Re: (TFT) Howard Thompson & TFT

[Joe Hartley <jh@brainiac.com>]

On Tue, 4 Oct 2011 07:27:15 -0700
PvK <pvk@oz.net> wrote:

> There's a chance, but wouldn't it depend on the actual bankruptcy ruling? Wouldn't the bankruptcy filer tend to retain the rights unless they were clearly valuable and desired by the creditors?

I don't believe that Metagaming Concepts Inc. ever filed for bankrupcy,
but simply went out of business.  There's hearsay that indicates that
HT didn't close up shop for financial reasons, but because he simply
wanted out of the game business.  There's evidence to show he continued
to have control of his intellectual property, because he sold some games,
such as Hitler's War.

Also, Rick was off the mark when he referred to any potential sale as
"a 'give me a check, no paperwork' type of deal."  It was never presented 
as a 'no paperwork' deal - it's a "no negotiation" deal.  Make an offer
in the form of a check or cash, and it's either accepted or rejected.
There was always the assumption that if accepted all the legal steps
to transfer the IP would be followed.

For what it's worth, here's my 2 cents.  It's documented that HT was 
unhappy about a number of things.  He lamented (in Interplay #6) about
the end of a golden age of gaming.  He thought SJ took too long to do TFT,
and that when he did, it was needlessly complex.  I think that by '82 he'd
had it with the gaming business, sold a few things, thumbed his nose at
SJ with the implausibly high price of TFT and simply closed up shop.
I believe that he continues to hold the IP for TFT because he does not
want it to end up in SJ's hands.  This is all conjecture, based on as
little rumor as possible.

Contrary to popular belief, he did not disappear or become a hermit, and
has always been locatable, but he has zero contact with gaming in any
way.  Various attempts to speak with him about gaming have gone ignored.

-- 
======================================================================
       Joe Hartley - UNIX/network Consultant - jh@brainiac.com
 Without deviation from the norm, "progress" is not possible. - FZappa
=====
Post to the entire list by writing to tft@brainiac.com.
Unsubscribe by mailing to majordomo@brainiac.com with the message body
"unsubscribe tft"