Looking to buy sealed Doom Mailorder for $15,000

[billythekid44]

Hello!  I am interested in buying a sealed Doom Mailorder/Registered for around $15,000+ USD depending on condition.  Willing to fly to your location (if in US) to do deal in person.  If anyone has a copy, or knows someone with a sealed copy, please let me know!

 

If you know someone with a copy and connect me with the seller / deal is made, I would be willing to compensate for the connection as well.

 

Could also be interested in a trade, I have many sealed key titles in their original printings.  Wolf 3D, space quest 1 black box, hero's quest, Larry 1, Monkey island, etc. etc.

 

I am a reputable sealed PC collector, albeit new to the Doomworld site, so I appreciate your time and consideration.

Edited November 20, 2022 by billythekid44

[fraggle]

My opinion: if someone offers to sell you a "sealed mailorder" it's probably a scam (reseal). I like to try to imagine the scenario through which a thing would exist in 2022. Why would someone spend $40 (>$80 in 2022 money - very much not cheap) to buy a game via mail order and then just put it away in a closet without opening it? Seems ludicrous.

 

With other big box games you at least have occasional troves of old stock games discovered from shops that closed, but this is mail order, it wasn't sold in stores.

 

I'm also not entirely sure that the mail order copies even came shrinkwrapped.

[7Mahonin]

I don't recall them being shrinkwrapped. I also think $10,000 for one is a bit insane, especially if you want to meet up with someone. Sure, let's meet up, I "have a copy", then I take your $10,000 and rip you off as you go back home with your "tail" between your legs. Is it really worth that sort of risk?

[satan]

I've seen a few sealed units over the years but all of them where international, pretty sure the AUS distributor sealed their copies once they where ready for distribution. Some stores shrinkwrapped their games on arrival or sealed them together as bundles but for such a thing to include mailorder doom and be from the period is slim to none, as for sealed and from id, rare as a unicorn my friend.

Edited November 17, 2022 by satan

[Murdoch]

6 minutes ago, satan said:

I've seen a few sealed units over the years but all of them where international, pretty sure the AUS distributor sealed their copies once they where ready for distribution. Some stores sealed their games on arrival

 

Why are you playing a game that actively encourages the wholesale slaughter of your minions? Seems a bit strange.

[satan]

3 minutes ago, Murdoch said:

 

Why are you playing a game that actively encourages the wholesale slaughter of your minions? Seems a bit strange.

If it seems odd to you imagine how they must feel

[Captain Keen]

I actually have a question about this, since I played the shareware when it came out in December 1993, but didn’t play the registered version until later.

 

The original mail order copy was ver 1.1, right, with disks labeled as such? I can’t even find any pics of those online, the earliest I can find is 1.2.

 

And for ver 1.2, which I believe came out February 1994, if you got the mail order copy after that date did you get sent a different version than the original release? Meaning, if you ordered Doom in March 94, you were sent ver 1.2 disks rather than 1.1 in the same box, and then later versions were the same thing? Does anyone remember / know?

 

If I recall the box was smaller in size and wasn’t shrink wrapped. Sadly mine got thrown out over two decades ago, though I remember it was pretty beat up. I also don’t have my Doom II big box anymore either. Sad face.

[Murdoch]

2 minutes ago, Captain Keen said:

And for ver 1.2, which I believe came out February 1994, if you got the mail order copy after that date did you get sent a different version than the original release? Meaning, if you ordered Doom in March 94, you were sent ver 1.2 disks rather than 1.1 in the same box, and then later versions were the same thing? Does anyone remember / know?

 

As recently discussed on another thread, some shareware distributors were allowed to on-sell registered copies in their region as well. There was another thread linked in that thread showing a registered floppy copy that came with a 1.2 upgrade disc as well. The distributors in more far flung regions may not have gotten the 1.2 master files right away as well. So the answer to your question is basically "it depends".

[satan]

7 minutes ago, Captain Keen said:

I actually have a question about this, since I played the shareware when it came out in December 1993, but didn’t play the registered version until later.

 

The original mail order copy was ver 1.1, right, with disks labeled as such? I can’t even find any pics of those online, the earliest I can find is 1.2.

Doom version 1.1 was the blue label and came in 5.25 and 3.5 inch disk formats.

 

[Doomkid]

1.1 releases were even more inconsistent than the ones that came after, and even those had inconsistencies depending on which quarter of which year you were buying Doom in (talking 90s of course, not later revisions).

 

I know this is insane, but I have two Doom 2 Big Boxes, and 4 CDs, all of them are either 1.666 or 1.9, but the quality of the CD label prints is extremely inconsistent. Even aside from quality, the exact placement and position of the Doom 2 title art and logo is slightly different... Two have identical product IDs, and even they are pretty substantially different to look at (disc contents are identical though, data-wise).

