haha.
The archive project sounds awesome! I would love to be a part of it. I have a bunch of pristine Sierra catalogs which I wouldn’t mind scanning. After reading through them many times, AND the InterActions, Ken Williams is absolutley right… it would be almost redundant for him to write a book. 😉 Being on this board with that man brings back memories of when “word spread” around TSN/INN that either he or Roberta were online… it turned into a frenzy of people trying to find out or get into whichever area they were in! Aah, the years…
Tom.