Hint Lines
Premium rate help
The telephone services of the 1980s-1990s where stuck players called premium rate numbers for game hints, generating significant revenue for publishers until internet guides made them obsolete.
Hint lines were premium rate telephone services that provided game hints and solutions. Players stuck in games would call expensive numbers to hear recorded tips or speak with “game counselors,” generating significant revenue for publishers before the internet made free help available.
What it cost in Britain
The rate was disclosed in the advertisement, in two tiers, and it climbed:
| Source | Off-peak | Peak |
|---|---|---|
| CRASH 86, March 1991 | 33p/min | 44p/min (inc. VAT) |
| CU Amiga and Zero, 1991-92 | 34p/min | 45p/min |
| Your Sinclair 73, January 1992 | 36p/min | 48p/min |
One number per game
Codemasters did not run a hint line. It ran a switchboard of them — a separate 0898 number for each title, split again by platform. Your Sinclair carried the full grid in January 1992: Dizzy, Treasure Island Dizzy, Fantasy World Dizzy, Magicland Dizzy, Little Puff, Rockstar, Slightly Magic, Seymour in Hollywood and Spike in Transylvania, one column for Spectrum, Amstrad and C64 and another for ST and Amiga. Alongside them sat a “NEW RELEASE INFO LINE 0898 555 000 (Tells you what is being released this month)” — a marketing channel the caller paid for.
The advert asks you not to call. Whatever the incentives were, the copy on the page discourages the transaction:
Please don’t phone unless you are really stuck and make sure you get permission from the person who pays the phone bill first!
That does not settle the question below, but it belongs beside it.
The independent operators
Publishers were not the only sellers. Zero, March 1992, carries a full page from Software Dial-A-Tip, an operator with no games of its own and a menu of lines: an “Interactive Cheat Line”, a “Megatip Games Line”, separate Amiga and ST tips numbers, an “Amiga News, Tips and Tricks” line, a per-game “Shadow of the Beast II Interactive Solution”, a “Computer Funline”, and an “Inferno Adventure Game” — a game played down the premium-rate line itself. Callers from Ireland got their own number.
Fast facts
- Era: 1985-late 1990s
- UK numbers: 0898/0891 prefix
- US numbers: 1-900 prefix
- Cost: 33p-48p/min in the UK depending on year and time of day; $0.75-1.50/min (US)
- Killed by: Internet guides
How it worked
| Step | Process |
|---|---|
| 1 | Player gets stuck |
| 2 | Finds hint line number (in manual, magazine) |
| 3 | Calls premium rate number |
| 4 | Hears recorded hints or talks to counselor |
| 5 | Phone bill arrives (parental anger) |
Nintendo Power Line (US)
| Aspect | Detail |
|---|---|
| Number | 1-900-288-0707 |
| Staff | 200+ “Game Counselors” |
| Calls | Thousands daily |
| Cost | $0.75/minute |
Revenue Model
| Party | Benefit |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Revenue stream |
| Telephone company | Premium rate fees |
| Game counselor | Employment |
| Player | Got unstuck |
Design implications
A common reading is that hint-line revenue rewarded difficulty:
| Cynical view | Result |
|---|---|
| Harder games | More hint line calls |
| Obscure puzzles | Mandatory calling |
| Missing manuals | Force paid help |
⚠ This is an inference, and the reference library does not support it. No period source found so far states the incentive, and the clearest evidence available points the other way: Codemasters’ own advertising told readers not to phone unless stuck and to get billpayer permission first. The theory may still be right for other publishers — it is not documented here.
Decline
| Factor | Impact |
|---|---|
| BBSes | Free text guides |
| Internet | GameFAQs (1995) |
| Ask friends | |
| Regulation | Premium rate concerns |
Legacy
Hint lines represent an era when information had monetary value. Their decline with internet access shows how digital sharing disrupts information-based business models.