Lord British’s return to Britannia is old news – Richard Garriott’s Kickstarter to fund his new game, Shroud of the Avatar, is already up to more than 75% of its stated goal of $1 million – but did you know that pledging at the “Lord of the Manor” level, a $10,000 donation, would have secured for yourself a copy of Garriott’s original game, Akalabeth?

What differentiates this perk from the high-priced copies that occasionally show up on eBay, is that these have been assembled from Garriott’s private stash of left-over parts from when he was originally selling ziploc-bagged copies at his local software store.  Unfortunately, all 10 backer spots at that level have sold already (the Kickstarter launched just three days ago) so if you missed out, you’ll just have to dream about what might have been.

You can read all details at this Wired article.  Is a hand-assembled copy of the original Ultima game worth $10,000?  It was to a few eager fans.

A common question for old-school Apple II celebrities is, “Where are they now?” When that person is Richard Garriott, creator of the Ultima line of computer role-playing games, the answer is “217 miles up.”

On October 12, 2008, Garriott boarded the Soyuz TMA-13 and launched to the International Space Station. The journey makes him the world’s sixth space tourist and its first second-generation astronaut — his father, scientist Owen K. Garriott, flew aboard the Skylab 3 and STS-9 missions in in 1973 and 1986, respectively. The trip cost the younger Garriott approximately $30 million US dollars.

Though he is now out of this world, Garriott has long been known for being of the world of Britannia, the fantastical setting of his Ultima series in which he plays the ruling monarch, Lord British. He returns to Earth on October 23. You can view videos of Garriott’s extraterrestrial adventure and read his blog online at

http://www.richardinspace.com/