 

The moral of the story is that these boxes may not have been roundly consistent in print quality and such, let alone more minor details like color/manufacturer of the floppies.

[Herr Dethnout]

16 minutes ago, Doomkid said:

1.1 releases were even more inconsistent than the ones that came after, and even those had inconsistencies depending on which quarter of which year you were buying Doom in (talking 90s of course, not later revisions).

 

I know this is insane, but I have two Doom 2 Big Boxes, and 4 CDs, all of them are either 1.666 or 1.9, but the quality of the CD label prints is extremely inconsistent. Even aside from quality, the exact placement and position of the Doom 2 title art and logo is slightly different... Two have identical product IDs, and even they are pretty substantially different to look at (disc contents are identical though, data-wise).

 

The moral of the story is that these boxes may not have been roundly consistent in print quality and such, let alone more minor details like color/manufacturer of the floppies.

Indie Dev in a nutshell.

[xScavengerWolfx]

All i will say is this one comment: pppfff! Good fucking luck my man!

 

[TheMagicMushroomMan]

Hi, I am Prince of Nigeria, thank you for reach out to me. I am become aware of you would like Doom Mailorder for $10,000 USA monies. This is good deal for you, I am sell to you if pay by tonight. Please send wire transfer of money to the account I send you via personal message inbox. I have many customer I am make this offer to so please be quickly, you will not regret.

[PeterMoro]

5 minutes ago, TheMagicMushroomMan said:

Hi, I am Prince of Nigeria, thank you for reach out to me. I am become aware of you would like Doom Mailorder for $10,000 USA monies. This is good deal for you, I am sell to you if pay by tonight. Please send wire transfer of money to the account I send you via personal message inbox. I have many customer I am make this offer to so please be quickly, you will not regret.

LOL

[lokbustam257]

1 hour ago, TheMagicMushroomMan said:

Hi, I am Prince of Nigeria, thank you for reach out to me. I am become aware of you would like Doom Mailorder for $10,000 USA monies. This is good deal for you, I am sell to you if pay by tonight. Please send wire transfer of money to the account I send you via personal message inbox. I have many customer I am make this offer to so please be quickly, you will not regret.

them USA monies

[No-Man Baugh]

Something to note about shrink-wrap-on-cardboard would have to be the shrink-wrap compresses and damages the box itself (what's referred  to as "implosion" in computer game collecting)

 

vwestlife did a video on the subject specifically on how this phenomena affects vinyl, a format that by far and away gets it the worst given how already formfitting the packaging that gets shrink-wrapped is to the disc: https://youtu.be/a0yOEFfZlco

 

If your still interested in hunting down your white whale, there's this video by The Oldskool PC on identifying resealed copies (although given the wild variance in 90's Doom releases the standards he lists out shouldn't be taken as gospel, especially for the mailorder release, but I still think he's got some good advice in here): https://youtu.be/l3ap_4Ev2q4

 

[Nevander]

2 hours ago, TheMagicMushroomMan said:

Hi, I am Prince of Nigeria, thank you for reach out to me. I am become aware of you would like Doom Mailorder for $10,000 USA monies. This is good deal for you, I am sell to you if pay by tonight. Please send wire transfer of money to the account I send you via personal message inbox. I have many customer I am make this offer to so please be quickly, you will not regret.

Dang I didn't know Nigerian princes were Doomers. That's pretty rad. You still got it? I'll pay you $10,000.01 for it.

[Captain Keen]

Thanks for the replies everyone, that did answer my question!

 

Also, as much as I love Doom, I think anything over $150 would be highway robbery.

 

With that said, I could imagine a case where a few copies might exist (if it WAS shrinkwrapped). Someone who may have loved the game at release may have bought an additional copy just to have, or to gift, and it just hung around in a closet somewhere. I have an unopened copy of Daikatana, for example, that I bought at MicroCenter back in 2005 or 2006 for $1.

 

I also had an unopened copy of the original Civilization for about 15 years which I got as a gift but never played. (I did end up playing Civilization II, though!) I kept it simply because it seemed like a rare item and worth keeping around. I eventually opened it just because I was curious what was inside, but still have it in relatively mint condition. Most of my big boxes were thrown out or recycled yeaaaarrrrssss ago. I really only have the above mentioned ones, StarCraft and the very first Wing Commander. Wish I kept Doom/Blood/Quake etc.

[Herr Dethnout]

9 minutes ago, Nevander said:

Dang I didn't know Nigerian princes were Doomers. That's pretty rad. You still got it? I'll pay you $10,000.01 for it.

