EA game code's last number? It's anyone's guess

This snapshot comes care of Electronic Arts' support website for the PC game Command and Conquer Red Alert 3. A manufacturing error in the printing of the game manuals caused a "small number" of units to be distributed without the final digit of the 20-character activation code, required to play the game.

The page details a workaround that the company has designed to bypass the issue, which entails guessing the last digit out of a possible 26 letters and 10 numbers. Of course, when you consider the alternative involves snapping pictures or scanning the manual, e-mailing customer support and then waiting for a response, the code-breaker option might be the better one.

The full text of the support Q&A is reproduced below. [ What can I do if my Command and Conquer Red Alert 3 install code is 19 characters instead of 20? ]

Answer:

If you are trying to install Command and Conquer Red Alert 3 and the code is only 19 characters long, then it is missing the last letter or number. This was due to a misprint on a small number of manuals and we apologize for any inconvenience this has caused.

There is currently a workaround that may allow you to bypass this issue. Since you have the first 19 characters of the code already, you can basically try "guessing" the last character. To do this, simply enter your existing code, and then for the last character, try the letters A-Z, and then the numbers 0-9. You should eventually get the right combination, and be able to play the game. If this does not work, you can follow the instructions below.

In order to get a replacement code, please click the "Contact Us" link on the left side of the page, and attach an image of your code to the incident.

If you do not have access to a digital camera or scanner, you can fax us a copy of the back of your instruction booklet, along with a copy of your receipt. ... Please include with your fax your First and Last name as well as your incident number.

If you would like, once you have created your incident, you can also contact us by phone using the number found on page 28 of your manual.

Note: If you decide to contact us by phone, please include the incident number that you created for this issue.

-- Mark Milian

Lead the British or German army through the trenches of Europe in this First World War strategy game.

On the last British level, there are a million mines towards the end with all the barbed wire. just keep throwing infantry at it till you can get through. that and tanks. I murdered many Germans. [ Play Warefare 1917 ]

 Expect me to walk around for the rest of the day with my hand in front of me going *Peww Pewwwww* while making 'devil horns' and now I understand how Eddie Valiant felt. 43,190 after the last boss and here's a tip, holding the mouse button down is inefficient, you don't fire as fast unless you have a special weapon. [ Play Toon Crisis ]

The game works by showing you a series of geometries that need to be adjusted a little bit to make them right. A square highlights the point that needs to be moved or adjusted. Use the mouse to drag the blue square or arrowhead where you feel it is 'right'. Once you let go of the mouse, the computer evaluates your move, so don't let up on the mouse button until you are sure. The 'correct' geometry is also shown in green. To avoid the need for extra mouse clicks, a mouse button up counts as the move being finished, so be careful.

4.67 first attempt., the only one I got 0.0 on was a line segment midpoint and I think it was utter luck. I got like 13 on something else. [eyeballing game ]

Bloopy sent this one in and  WOAH... can't wait to play Wario Land.

Make sure you watch the entire video and enjoy the wii experience. If you're watching it
on, say, an iphone, and nothing particularly interesting happens, you
need to watch it on a computer. [ Wario Land: Shake it ]

Program your robot to walk around and light up all the blue squares. Finished with 186 commands, level 10 was actually the hardest for me, but then I think it was the one that kicked my brain into overdrive which made 11 and 12 easy. [Play Light Bot ]

 

How well are you able to distinguish between different color hues? Apparently I have perfect color vision. Though it hurt my eyes and gave me a bit of a headache. So I guess it depends on your definition of "perfect". Your score might also depend on your display device. I'm willing to bet someone with a CRT will on average do better than someone with an LCD since they can display a wider range of the spectrum. [ Test Your Color IQ ]

The objective of each mission in SNAFU Tower Defense (TD) is to prevent the enemy units from reaching the opposite side of the map. To accomplish this, you must build defenses using combinations of seven different towers that each have strengths and weaknesses. Once you build a tower, it will continuously search for enemy units to attack. The tower will attack it's target until it is destroyed or is out of range. The enemy will attack in waves containing multiple units at set intervals.

