Is that a common thing with old games or did your buddy just get super unlucky? Because I've had a few vintage finds where the box looked rough but the inside was totally fine, other than some musty smell. The real killer is when the glue they used back then just turns to concrete after fifty years, especially if the game sat in an attic or garage where it got hot and cold over and over. I once had a 1970s Clue board where the cardboard was so brittle it crumbled like a cracker when I tried to fold it back up, took me twenty minutes to carefully tape every seam. Best tip I've got is to use a thin butter knife or a flat screwdriver to gently work around the edges before you even try to lift the lid, takes forever but saves the tray. Also if you can see a gap where the tray meets the box, slide a piece of dental floss down there and saw it loose, that's saved me twice now.

Subtitles are basically a cheat code for real life. My girlfriend used to pause movies every five minutes asking "what did he say?", and now she just reads along silently like some kind of peaceful zombie. The only downside is now I notice every time the caption says "[sighs]" and it ruins the mood during dramatic scenes, feels like the director is narrating my emotional journey.