To this day, the most complete version of the wheel is available as a printable PDF on the Internet Archive. It requires scissors, a brass fastener (brad), and about 20 minutes of arts-and-crafts time.
: Unlike the first-person dungeon crawling of previous entries, Xentar features a top-down world map similar to early Final Fantasy games.
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: Once properly aligned, a small cutout window on the wheel would reveal a specific code (a number or a string of characters).
Developers assumed that while casual pirates might copy the game disks, they wouldn't have easy access to a copy machine to replicate the physical feel of the game's manual or packed-in feelies. This led to several distinct types of protection: To this day, the most complete version of
In an age of 100GB downloads and cloud saves, the idea of a cardboard wheel stopping you from playing your $60 game seems absurd. But for those who grew up with it, the Knights of Xentar code wheel evokes a specific, weird, and wonderful memory: sitting cross-legged on the bedroom floor, spinning a paper disc by lamplight, just to see a pixelated elf cast a fireball.
The device typically featured:
To pass the check, the player had to physically pick up the cardboard wheel and perform the following steps:
The wheel check happens (first town, before leaving for the castle). A save file right after that bypasses all future copy protection prompts. This public link is valid for 7 days
Preservationists have carefully scanned both layers of the original cardboard wheel. These scans are hosted on retro gaming archives, allowing players to either print out the layers and assemble their own paper wheel, or use digital, interactive Flash/HTML5 web applications that simulate the spinning wheel on a modern browser. 2. Password Lookup Grids
The code wheel was a common anti-piracy method for DOS games in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Because digital media was easily copied, publishers included physical "feelies" like wheels or manuals that were difficult to reproduce without specialized equipment.