Interviews
Interview with Tricket
Published in Vandalism News #50
Performed by Jazzcat
He has been an acquaintance of mine for many years now, sharing some fun times on the good old bulletin boards all around the world. Presenting to you one of the oldschool guys from back in the day, sysop of the "Dominic" BBS in Denmark and member of groups like The Dominators and Visual Reality, please welcome Jesper, aka Tricket!
J)
Thanks for taking the time for this interview and welcome to Vandalism News, please introduce yourself to the audience...
T)
Well, thank you very much. My name is Jesper, better known as Tricket. I've used this handle since 1985. Be in several demo groups, where I mainly have been the former leader/organiser/swapper.
Things went fast when I was asked to join Dominators in Spring 1989. There I was mainly a modem trader, swapper and later on a sysop.
J)
You're better known as Tricket, like you said, but can you tell us how you got your handle?
T)
It's inspired from "It's Tricky" by RUN DMC... and a little change made TRICKET. A handle which I've used ever since... I wanted a handle no one else had.
J)
When did you first get a C64 and how did you get from just a regular guy with a computer anyone could buy to a scener in the underground?
T)
My first C64 I bought on the 4th of July, 1985. I already had 10 pirated games on a tape. Later on, I met a guy at school which was in connection with a guy from Danish Crackers.
Guess yourself. Right, we were introduced to the pirate scene, from one of the best cracking groups ever.
J)
Please tell us a bit about your board, Dominic. How did you become a sysop? What was the inspiration to set up a BBS? and which groups were on the board?
T)
Well, when I started to phreak (89), it was easy as hell to get your hands on calling cards, but it got more and more difficult... I asked Pudwerx to mail me his UCBBS, and got my hands on some 1581 drives. Tested it and Dominic went online as the world headquarters of Dominators on the 17th of February 1993.
All new DOM releases were released at Dominic, as the first. When Dominic went online I stopped mail trading, as all people uploaded directly to my BBS. Every elite group, with a bit of respect, was online at Dominic. =) Seriously, we had a lot of calls every day from the USA and all of Europe.
Later on I switched from C*Base Cyborg-modded. Beautiful, but sadly with a lot of errors.
After some time, when DOM went to Amiga/PC, I hooked up with Mick and Visual Reality was my group for some time. Sadly they didn't release that much, which almost killed all activity on Dominic. I had to find a group with wares. Crossfire was a daily user of Dominic and he was a great help and modder of C*Base, he was a good connection, therefore I hooked up with him and we formed Motiv8.
Sadly my hardware broke down sometime in '94, and I sold most of my working hardware to Bird/Motiv8.
J)
Where does the name Dominic come from? Is it in reference to DOMinators?
T)
Yep... The name was a perfect fit to our group.
J)
Can you tell us anything about the other boards you called?
T)
Oh yeah... well it's almost 20 years ago, I started to call the boards, but I do remember a lot of fun during the late 80s and early 90s. A lot of good boards and almost the same users everywhere.
I was on boards like Antidote, Down By Law, Dream Park, Forplay, Holiday Inn Cambodia, Mad Mad World, Second To None, Spankerz Heaven, The Forum, The Mystic Cavern, The Shaolin Temple, The Ultimate Sin, Warez Castle and more.
J)
Ever had any problems with the authorities?
T)
Yeah, but nothing serious. Once I was caught for cheating stamps...
J)
Remember any wars? boards being formatted?
T)
Oh yeah... I've had my wars with Gene... (Hi Eugene!) He got pissed off because I wanted him to return my disks.
Yeah, Dominic was formatted several times by Dutch hackers.
J)
The C64 cracking scene was a legendary one. What is your opinion on the cracking scene and do you think other platforms have copied our scene in many ways?
T)
Absolutely... The C64 scene formed it all. There is a big difference, if you choose to be in a cracking group, or a demo group. If you wanted to be the best, you had to have the money to get the games and to spread the cracks fast. The demo groups don't need the same speed at all. I loved my time in the demo groups, but did prefer the speed and action in the cracking scene.
J)
What release impressed you most on the C64?
T)
Summer Games was a fantastic game at that time.
J)
and what release let you down the most?
T)
A 100 game collection I once found in a game store. What a piece of crap.
J)
What is the weirdest experience you've had on the C64?
T)
Hmm... An American hacker we used, ran out of calling cards for us. He handed over his personal card, for use by the DOM members. And meeting your old contacts from the scene on Facebook is WEIRD and COOL indeed!
J)
The internet is the central part of the C64 scene. In your view, what are some good and bad things about the internet, in
respect to the C64 at least?
