Back in the Eighties, many would buy a new game after reading about it in mags like Crash or Zzap!64. But that was not all: perhaps you called your friend to swap floppies. Or you visited your favourite BBS to check what new games were available. It wasn’t all fun, though. Groups such as Razor 1911, Fairlight, Paradox and THG were infamous for cracking games on the C64, Amiga and PC, often on the very same day of release. They were working day and night, risking jail to crack games.
Except for later endeavours such as Twilight or Crazy Bytes, in the Eighties and early Nineties groups were working only for the thrill and fun of the challenge. The first cracked games began appearing in the early Eighties, often signed with the nickname of the ‘artist’. Soon, crackers began to work together in groups, since that made it easier to access original releases and find people who could get the
