Andrew Plotkin @eblong.com · 11d This is the matchbook that came in Infocom's _Witness_ package. (My original copy, saved all these years!) What the heck is the fake Chinese "prosperity" symbol on the matchbook front? Anybody know? Is that trying to hide the letters "SA”? Or maybe “CA" or “EA”? Why?
17 likes 4 replies
Replies
Was Infocom owned by Electric Arts at that point? I'm sure you remember the Cube Sphere Pyramid ECA logo.
I wonder if my matchbook survived the years as well. I have a whole stack of the original boxes in my closet.
This matchbook was one of the package elements designed for Infocom by G/R Copy. Yes, you're supposed to look at the symbol the other way up. But it sure looks like letters this way.
A little bit of web searching turns up this character: 壽 which is read "shou" and means "long life". (At least according to a fellow on Reddit.) The symbol on the matchbook is pretty recognizable as this character expanded out to fit a circular border, and stylized in other ways.