How can one not like tower defense games? To those than don't...pffft. [ Play SNAFU Tower Defense ]

Enter a Flickr username or a search query (like kittens, salvador dali, barack obama, etc) and click "Go!" to load Flickr images to the WolfenFlickr gallery! Use arrow keys or WASD to move, press Ctrl when looking at a picture to see high res version.

On the list of things I expected to make my Thursday morning, the existence of Wolfenflickr did not make the cut. Then again who would have THUNK-IT? Anyway, I just wasted a good 30 minutes of my life here. I recommend you do the same with or without coffee because now you can play Wolfenstein with Flickr photos.  [ Wolfenflickr ]

Spitefuls is proud to soon present the first of hopefully many dioramas to spiffy up your cubicle and help alleviate work boredom through a fun activity using common office supplies! Perfect for your cubicle, office, or desk… it’s sure to bring lots of hours of conversation and quizzical looks from fellow coworkers. And who doesn’t want quizzical looks from their coworkers.

Re-create your favorite tragedies in fun papercraft form. Fun for the whole family. Provided your extended family didn't go down in the Titanic. If so this is probably less fun. But heeeeey papercraft! [ Disaster Dioramas ]

Warfare 1917

Lead the British or German army through the trenches of Europe in this First World War strategy game.

On the last British level, there are a million mines towards the end with all the barbed wire. just keep throwing infantry at it till you can get through. that and tanks. I murdered many Germans. [ Play Warefare 1917 ]

 Expect me to walk around for the rest of the day with my hand in front of me going *Peww Pewwwww* while making 'devil horns' and now I understand how Eddie Valiant felt. 43,190 after the last boss and here's a tip, holding the mouse button down is inefficient, you don't fire as fast unless you have a special weapon. [ Play Toon Crisis ]

The game works by showing you a series of geometries that need to be adjusted a little bit to make them right. A square highlights the point that needs to be moved or adjusted. Use the mouse to drag the blue square or arrowhead where you feel it is 'right'. Once you let go of the mouse, the computer evaluates your move, so don't let up on the mouse button until you are sure. The 'correct' geometry is also shown in green. To avoid the need for extra mouse clicks, a mouse button up counts as the move being finished, so be careful.

4.67 first attempt., the only one I got 0.0 on was a line segment midpoint and I think it was utter luck. I got like 13 on something else. [eyeballing game ]

Bloopy sent this one in and  WOAH... can't wait to play Wario Land.

Make sure you watch the entire video and enjoy the wii experience. If you're watching it
on, say, an iphone, and nothing particularly interesting happens, you
need to watch it on a computer. [ Wario Land: Shake it ]

Program your robot to walk around and light up all the blue squares. Finished with 186 commands, level 10 was actually the hardest for me, but then I think it was the one that kicked my brain into overdrive which made 11 and 12 easy. [Play Light Bot ]

 

How well are you able to distinguish between different color hues? Apparently I have perfect color vision. Though it hurt my eyes and gave me a bit of a headache. So I guess it depends on your definition of "perfect". Your score might also depend on your display device. I'm willing to bet someone with a CRT will on average do better than someone with an LCD since they can display a wider range of the spectrum. [ Test Your Color IQ ]

The objective of each mission in SNAFU Tower Defense (TD) is to prevent the enemy units from reaching the opposite side of the map. To accomplish this, you must build defenses using combinations of seven different towers that each have strengths and weaknesses. Once you build a tower, it will continuously search for enemy units to attack. The tower will attack it's target until it is destroyed or is out of range. The enemy will attack in waves containing multiple units at set intervals.

How can one not like tower defense games? To those than don't...pffft. [ Play SNAFU Tower Defense ]

Enter a Flickr username or a search query (like kittens, salvador dali, barack obama, etc) and click "Go!" to load Flickr images to the WolfenFlickr gallery! Use arrow keys or WASD to move, press Ctrl when looking at a picture to see high res version.

On the list of things I expected to make my Thursday morning, the existence of Wolfenflickr did not make the cut. Then again who would have THUNK-IT? Anyway, I just wasted a good 30 minutes of my life here. I recommend you do the same with or without coffee because now you can play Wolfenstein with Flickr photos.  [ Wolfenflickr ]

Spitefuls is proud to soon present the first of hopefully many dioramas to spiffy up your cubicle and help alleviate work boredom through a fun activity using common office supplies! Perfect for your cubicle, office, or desk… it’s sure to bring lots of hours of conversation and quizzical looks from fellow coworkers. And who doesn’t want quizzical looks from their coworkers.

