I stopped by the Alameda flea market last Sunday and this dude had a stack of old board games from the 80s. He was selling a copy of Fireball Island for $15 but the instructions were just a crumpled photo of the box lid he took on his phone. How is that supposed to help anyone figure out the lava pit mechanics? I asked if he had the original booklet and he said "it's in a landfill somewhere." Has anyone here ever had to rely on a blurry box photo to play a game?
I found a seller on eBay offering a scanned PDF of the instructions for a 1980s game called Fireball Island. Cost me $45 and it was just blurry photos of the box. No actual step by step rules. The other side of this is I once paid $10 for a manual from some guy in a forum and it was PERFECT clear scans with diagrams. So is paying for old manuals ever worth it or are we all better off just hunting for free ones on archive sites? What has your experience been?