The Back to the Future: Episode 1 Free-For-All

Posted by Alan

April 15, 2011

Wait a minute, Doc. Are you telling me Telltale Games is giving away the first episode of Back to the Future: The Game away...for free? That's right, the first episode of Marty McFly and Doc Brown's continued adventures through time, "It's About Time" is now totally gratis!

All you have to do to take advantage of this opportunity is direct your browser to the Back to the Future: The Game homepage and opt-in to the free episode offer! Yep, that's it! This is a great way for folks that haven't yet gone Back to the Future (har har) to see what they've been missing!

Note: If you are already a Back to the Future free-episode or full-season owner this offer will not appear. If you are not either of those and do not see the offer, re-log in to your Telltale Games account.

Get in on the Back to the Future: Episode 1 Free-For-All Now!

Tagged Announcement, Back to the Future, Universal

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110 Comments

	au paroli ver gavige = (
	Comment by lasha April 1, 2011, 11:21 am

	Smart move! playing ep 1 made me buy the rest of em.
	Comment by HammeredWookiee April 1, 2011, 11:41 am

	it stop working
	Comment by tyler April 1, 2011, 4:14 pm

	Yay :)
	Comment by Wizpig April 1, 2011, 4:56 pm

	Why it isn't working? I downloaded it, but when I click Play, it doesn't work.
	Comment by Hugo April 1, 2011, 5:22 pm

	does not work
	Comment by AngryAfghan April 1, 2011, 5:43 pm

	It worked the first time, but now it won't play.
	Comment by Charlie FoHammer April 1, 2011, 6:50 pm

	Same here press play and it doesn't work!! That's what you get for free!! LOL!!
	Comment by clover831 April 1, 2011, 7:36 pm

	i play it once and it does not work
	Comment by alphaunit April 1, 2011, 8:12 pm

	WHY! THE HECK! IS'NT IT WORKING
	Comment by corbitron April 1, 2011, 8:29 pm

	sorry it was a great game thanks
	Comment by corbitron April 1, 2011, 8:30 pm

	do you know how to get it to work again
	Comment by corbitron April 1, 2011, 8:31 pm

	Alan this game was fun and i want to play it again help
	Comment by corbitron April 1, 2011, 8:36 pm

	This is sucky, it wont even play! Fix this or show us how to, and I will re-download it.
	Comment by Pardus April 1, 2011, 9:23 pm

	I finished downloading and am unable to play the game. The time is 10:53 pm pacific standard time. Telltale, please fix this.
	Comment by Saint Peter Bishop April 1, 2011, 10:53 pm

	hey its password ? and username or email what
	Comment by Mongiolia April 2, 2011, 12:12 am

	No problem playing the game. Started game 3 times with no problem.
	Comment by tediksan April 2, 2011, 12:46 am

	Run the game as administrator, so does the play button
	Comment by jmmoyanoc April 2, 2011, 12:58 am

	not working on my 64 bit vista main screen appears but nothing comes up under Episodes
	Comment by wgwas4 April 2, 2011, 5:48 am

	purchased all episodes none are working on my 64 bit vista main screen appears but nothing comes up under Episodes not happy
	Comment by wgwas4 April 2, 2011, 5:52 am

	0168381222
	Comment by wolf of nieght April 2, 2011, 7:18 am

	Same problems as above. When I click the Play button, nothing happens. Sadface to the max.
	Comment by Seegro April 2, 2011, 7:41 am

	What a terrible April Fools prank, make us download the game saying it's free. Then when you click it doesn't work. Definitely not buying the game now.
	Comment by disappointed April 2, 2011, 8:02 am

	people people people ... Right click on Back To The Future The Game, go to 'properties', then go to Compatiblity, look for Run this Program as an administrator, make sure you check mark it, click on 'Apply' after that OK, and final click on the game "Back To The Future The Game" sign in same way and it should work. This is for win 7 users
	Comment by DemonKnighted April 2, 2011, 8:02 am

	And yes I tried it and it works fine. XD
	Comment by DemonKnighted April 2, 2011, 8:03 am

	WTF, in 2011, almost 5 years after the release of Vista, and you're telling me Telltale games haven't figured out how to run their games without admin privileges? Despite not having this problem with any of their other games? I was holding off BttF because the bad review in PC Gamer, but this seemed like a great chance to see for myself. So far, not impressed.
	Comment by wjousts April 2, 2011, 8:18 am

	@wjousts true, They should fix this problem. I hate using "Run this Program as an administrator" on a game. All I want to do is play the damn game without any problems.
	Comment by DemonKnighted April 2, 2011, 8:28 am

	I downloaded the game for free with the free account, and when I enter the correct user name and password-or my e-mail address and password it says " It seem I don't own this game" Now what... what should I do to play with it...?????!!!
	Comment by Gubble April 2, 2011, 11:51 am

