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====== ZZT Preservation Phonebook ======

This is a rough document listing information on services which have had valuable content related to ZZT preservation, and any potential notes useful for preserving them.

===== Official ZZT Distributors =====

==== Confirmed ====

  * USA: Epic MegaGames (already contacted)
  * UK (early): Nildram Software (already contacted)
  * UK (later): Epic MegaGames UK
  * Canada: Distant Markets, Box 1149, 194-3803 Calgary Trail, Edmonton, AB Canada T6J 5M8

==== Unconfirmed ====

  * Germany: CDV-Software, Ettlingerstr. 5, 7500 Karlsuhe 1, Germany (official Epic reseller, but did they sell ZZT?)
  * Australia: BUDGETWARE, PO Box 496, Newtown NSW 2042, Australia (official Epic reseller, but did they sell ZZT?)

==== Shareware-only? ====

  * Finland: unknown (mentioned on sale in Pelit 1994/03, likely just the shareware copy)
  * Poland: unknown (mentioned on sale in Computer Studio #10, likely just the shareware copy)

===== Bulletin Board Systems =====

Many games we have from the BBS-centric era of ZZT come from old shareware CDs incidentally including some, particularly the many revisions of Alexis Janson's games.

==== Misty Mountains BBS ====

//The// earliest ZZT bulletin board system, serving as the official point of contact from its launch until early 1992; however, it was kept online until 2000.

The SysOp was Chip Hageman (mythran42). No success in contacting so far - the Internet record ends with a dead end in mid-2018.

==== Software Visions BBS Distribution Sites ====

  Software Visions Official BBS Distribution Sites-
  
   Alternative Dimension        Tol Eress?a
   (602)955-4720                (801)296-0617
   14.4k baud                   14.4k baud
  
   Rob's Place
   (705)497-3028
   14.4k baud
  
   Gator Country BBS            Warp Zone BBS
   (904)783-4071                (607)324-7084
   19.2k baud                   38.4k baud, 4pm-12am
  
   Around Town-Islip Terrace    Romantic Bytes BBS
   (516)859-0703                (206)776-2836
   14.4k baud                   19.2k baud
  
   Metal Alternative Music BBS  The Black Realms
   (312)463-8535                (812)424-3781
   14.4k baud                   14.4k baud

==== Others ====

  * **Rose Media**, **Canada Remote Systems** - Canadian BBSes mentioned in an early game by Darren Hewer.
  * **The StrongHold BBS** - mentioned in The Lost Monkeys as an official support channel.
  * **KastlerocK BBS** - source of "Escape from the Land for Noz"; operated from 1992 to 2004 by Jamie Kowinsky, see [[http://bbslist.textfiles.com/724/|Textfiles BBS List]].
  * **Da Warren BBS** - [[https://www.crummy.com/warren/files/zzt/|preserved]] by the SysOp, Leonard Richardson, in 2008!
  * Multiple BBSes are listed in the final release of Warlord's Temple.

===== Pre-Internet Online Services =====

==== Prodigy ====

Home to The ZZT Club, the pioneer ZZT developers' group between 1991 and 1993.

No public information on any data from Prodigy still being around in any form.

Jim Carpenter, a Prodigy enthusiast, has focused on archiving existing Prodigy installations. He has made tools available to extract data from them - but where are you going to find a ZZT Club member with backups this old?

==== America On-Line ====

Based on [[https://justinakapaste.com/files/Libraries.txt|Libraries.txt]], there were three file libraries of interest:

  * **5073** - ZZT Adventures
  * **12703** - MegaZeux Adventures
  * **12830** - MegaZeux

Unfortunately, the ArchiveTeam efforts from 2014 failed to capture any potential data from them:

  * The file dump only goes up to library **5044**,
  * The description dump for libraries 12000-12999 omits either of the MegaZeux file libraries.

The ZZT/MegaZeux message boards were shut down in March 1998, with uploads no longer being accepted by October 1997. Citing mWorld:

>As most of you probably know by now, we have added ZZT, SuperZZT, and MegaZeux to the list of programs for which we are no longer accepting uploaded add-ons, and will we not be adding any new ones to the libraries at this time.

>Good day to you. Upon inquiring with PCCMarcia as to the recent shut-down of the AOL ZZT message boards in the PCGames forum, she said that it was probably to make room for new boards, and that you are the one who is in charge of the message boards. If at all possible, I would like confirmation of PCCMarcia's comments as to the ZZT' Message Boards disappearence. Any information you could relay to myself would be highly appreciated. I thank you for your time in reading this, and look forward to a prospective response. -—Kaine


==== Others ====

  * **CompuServe** - Hard drive dumps and their owners exist, but it seems they are very fractional and don't cover the ZZT community on CompuServe.
  * **GEnie** - No information.
  * **Exec-PC** - It appears that all the ZZT-related files still up on Exec-PC have been archived. No information on any further discussions/etc.

===== Forums ====

==== Epic MegaBoards ====

Used to have a ZZT section. Hosted on ''http://megaboard.epicgames.com/'' in the late 90s; a few posts are preserved by the WayBack Machine.

It appears the section saw very little activity, with the only preserved threads (from March 18th, 1999) being copy-pastes of posts from another forum or an announcement of such copy-pasting ongoing.