Re-create your favorite tragedies in fun papercraft form. Fun for the whole family. Provided your extended family didn't go down in the Titanic. If so this is probably less fun. But heeeeey papercraft! [ Disaster Dioramas ]

Play Toon Crisis

 Expect me to walk around for the rest of the day with my hand in front of me going *Peww Pewwwww* while making 'devil horns' and now I understand how Eddie Valiant felt. 43,190 after the last boss and here's a tip, holding the mouse button down is inefficient, you don't fire as fast unless you have a special weapon. [ Play Toon Crisis ]

The game works by showing you a series of geometries that need to be adjusted a little bit to make them right. A square highlights the point that needs to be moved or adjusted. Use the mouse to drag the blue square or arrowhead where you feel it is 'right'. Once you let go of the mouse, the computer evaluates your move, so don't let up on the mouse button until you are sure. The 'correct' geometry is also shown in green. To avoid the need for extra mouse clicks, a mouse button up counts as the move being finished, so be careful.

4.67 first attempt., the only one I got 0.0 on was a line segment midpoint and I think it was utter luck. I got like 13 on something else. [eyeballing game ]

Bloopy sent this one in and  WOAH... can't wait to play Wario Land.

Make sure you watch the entire video and enjoy the wii experience. If you're watching it
on, say, an iphone, and nothing particularly interesting happens, you
need to watch it on a computer. [ Wario Land: Shake it ]

Program your robot to walk around and light up all the blue squares. Finished with 186 commands, level 10 was actually the hardest for me, but then I think it was the one that kicked my brain into overdrive which made 11 and 12 easy. [Play Light Bot ]

 

How well are you able to distinguish between different color hues? Apparently I have perfect color vision. Though it hurt my eyes and gave me a bit of a headache. So I guess it depends on your definition of "perfect". Your score might also depend on your display device. I'm willing to bet someone with a CRT will on average do better than someone with an LCD since they can display a wider range of the spectrum. [ Test Your Color IQ ]

The objective of each mission in SNAFU Tower Defense (TD) is to prevent the enemy units from reaching the opposite side of the map. To accomplish this, you must build defenses using combinations of seven different towers that each have strengths and weaknesses. Once you build a tower, it will continuously search for enemy units to attack. The tower will attack it's target until it is destroyed or is out of range. The enemy will attack in waves containing multiple units at set intervals.

How can one not like tower defense games? To those than don't...pffft. [ Play SNAFU Tower Defense ]

Enter a Flickr username or a search query (like kittens, salvador dali, barack obama, etc) and click "Go!" to load Flickr images to the WolfenFlickr gallery! Use arrow keys or WASD to move, press Ctrl when looking at a picture to see high res version.

On the list of things I expected to make my Thursday morning, the existence of Wolfenflickr did not make the cut. Then again who would have THUNK-IT? Anyway, I just wasted a good 30 minutes of my life here. I recommend you do the same with or without coffee because now you can play Wolfenstein with Flickr photos.  [ Wolfenflickr ]

Spitefuls is proud to soon present the first of hopefully many dioramas to spiffy up your cubicle and help alleviate work boredom through a fun activity using common office supplies! Perfect for your cubicle, office, or desk… it’s sure to bring lots of hours of conversation and quizzical looks from fellow coworkers. And who doesn’t want quizzical looks from their coworkers.

Re-create your favorite tragedies in fun papercraft form. Fun for the whole family. Provided your extended family didn't go down in the Titanic. If so this is probably less fun. But heeeeey papercraft! [ Disaster Dioramas ]

The Eyeballing Game

The game works by showing you a series of geometries that need to be adjusted a little bit to make them right. A square highlights the point that needs to be moved or adjusted. Use the mouse to drag the blue square or arrowhead where you feel it is 'right'. Once you let go of the mouse, the computer evaluates your move, so don't let up on the mouse button until you are sure. The 'correct' geometry is also shown in green. To avoid the need for extra mouse clicks, a mouse button up counts as the move being finished, so be careful.