	@Gubble, I have the same problem Any help on this?
	Comment by NewtonLiberty April 2, 2011, 12:26 pm

	@DemonKnighted ... not at all... you need admin privileges because of savegames, ur account dont have the privileges to write into Program Files, so you need to add it to play it without admin :)
	Comment by dzebna April 2, 2011, 12:33 pm

	@Gubbie/NewtonLiberty same.
	Comment by jgilmour April 2, 2011, 12:33 pm

	I'm on a mac and it just seems to load a page with no episode options, Help please
	Comment by Michael Fentum April 2, 2011, 12:46 pm

	Same problem trying to login in the game screen I run the program as administrator, enter my Telltale username and password and it says "You dont seem to own this game". Blog post says you have to click the opt in link which wont appear if you have already had a free episode (which I haven't) or bought any episodes (I haven't bough any back to the future episodes) Forum says support dont work weekends. I can't post there anyway because It says I have to register.
	Comment by Ron Heywood April 2, 2011, 12:50 pm

	On mac. It doesn't even let me log in! Any help would be great.
	Comment by smrtalex April 2, 2011, 12:57 pm

	are you serious? i downloaded the game prompt from the mail that YOU send to me and i log in and says "Sorry, but it doesn't look like you own Back to the Future: The Game. Try logging in again under a different account or pick up the game." whats this????
	Comment by parakratos April 2, 2011, 1:17 pm

	didnt work for me either lame!
	Comment by dementedwarlok April 2, 2011, 1:22 pm

	Is this a joke? "Sorry, but it doesn't look like you own Back to the Future: The Game. Try logging in again under a different account or pick up the game."
	Comment by toshii22 April 2, 2011, 1:23 pm

	Glad to see I'm not the only person who can't get in - they tell everyone a game is free just to make you buy the full thing? I think that is so down and dirty; do you really sleep well at night?
	Comment by sgeake April 2, 2011, 1:23 pm

	Having same issue. "Doesn't look like you own" blah blah blah. I don't think this was a devious joke by telltale. Just a poorly timed buggy promotion that released on a Friday so that no one will be around to fix it until Monday at the soonest. Not sure my attention span will last that long.
	Comment by CyrusTheRed April 2, 2011, 1:35 pm

	If this was for april fools day means that YOU think that buyers that pay money or you try to sell them your products put this to make say to your future for other products FOOLS!!! and you laugh with this. so i say, I will buy ALL your products. Oh Oh April's FOOLS!!!!!! HA HA HA !!!!!
	Comment by parakratos April 2, 2011, 1:36 pm

	Same problem. I "don't own the game". What's up with that? Anybody with answers?
	Comment by jlybomber April 2, 2011, 1:55 pm

	Your next move as a trust company is to fire the guy that had the idea and give 2 episodes for free as a sorry.
	Comment by parakratos April 2, 2011, 2:00 pm

	Guys go to http://www.telltalegames.com/bttfoffer/ and add the episode as an item to your cart you can then go through the process of buying that episode. This seems to be the elusive opt in method. I will try and play the damn thing now.
	Comment by stecollins April 2, 2011, 2:05 pm

	WTF... EXTREME FAIL!!! Sorry, but it doesn't look like you own Back to the Future: The Game. Try logging in again under a different account or pick up the game.
	Comment by Jesse April 2, 2011, 2:09 pm

	Did exactly as Stecollins said, got the email notification, tried to log into the game- "Sorry, but it doesn't look..." I'm going to give it an hour or so, see if maybe it's just taking a long time to update.
	Comment by CyrusTheRed April 2, 2011, 2:18 pm

	It's not let me in yet either after buying the episode for free i'm hoping there's just a backlog too.
	Comment by stecollins April 2, 2011, 2:42 pm

	Yep. I did exactly as Stecollins did as well and still not working although it says in My Games that I have purchased/ordered the first episode for $0.00.
	Comment by jlybomber April 2, 2011, 3:18 pm

	Oh nvm. It's still in Stuff I've Bought and not yet part of My Games. So basically, it's still just an order and they haven't done anything yet.
	Comment by jlybomber April 2, 2011, 3:20 pm

	It's working for me now
	Comment by Pancreas April 2, 2011, 3:25 pm

	OKAY, I got working, apparently it's just a messup in the structure of the website and account "authenticity". What you have to do is, after registering a free account and downloading it, you go to their site, go to where you WOULD by the game, and when you get to the checkout for episode 1, it'll say "Unit Price 8.95, total 0.00", then you fill out billing information(BUT, no credit card info, it doesn't even ask for one:D), and voila, your account is authenticated.
	Comment by Tibet579 April 2, 2011, 3:29 pm

