Labeled the "Holy Grail" of computer game collecting, this is the only release of Ultima: Escape From Mt. Drash. It was released on cassette for the Commodore Vic-20 and required an 8K expansion cart to play.
In the July 1983 issue of Compute! Magazine an ad appeared for upcoming software for the Vic-20.
"The sky's the limit! Now VIC 20 owners can get a bigger piece of the action with Sierra On-Line's new titles. We're starting with CREEP CORRIDORS, FLIP-N-MATCH, and ULTIMA - Escape from Mt. Drash, and as weeks pass, we'll be bringing you more of our most popular titles." After the ad ran nothing more was printed about the game's release and up until a few years ago it was thought by collectors to have never have existed at all! The author Keith Zabalaoui was eventually located and he confirmed that the game was in fact released.
I spoke with John Williams about a year ago and he said Keith went under the alias "Captain Drab" and from what he remembers the game was one of Sierra's worst sellers. Just to demonstrate how little Sierra cared about the game, they took the graphics from the back of their Ultima II release and put it on the front of Drash. Currently it is unknown how many copies of the game still exist, I have never seen another complete Drash. If you have one, even if it's incomplete, I would love to hear about it.
Collectors should be aware that because of this game's rarity it is an open target for scammers to counterfeit. If you are in doubt, I would be happy do what I can to help verify the authenticity.
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