4.67 first attempt., the only one I got 0.0 on was a line segment midpoint and I think it was utter luck. I got like 13 on something else. [eyeballing game ]

Bloopy sent this one in and  WOAH... can't wait to play Wario Land.

Make sure you watch the entire video and enjoy the wii experience. If you're watching it
on, say, an iphone, and nothing particularly interesting happens, you
need to watch it on a computer. [ Wario Land: Shake it ]

Program your robot to walk around and light up all the blue squares. Finished with 186 commands, level 10 was actually the hardest for me, but then I think it was the one that kicked my brain into overdrive which made 11 and 12 easy. [Play Light Bot ]

 

How well are you able to distinguish between different color hues? Apparently I have perfect color vision. Though it hurt my eyes and gave me a bit of a headache. So I guess it depends on your definition of "perfect". Your score might also depend on your display device. I'm willing to bet someone with a CRT will on average do better than someone with an LCD since they can display a wider range of the spectrum. [ Test Your Color IQ ]

The objective of each mission in SNAFU Tower Defense (TD) is to prevent the enemy units from reaching the opposite side of the map. To accomplish this, you must build defenses using combinations of seven different towers that each have strengths and weaknesses. Once you build a tower, it will continuously search for enemy units to attack. The tower will attack it's target until it is destroyed or is out of range. The enemy will attack in waves containing multiple units at set intervals.

How can one not like tower defense games? To those than don't...pffft. [ Play SNAFU Tower Defense ]

Enter a Flickr username or a search query (like kittens, salvador dali, barack obama, etc) and click "Go!" to load Flickr images to the WolfenFlickr gallery! Use arrow keys or WASD to move, press Ctrl when looking at a picture to see high res version.

On the list of things I expected to make my Thursday morning, the existence of Wolfenflickr did not make the cut. Then again who would have THUNK-IT? Anyway, I just wasted a good 30 minutes of my life here. I recommend you do the same with or without coffee because now you can play Wolfenstein with Flickr photos.  [ Wolfenflickr ]

Spitefuls is proud to soon present the first of hopefully many dioramas to spiffy up your cubicle and help alleviate work boredom through a fun activity using common office supplies! Perfect for your cubicle, office, or desk… it’s sure to bring lots of hours of conversation and quizzical looks from fellow coworkers. And who doesn’t want quizzical looks from their coworkers.

Re-create your favorite tragedies in fun papercraft form. Fun for the whole family. Provided your extended family didn't go down in the Titanic. If so this is probably less fun. But heeeeey papercraft! [ Disaster Dioramas ]

Wario Land: Shake It

Bloopy sent this one in and  WOAH... can't wait to play Wario Land.

Make sure you watch the entire video and enjoy the wii experience. If you're watching it
on, say, an iphone, and nothing particularly interesting happens, you
need to watch it on a computer. [ Wario Land: Shake it ]

Program your robot to walk around and light up all the blue squares. Finished with 186 commands, level 10 was actually the hardest for me, but then I think it was the one that kicked my brain into overdrive which made 11 and 12 easy. [Play Light Bot ]

 

How well are you able to distinguish between different color hues? Apparently I have perfect color vision. Though it hurt my eyes and gave me a bit of a headache. So I guess it depends on your definition of "perfect". Your score might also depend on your display device. I'm willing to bet someone with a CRT will on average do better than someone with an LCD since they can display a wider range of the spectrum. [ Test Your Color IQ ]

The objective of each mission in SNAFU Tower Defense (TD) is to prevent the enemy units from reaching the opposite side of the map. To accomplish this, you must build defenses using combinations of seven different towers that each have strengths and weaknesses. Once you build a tower, it will continuously search for enemy units to attack. The tower will attack it's target until it is destroyed or is out of range. The enemy will attack in waves containing multiple units at set intervals.

How can one not like tower defense games? To those than don't...pffft. [ Play SNAFU Tower Defense ]

Enter a Flickr username or a search query (like kittens, salvador dali, barack obama, etc) and click "Go!" to load Flickr images to the WolfenFlickr gallery! Use arrow keys or WASD to move, press Ctrl when looking at a picture to see high res version.