T)
Well, we're all connected to the net nowadays. Because of this, the C64 is still alive. BUT... it's still not the same, as in the old days, when the mailman came along with the newest wares in dozens of envelopes. It's STILL not the same, as when you called The Forum, with your 2400 baud modem using AT&T.
You'll never find the same culture again... never!
J)
I agree. Simply irreplaceable. What was the scene about in your opinion?
T)
Friends & fame... and FUN indeed!
J)
Did you ever imagine the scene would still be alive in 2009?
T)
Not at all. I was very surprised to see this. It brings back a lot of memories. It's also fun to study the scene nowadays.
J)
What would you like to be remembered for in the scene?
T)
Does anyone remember me? Oh dear...
The favourites of Tricket
BBS: Tunnel of Warez
BBS system: Cyborg mod. C*Base (sorry Pudwerx)
Cracking group: DOMINATORS (of course) or IKARI
Cracker: Mr.Z/Triad
Demo group: Scoop
Programmer: Crossbow/Crest
Musician: Jeroen Tel
Graphician: FOX (Martin Mogensen)
Magazine: Corruption
C64 game: Blue Max
Scene party: Trilogy/Upfront/Dominators
Food: a good steak
Drink: Vodka & juice... or just a beer
Webpage: privates
J)
Derbyshire Ram was a group-buddy in Dominators, any words on the impression he left on you in the scene?
T)
Barry was an outstanding scener. A man with a big heart and a very good friend of mine. We had a lot of long phone calls and letters. I was lucky to get him into Dominators. At first he didn't want to join, as he felt he wasn't worthy. This tells a lot about Barry. That's how he was. Derbyshire Ram was one of the biggest persons of the scene - all time. The day this great man died, a big hole was made in the scene and my heart. He will be missed... rest in peace buddy and thank you for your time, I was a lucky man, to get to know you.
PEACE!
J)
Any greetings?
T)
All former members of DOM (Love you all, you all did a great job). All my old contacts. Fun to see some of you on CSDb and Facebook!
Find me on CSDb or on Facebook (Dominators).
J)
Do you have some final words for the readers?
T)
Don't ever sell your C64, I did that and I'm still haunted by nightmares! NEVER EVER SELL A FRIEND!!! ...and to you David, for the amazing work you do for the scene. Thank you.
Published in Vandalism News #50
Performed by Jazzcat
He has been an acquaintance of mine for many years now, sharing some fun times on the good old bulletin boards all around the world. Presenting to you one of the oldschool guys from back in the day, sysop of the "Dominic" BBS in Denmark and member of groups like The Dominators and Visual Reality, please welcome Jesper, aka Tricket!
J)
Thanks for taking the time for this interview and welcome to Vandalism News, please introduce yourself to the audience...
T)
Well, thank you very much. My name is Jesper, better known as Tricket. I've used this handle since 1985. Be in several demo groups, where I mainly have been the former leader/organiser/swapper.
Things went fast when I was asked to join Dominators in Spring 1989. There I was mainly a modem trader, swapper and later on a sysop.
J)
You're better known as Tricket, like you said, but can you tell us how you got your handle?
T)
It's inspired from "It's Tricky" by RUN DMC... and a little change made TRICKET. A handle which I've used ever since... I wanted a handle no one else had.
J)
When did you first get a C64 and how did you get from just a regular guy with a computer anyone could buy to a scener in the underground?
T)
My first C64 I bought on the 4th of July, 1985. I already had 10 pirated games on a tape. Later on, I met a guy at school which was in connection with a guy from Danish Crackers.
Guess yourself. Right, we were introduced to the pirate scene, from one of the best cracking groups ever.
J)
Please tell us a bit about your board, Dominic. How did you become a sysop? What was the inspiration to set up a BBS? and which groups were on the board?
T)
Well, when I started to phreak (89), it was easy as hell to get your hands on calling cards, but it got more and more difficult... I asked Pudwerx to mail me his UCBBS, and got my hands on some 1581 drives. Tested it and Dominic went online as the world headquarters of Dominators on the 17th of February 1993.
All new DOM releases were released at Dominic, as the first. When Dominic went online I stopped mail trading, as all people uploaded directly to my BBS. Every elite group, with a bit of respect, was online at Dominic. =) Seriously, we had a lot of calls every day from the USA and all of Europe.
Later on I switched from C*Base Cyborg-modded. Beautiful, but sadly with a lot of errors.