Doom was created as a comission for the Prince of Nigeria, I don't have any evidence but also any doubt...

[billythekid44]

Thank you for the comments everyone.  A few items to mention:

 

The registered / mail order version of doom was shrink wrapped by Id software, and I am aware of what a legitimate sealed copy looks like.  However there are many resealed copies that are floating around as well.  I understand this fully and know what to look for in a legitimate sealed copy.

 

Second, I have done multiple large deals in the past and am familiar with how they work.  You do not just fly with cash to a location to do a deal (lol).  

 

Third, I appreciate everyones thoughts on this post.  I know $15,000 might seem insane to some, but this game is very personal to me, and is essentially the last game I am looking for for my sealed PC collection.  I am also fully aware of how rare it is, hence the bounty.  

 

Thank you again!

 

 

 

Edited November 18, 2022 by billythekid44

[dasho]

Rather ironic to fly somewhere to receive a mail order game.

[Doomkid]

Does anyone have a list of mail-order versions of Doom? @TheUltimateDoomer666 has an awesome list of all the (documented) retail sales versions of Doom, Doom2 and Final Doom here, but a similar list for all the mail-order versions would be swell.

 

Smouths also posted a pic of just 3 of the various Doom 2 revisions, just to give an idea how many variations there are of most versions:

 

 

I'm pretty crazy about collecting this stuff myself.. I even wanted to make some repros, but decided there were too many issues in the end.

[satan]

4 hours ago, billythekid44 said:

I understand this fully and know what to look for in a legitimate sealed copy.

You should contact John Romero, he had a sealed copy or two; plus, he has been selling off his private collection for years now. He's always ready to make a deal, though you might consider paying more. I know he won't let that stuff go for cheap, if at all.

[Murdoch]

32 minutes ago, Doomkid said:

Does anyone have a list of mail-order versions of Doom?

 

Given the shareware distributors doing their thing in the early - mid 90s with providing copies to their local markets outside of the US, the compilation of such a list would be a rather onerous task. No doubt much of the specifics have been lost.

[billythekid44]

4 hours ago, satan said:

You should contact John Romero, he had a sealed copy or two; plus, he has been selling off his private collection for years now. He's always ready to make a deal, though you might consider paying more. I know he won't let that stuff go for cheap, if at all.

I offered him significantly more than 10 for a copy (as they are the creators personal archives) but was turned down. 

 

Edited November 18, 2022 by billythekid44

[satan]

5 hours ago, billythekid44 said:

I offered him significantly more than 10 for a copy (as they are the creators personal archives) but was turned down.

 

Interesting

[ImproversGaming]

Damn, $10k for a copy of Doom and now even satan is interested. Time to walk away @billythekid44!

[Doomkid]

On 11/18/2022 at 5:06 AM, billythekid44 said:

Hello!  I am interested in buying a sealed Doom Mailorder/Registered for around $10,000+ USD depending on condition.  Willing to fly to your location (if in US) to do deal in person.  If anyone has a copy, or knows someone with a sealed copy, please let me know!

 

You know what, I just realized you never said you wanted the "1.1" mail order specifically, and I've been searching for that particular version with some other collectors I know. I think I just fused your post with Cpt. Keen's in my mind...

 

Do you have any specific version in mind, or does it not matter as long as it's an official, sealed mail-order variant? I've managed to confirm that versions from 1.1 all the way through 1.9 exist in some form in official mail-order boxes, some of which were CDs while others were floppies. Just want to check if any of those details matter before hunting further.

 

Just as confirmation from another Doom addict, 1.9 mail-order versions on CD-ROM are known to exist (rarest combo of version + format), but finding one is another story:

 

On 1/25/2020 at 8:00 PM, Diabolución said:

There was a CD version of mail order / registered Doom 1.9, but it is extremely rare.

 

https://s912.photobucket.com/user/omega_supreme/media/Classic%20Games%20Collection/Doom/IMG_1324.jpg.html

 

EDIT: Hell, I just realized that mail-order Dooms not only came in both CD and floppy, but the floppies themselves vary between the 3.5 and 5.25 inch varieties, though I seriously doubt the big floppies were pressed beyond version 1.2..

[Quasar]

21 hours ago, Murdoch said:

 

Why are you playing a game that actively encourages the wholesale slaughter of your minions? Seems a bit strange.

Now we know why infighting is such a thing :P

[Doomkid]

This listing has the shrink wrap removed - possibly to protect the box ironically, as per No-Man Baugh's post?

 

Either way, it's listed as "Like New" and that seems to be no exaggeration based on the photos. It's version 1.666 on 3.5 floppies, going for $7,500. Could save yourself a pretty penny on that shrink wrap!

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/144673396492