10 Genius Ways Video Games Fought Pirates
4. Dial-A-Pirate - The Secret of Monkey Island
The first title that industry icon – and Double Fine founder – Tim Schafer worked on (during his time at LucasArts), 1990’s The Secret of Monkey Island pretty much defined and perfected the decade’s reigning point-and-click adventure style.
Considering that its Caribbean-based plot takes place during the height of actual maritime piracy, it's especially fitting for it to have a shrewd scheme for circumventing criminals.
Whereas most methods of hindering lawbreakers exist within the virtual space, the original release of The Secret of Monkey Island’s process was a physical extra known as the Dial-A-Pirate wheel.
So, how did it work? Well, upon booting up the title, you’d be asked to match the odd face on the wheel with the one on the screen and then input the corresponding date with your keyboard. If you lost the wheel, you were unable to play, leaving you no choice but to contact the publisher to purchase a replacement.
As inventive anti-piracy tactics go, this one is hard to beat.