An ultra-rare piece of Microsoft history could be hiding on your shelf
Microsoft veteran engineer Raymond Chen has revealed why some very early boxes of the 1990 Microsoft Entertainment Pack for Windows carry a Tetris sticker rather than printed Tetris branding, explaining that the licensing deal for the game had not been finalised when the first print run went to press. Rather than scrap the boxes if negotiations collapsed, Microsoft printed them without Tetris and applied a sticker once the licence was secured, meaning the stickered version is now an unintentional rarity, as later print runs simply incorporated Tetris into the box art itself.
The Entertainment Pack, released alongside Windows 3.0, contained card games, Minesweeper and Tetris on floppy disk, and spawned three further editions (including one with FreeCell) before being discontinued in 1992, with a "Best Of" compilation following in 1994. Chen also highlighted a second accidental collectible: early anti-piracy holograms on Windows 95 packaging featured a shirtless child, which was later replaced with a clothed version after complaints, meaning original topless-baby holograms are now also rare collector's items.
- Early Entertainment Pack boxes used a Tetris sticker, not printed branding, due to licensing delays
- Later print runs made Tetris part of the box art, making stickered boxes rare
- Windows 95's original shirtless-baby hologram is also an inadvertent collectible
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Microsoft's Entertainment Pack was a bundle of simple computer games, including Tetris, Minesweeper and various card games, released on floppy disk in 1990 to accompany the launch of Windows 3.0. It proved popular enough that Microsoft released several follow-up editions over the next couple of years before eventually folding the games into a "Best Of" collection in 1994.
The detail now drawing attention concerns the packaging of the very first Entertainment Pack boxes. Because Microsoft had not yet finalised its licence to include Tetris when the boxes were printed, the earliest batch was produced without any Tetris branding, and a sticker was added afterwards once the deal went through. Later print runs simply printed Tetris directly onto the box, meaning only a small number of the original stickered boxes exist.
The background comes from long-serving Microsoft engineer Raymond Chen, known for writing about the company's history and internal quirks. He also pointed to a similar case involving early Windows 95 packaging, which used an anti-piracy hologram depicting a child without a top, later replaced after complaints. Both instances have made those particular pieces of packaging sought after by collectors of vintage software.