After some time, when DOM went to Amiga/PC, I hooked up with Mick and Visual Reality was my group for some time. Sadly they didn't release that much, which almost killed all activity on Dominic. I had to find a group with wares. Crossfire was a daily user of Dominic and he was a great help and modder of C*Base, he was a good connection, therefore I hooked up with him and we formed Motiv8.
Sadly my hardware broke down sometime in '94, and I sold most of my working hardware to Bird/Motiv8.
J)
Where does the name Dominic come from? Is it in reference to DOMinators?
T)
Yep... The name was a perfect fit to our group.
J)
Can you tell us anything about the other boards you called?
T)
Oh yeah... well it's almost 20 years ago, I started to call the boards, but I do remember a lot of fun during the late 80s and early 90s. A lot of good boards and almost the same users everywhere.
I was on boards like Antidote, Down By Law, Dream Park, Forplay, Holiday Inn Cambodia, Mad Mad World, Second To None, Spankerz Heaven, The Forum, The Mystic Cavern, The Shaolin Temple, The Ultimate Sin, Warez Castle and more.
J)
Ever had any problems with the authorities?
T)
Yeah, but nothing serious. Once I was caught for cheating stamps...
J)
Remember any wars? boards being formatted?
T)
Oh yeah... I've had my wars with Gene... (Hi Eugene!) He got pissed off because I wanted him to return my disks.
Yeah, Dominic was formatted several times by Dutch hackers.
J)
The C64 cracking scene was a legendary one. What is your opinion on the cracking scene and do you think other platforms have copied our scene in many ways?
T)
Absolutely... The C64 scene formed it all. There is a big difference, if you choose to be in a cracking group, or a demo group. If you wanted to be the best, you had to have the money to get the games and to spread the cracks fast. The demo groups don't need the same speed at all. I loved my time in the demo groups, but did prefer the speed and action in the cracking scene.
J)
What release impressed you most on the C64?
T)
Summer Games was a fantastic game at that time.
J)
and what release let you down the most?
T)
A 100 game collection I once found in a game store. What a piece of crap.
J)
What is the weirdest experience you've had on the C64?
T)
Hmm... An American hacker we used, ran out of calling cards for us. He handed over his personal card, for use by the DOM members. And meeting your old contacts from the scene on Facebook is WEIRD and COOL indeed!
J)
The internet is the central part of the C64 scene. In your view, what are some good and bad things about the internet, in
respect to the C64 at least?
T)
Well, we're all connected to the net nowadays. Because of this, the C64 is still alive. BUT... it's still not the same, as in the old days, when the mailman came along with the newest wares in dozens of envelopes. It's STILL not the same, as when you called The Forum, with your 2400 baud modem using AT&T.
You'll never find the same culture again... never!
J)
I agree. Simply irreplaceable. What was the scene about in your opinion?
T)
Friends & fame... and FUN indeed!
J)
Did you ever imagine the scene would still be alive in 2009?
T)
Not at all. I was very surprised to see this. It brings back a lot of memories. It's also fun to study the scene nowadays.
J)
What would you like to be remembered for in the scene?
T)
Does anyone remember me? Oh dear...
The favourites of Tricket
BBS: Tunnel of Warez
BBS system: Cyborg mod. C*Base (sorry Pudwerx)
Cracking group: DOMINATORS (of course) or IKARI
Cracker: Mr.Z/Triad
Demo group: Scoop
Programmer: Crossbow/Crest
Musician: Jeroen Tel
Graphician: FOX (Martin Mogensen)
Magazine: Corruption
C64 game: Blue Max
Scene party: Trilogy/Upfront/Dominators
Food: a good steak
Drink: Vodka & juice... or just a beer
Webpage: privates
J)
Derbyshire Ram was a group-buddy in Dominators, any words on the impression he left on you in the scene?
T)
Barry was an outstanding scener. A man with a big heart and a very good friend of mine. We had a lot of long phone calls and letters. I was lucky to get him into Dominators. At first he didn't want to join, as he felt he wasn't worthy. This tells a lot about Barry. That's how he was. Derbyshire Ram was one of the biggest persons of the scene - all time. The day this great man died, a big hole was made in the scene and my heart. He will be missed... rest in peace buddy and thank you for your time, I was a lucky man, to get to know you.
PEACE!
J)
Any greetings?
T)
All former members of DOM (Love you all, you all did a great job). All my old contacts. Fun to see some of you on CSDb and Facebook!
Find me on CSDb or on Facebook (Dominators).
J)
Do you have some final words for the readers?
T)
Don't ever sell your C64, I did that and I'm still haunted by nightmares! NEVER EVER SELL A FRIEND!!! ...and to you David, for the amazing work you do for the scene. Thank you.