# Where can I buy old PC games?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-buy-old-pc-games/131253>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [October 7, 2002, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-buy-old-pc-games/131253 "2002-10-07T20:06:47Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 9\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\
**Post date:** [October 7, 2002, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-buy-old-pc-games/131253/1 "2002-10-07T20:06:47Z")

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Does anyone know of a website/service (preferably, but not strictly UK based) where I can buy old PC games?

I know old games are available on budget labels but I have been unable to find the three games I want in shops.

They are **Little Big Adventure** , **Little Big Adventure 2** , and **Flashback**.

Thanks.  
P.S. I have tried amazon. No luck.

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**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\
**Post date:** [October 7, 2002, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-buy-old-pc-games/131253/2 "2002-10-07T20:14:10Z")

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Try a google search for “abandonware”. There are many sites with old PC games you can download for free and many still work just fine under win98.

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**Author:** ![DarrenS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/977dab/32.png) [@DarrenS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DarrenS)\
**Post date:** [October 7, 2002, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-buy-old-pc-games/131253/3 "2002-10-07T20:37:55Z")

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How about e-bay ?

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**Author:** ![DarrenS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/977dab/32.png) [@DarrenS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DarrenS)\
**Post date:** [October 7, 2002, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-buy-old-pc-games/131253/4 "2002-10-07T20:39:48Z")

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BTW - abandonware is [illegal](http://www.cnet.com/techtrends/0-1544321-7-2409520.html).

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**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\
**Post date:** [October 7, 2002, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-buy-old-pc-games/131253/5 "2002-10-07T22:42:52Z")

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Abandonware is a legal grey area. What it comes down to is whether there is anyone left to prosecute: Nabbing old Microsoft stuff is likely to bring the wrath of Microsoft down on you, but downloading games made by a company that went bust in the early 90s is certainly justified.

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**Author:** ![PhilAlex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/839c29/32.png) [@PhilAlex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhilAlex)\
**Post date:** [October 8, 2002, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-buy-old-pc-games/131253/6 "2002-10-08T00:05:55Z")

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Actually, there’s an interesting case in Abandonware that sunk without people being aware of it.

Some dudes in Texas had a BBS with TRS-80 System Disks.

Obviously, still in copyright. But Tandy no longer supports the TRS 80 computer or the COCO.

You \>CAN’T\< buy a new system disk from them. Tandy admits they pulled all the old ones off the shelf.

Sure, there might be a copy or two on SOMEONE’S shelf, but how you gonna find that?

Anyhow. Tandy sued. They dropped the suit, however, since they were concerned the FTC would FORCE them to support an obsolete system.

So. That’s not as good as “permission” I’ll admit. But it’s an interesting story.

Phil

(Who has a cracked version of PSI 5 Trading Company. But, he owns the original, and it won’t run on a Pentium!)

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**Author:** ![Crusoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@Crusoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crusoe)\
**Post date:** [October 8, 2002, 7:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-buy-old-pc-games/131253/7 "2002-10-08T07:51:13Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by DarrenS \*  
> \*\*BTW - abandonware is [illegal](http://www.cnet.com/techtrends/0-1544321-7-2409520.html). \*\*

Some is, some is less clear-cut. Some of the bigger abandonware sites are very careful to ‘pull’ games at the first sign of a legal threat, yet claim other titles are being displayed with the original author’s permission.

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**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\
**Post date:** [October 8, 2002, 9:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-buy-old-pc-games/131253/8 "2002-10-08T09:59:58Z")

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That Cnet article is heavily biased.

Abandonware falls into teh “its technically illegal but nobodys going to nab you for it” areas of law.

When you look at it carefully, what your really asking is do the publishers of this software want to **deliberately destroy all traces of it?**. For most publishers, I would guess that the answer would be NO, they simply dont care what happens to it.

If you really wanted, you could find the copywrite holder of the software and offer to paypal or mail then $5 for the software. Im sure most authors would be willing to grant you exemption for that token amount.

BTW: it is NOT illegal to dl abandonware providing you have the original disks which Cnet seems to imply that it is.

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**Author:** ![Number](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/number/32/242_2.png) [@Number](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Number)\
**Post date:** [October 8, 2002, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-buy-old-pc-games/131253/9 "2002-10-08T13:21:26Z")

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Little Big Adventure 2 is still for sale [here](http://www.cdaccess.com/html/quick/twinsodypr.htm).