On the list of things I expected to make my Thursday morning, the existence of Wolfenflickr did not make the cut. Then again who would have THUNK-IT? Anyway, I just wasted a good 30 minutes of my life here. I recommend you do the same with or without coffee because now you can play Wolfenstein with Flickr photos.  [ Wolfenflickr ]

Spitefuls is proud to soon present the first of hopefully many dioramas to spiffy up your cubicle and help alleviate work boredom through a fun activity using common office supplies! Perfect for your cubicle, office, or desk… it’s sure to bring lots of hours of conversation and quizzical looks from fellow coworkers. And who doesn’t want quizzical looks from their coworkers.

Re-create your favorite tragedies in fun papercraft form. Fun for the whole family. Provided your extended family didn't go down in the Titanic. If so this is probably less fun. But heeeeey papercraft! [ Disaster Dioramas ]

Light Bot

Program your robot to walk around and light up all the blue squares. Finished with 186 commands, level 10 was actually the hardest for me, but then I think it was the one that kicked my brain into overdrive which made 11 and 12 easy. [Play Light Bot ]

 

How well are you able to distinguish between different color hues? Apparently I have perfect color vision. Though it hurt my eyes and gave me a bit of a headache. So I guess it depends on your definition of "perfect". Your score might also depend on your display device. I'm willing to bet someone with a CRT will on average do better than someone with an LCD since they can display a wider range of the spectrum. [ Test Your Color IQ ]

The objective of each mission in SNAFU Tower Defense (TD) is to prevent the enemy units from reaching the opposite side of the map. To accomplish this, you must build defenses using combinations of seven different towers that each have strengths and weaknesses. Once you build a tower, it will continuously search for enemy units to attack. The tower will attack it's target until it is destroyed or is out of range. The enemy will attack in waves containing multiple units at set intervals.

How can one not like tower defense games? To those than don't...pffft. [ Play SNAFU Tower Defense ]

Enter a Flickr username or a search query (like kittens, salvador dali, barack obama, etc) and click "Go!" to load Flickr images to the WolfenFlickr gallery! Use arrow keys or WASD to move, press Ctrl when looking at a picture to see high res version.

On the list of things I expected to make my Thursday morning, the existence of Wolfenflickr did not make the cut. Then again who would have THUNK-IT? Anyway, I just wasted a good 30 minutes of my life here. I recommend you do the same with or without coffee because now you can play Wolfenstein with Flickr photos.  [ Wolfenflickr ]

Spitefuls is proud to soon present the first of hopefully many dioramas to spiffy up your cubicle and help alleviate work boredom through a fun activity using common office supplies! Perfect for your cubicle, office, or desk… it’s sure to bring lots of hours of conversation and quizzical looks from fellow coworkers. And who doesn’t want quizzical looks from their coworkers.

Re-create your favorite tragedies in fun papercraft form. Fun for the whole family. Provided your extended family didn't go down in the Titanic. If so this is probably less fun. But heeeeey papercraft! [ Disaster Dioramas ]

Test Your Color IQ

How well are you able to distinguish between different color hues? Apparently I have perfect color vision. Though it hurt my eyes and gave me a bit of a headache. So I guess it depends on your definition of "perfect". Your score might also depend on your display device. I'm willing to bet someone with a CRT will on average do better than someone with an LCD since they can display a wider range of the spectrum. [ Test Your Color IQ ]

The objective of each mission in SNAFU Tower Defense (TD) is to prevent the enemy units from reaching the opposite side of the map. To accomplish this, you must build defenses using combinations of seven different towers that each have strengths and weaknesses. Once you build a tower, it will continuously search for enemy units to attack. The tower will attack it's target until it is destroyed or is out of range. The enemy will attack in waves containing multiple units at set intervals.

How can one not like tower defense games? To those than don't...pffft. [ Play SNAFU Tower Defense ]

Enter a Flickr username or a search query (like kittens, salvador dali, barack obama, etc) and click "Go!" to load Flickr images to the WolfenFlickr gallery! Use arrow keys or WASD to move, press Ctrl when looking at a picture to see high res version.

