So the moral of the story? Treat your game keys like the keys to a car. Lose them, and you can’t drive. Keep them safe, and you can cruise the neon streets of Vice City forever—even if, these days, you just download it in ten seconds.

Leo typed it in carefully. Click. The sound of a cassette tape sliding into a stereo echoed from his speakers. The neon “Vice City” logo pulsed on screen. He was in.

Soon, Leo discovered what millions of others did: the rise of . These tiny, illegal programs (often bundled with computer viruses) reverse-engineered the algorithm. A keygen could spit out infinite working keys, like "GTA-VC-1234-ABCD-EFGH." That’s why by 2004, Vice City was one of the most pirated games ever.

The sticker read: Below that were five blocks of five random letters and numbers, such as "GX9A-5S8F-2D4C-7H1J-3K6L" .

In the autumn of 2002, a teenager named Leo saved his allowance for three months to buy Grand Theft Auto: Vice City . He rushed home from the mall, tore off the plastic wrap, and marveled at the jewel-case’s neon pink and blue artwork.

But when he inserted the CD, the computer didn’t start the game. Instead, a stern gray box appeared:

And Leo? He still remembers his first key by heart. Not the one he lost, but the one from his best friend’s manual: It never actually worked. But it felt right.

“Please enter your Licence Key Code (25 characters).”