This is a term we're going to have to explain to the younger generation: when games were shipped in boxes, those contained at minimum a disc and a printed manual, but some companies came up with gimmick items you could put in the box and "feel", to enhance your immersion in the game.
I still have my Ultima 6 "moonstone" and cloth map somewhere.
They also sometimes included essentially proto-copy protection, e.g. you need this decoder wheel to solve some puzzle--which of course worked a lot better pre-Web.
A lot of the original packaging could be rather unique generally but eventually they ended up standardizing for retail shelving.
I still love the wheel and manuals of SSI Gold Box games. Apparently there wasn't enough space for all those texts so the games guide you to read say Page 31 for a certain long dialog.
I actually think it gives a lot of immersion than modern day AAA games.
I actually am from the box/manual generation and never heard it called 'feelies'.. I remember to register some games i would have to look up charts or keys in the manual, or on page numbers
IIRC 'feelies' was a term coined at Infocom by Brian Moriarty for the extra gewgaws that wound up in the boxes. I don't think the term was used much elsewhere in the industry, even though it did become part of the general gamer vernacular at the time.
I recall this being a term in paper-age SF, a fututristic trope of what mass entertainment might become. A “feely” was a sort of movie that involved touch. It was almost always described somewhat disapprovingly, as a sign of future decadence.
Actually, there are a LOT of 'collector's edition' versions of physical games from publishers like Limited Run, Super Rare, and iam8bit. Check out this Cuphead package, for example:
That particular example is above the typical price, I think, but they're certainly called collector's editions for a reason. It's a shame, but I suspect the majority are purchased and left unopened.
This is a term we're going to have to explain to the younger generation: when games were shipped in boxes, those contained at minimum a disc and a printed manual, but some companies came up with gimmick items you could put in the box and "feel", to enhance your immersion in the game.
I still have my Ultima 6 "moonstone" and cloth map somewhere.