On the list of things I expected to make my Thursday morning, the existence of Wolfenflickr did not make the cut. Then again who would have THUNK-IT? Anyway, I just wasted a good 30 minutes of my life here. I recommend you do the same with or without coffee because now you can play Wolfenstein with Flickr photos.  [ Wolfenflickr ]

Spitefuls is proud to soon present the first of hopefully many dioramas to spiffy up your cubicle and help alleviate work boredom through a fun activity using common office supplies! Perfect for your cubicle, office, or desk… it’s sure to bring lots of hours of conversation and quizzical looks from fellow coworkers. And who doesn’t want quizzical looks from their coworkers.

Re-create your favorite tragedies in fun papercraft form. Fun for the whole family. Provided your extended family didn't go down in the Titanic. If so this is probably less fun. But heeeeey papercraft! [ Disaster Dioramas ]

SNAFU Tower Defense

The objective of each mission in SNAFU Tower Defense (TD) is to prevent the enemy units from reaching the opposite side of the map. To accomplish this, you must build defenses using combinations of seven different towers that each have strengths and weaknesses. Once you build a tower, it will continuously search for enemy units to attack. The tower will attack it's target until it is destroyed or is out of range. The enemy will attack in waves containing multiple units at set intervals.

How can one not like tower defense games? To those than don't...pffft. [ Play SNAFU Tower Defense ]

Enter a Flickr username or a search query (like kittens, salvador dali, barack obama, etc) and click "Go!" to load Flickr images to the WolfenFlickr gallery! Use arrow keys or WASD to move, press Ctrl when looking at a picture to see high res version.

On the list of things I expected to make my Thursday morning, the existence of Wolfenflickr did not make the cut. Then again who would have THUNK-IT? Anyway, I just wasted a good 30 minutes of my life here. I recommend you do the same with or without coffee because now you can play Wolfenstein with Flickr photos.  [ Wolfenflickr ]

Spitefuls is proud to soon present the first of hopefully many dioramas to spiffy up your cubicle and help alleviate work boredom through a fun activity using common office supplies! Perfect for your cubicle, office, or desk… it’s sure to bring lots of hours of conversation and quizzical looks from fellow coworkers. And who doesn’t want quizzical looks from their coworkers.

Re-create your favorite tragedies in fun papercraft form. Fun for the whole family. Provided your extended family didn't go down in the Titanic. If so this is probably less fun. But heeeeey papercraft! [ Disaster Dioramas ]

Wolfenflickr

Enter a Flickr username or a search query (like kittens, salvador dali, barack obama, etc) and click "Go!" to load Flickr images to the WolfenFlickr gallery! Use arrow keys or WASD to move, press Ctrl when looking at a picture to see high res version.

On the list of things I expected to make my Thursday morning, the existence of Wolfenflickr did not make the cut. Then again who would have THUNK-IT? Anyway, I just wasted a good 30 minutes of my life here. I recommend you do the same with or without coffee because now you can play Wolfenstein with Flickr photos.  [ Wolfenflickr ]

Spitefuls is proud to soon present the first of hopefully many dioramas to spiffy up your cubicle and help alleviate work boredom through a fun activity using common office supplies! Perfect for your cubicle, office, or desk… it’s sure to bring lots of hours of conversation and quizzical looks from fellow coworkers. And who doesn’t want quizzical looks from their coworkers.

Re-create your favorite tragedies in fun papercraft form. Fun for the whole family. Provided your extended family didn't go down in the Titanic. If so this is probably less fun. But heeeeey papercraft! [ Disaster Dioramas ]

Disaster Dioramas

Spitefuls is proud to soon present the first of hopefully many dioramas to spiffy up your cubicle and help alleviate work boredom through a fun activity using common office supplies! Perfect for your cubicle, office, or desk… it’s sure to bring lots of hours of conversation and quizzical looks from fellow coworkers. And who doesn’t want quizzical looks from their coworkers.

Re-create your favorite tragedies in fun papercraft form. Fun for the whole family. Provided your extended family didn't go down in the Titanic. If so this is probably less fun. But heeeeey papercraft! [ Disaster Dioramas ]