	Why do you even have to log into the internet to play, this is retarded.. Spear of Destiny and Wolfenstein 3D was episode 1 shareware and saved the files on your PC, and to run the rest of the episodes, you bought the installer and installed it,. but what is this crap having to log into an app just to play.. I mean grow up..tying free stuff to internet access is bad..
	Comment by gringo22 April 2, 2011, 4:26 pm

	Game works but the video quality is slow, is there any way to fix this?
	Comment by Angela April 2, 2011, 4:32 pm

	Nice april's fool ¬¬ Game is not working.
	Comment by PandaAttack April 2, 2011, 4:57 pm

	For everyone not being able to play the game this is all you have to do; Right click on the game icon and "run as administrator" the the game will work. I beat it in 2 hours so its not that long.
	Comment by kevinsdb April 2, 2011, 4:57 pm

	i bought the games and when i play ep 2 all i get is a black screen and voices
	Comment by corbitron April 2, 2011, 9:34 pm

	I downloaded it, but when I click Play, it doesn't work. They NEED to fix this
	Comment by MR393 April 2, 2011, 10:03 pm

	i want it FIXED! I WANT TO PLAY!
	Comment by corbitron April 2, 2011, 10:27 pm

	i want a refund
	Comment by corbitron April 2, 2011, 11:04 pm

	Must be log on web site, and on the game at same time...... And the game will work.
	Comment by jbegcevic April 3, 2011, 3:52 am

	its not working. i played my other pc but i dont play my laptop.
	Comment by tan April 3, 2011, 5:59 am

	For everyone having problems- Download Ep1 through the link on the main page. When you are done with that, visit the ordering page at http://www.telltalegames.com/bttfoffer/ Add the item to your cart and check out. Fill out the bit of information they ask for and you should be good to go. Wait a few minutes and try to launch the game and sign in. If you are still unable to play EP1 go back to the link and repeat the process. It didn't work for me the first time I "bought" EP1, but once I did it a second time everything worked perfectly.
	Comment by CyrusTheRed April 3, 2011, 6:52 am

	I played once but it is not letting me play again
	Comment by wuwu52 April 3, 2011, 7:09 am

	Does not work on Mac 10.6.7 - really nothing happens after starting this program.. I'm a bit disappointed!!!
	Comment by Michael M April 3, 2011, 7:45 am

	Thanks CyrusTheRed! I followed exactly as you said. It didn't work the first time so I tried it again and now it works.
	Comment by jlybomber April 3, 2011, 10:45 am

	LOG IN doesn't work, I don't have all 5 episodes, I only want to play Episode 1 FREE!
	Comment by Nat33 April 3, 2011, 11:20 am

	I got it working by doing the "run as admin" thing. Guys, it's not an April Fool's joke; the only fools here are those too impatient to try and solve the problem before accusing TTG... Anyways, I'm running a x64 win7 on a Toshiba laptop (not desktop).
	Comment by franx April 3, 2011, 11:52 am

	Worked just fine on my Mac OS X 10.6
	Comment by deafscribbler April 3, 2011, 12:29 pm

	I'm having the "Click On Play" and nothing happens problem as well, this really sucks.
	Comment by AlgorithmX2 April 3, 2011, 3:09 pm

	muito bom
	Comment by rene-uba April 3, 2011, 3:49 pm

	oOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOKKKKKKKKKKKKK
	Comment by aml April 4, 2011, 4:50 am

	Only works if I re-install it every single time... wtf!?!
	Comment by NeecHMonkeY April 4, 2011, 5:46 am

	Actually, it does work with "Run as Administrator" - Thanks franx. :)
	Comment by NeecHMonkeY April 4, 2011, 5:48 am

	i did what CyrusTheRed said still don't work. Waht do you expect for free?delete pos,next! mad
	Comment by menot April 4, 2011, 10:08 am

	Ahhhh! Idiots! You need to make the game run in windows xp! Then it will work!
	Comment by Listen up idiots April 4, 2011, 12:39 pm

	NOpe didn't work either.
	Comment by menot April 4, 2011, 3:34 pm

	download,"buy",THEN install and run.
	Comment by OwenX April 4, 2011, 4:26 pm

	ITS AMMMMMAAAZZZZING! mac version works... maybe all these peeps are using Windows version?
	Comment by traciesmith89 April 4, 2011, 8:47 pm

	WTF? Something get free and it doesn't work!!!
	Comment by andrezitofer April 4, 2011, 9:08 pm

	THIS GAME IS PURE AWESOMENESS, LIKE THE REST OF TELLTALE'S GAMES!
	Comment by nblackburn April 5, 2011, 1:19 pm

	um, why is this up as a repeat? bad blog post!
	Comment by chobits1 April 5, 2011, 2:17 pm

	I clicked "Run as Administrator" to play and it worked but after Marty's dream, the game crashes. Any ideas?
	Comment by Roustam April 5, 2011, 5:24 pm

	Haha, so many comments saying that it doesnt work if you take the free one.... its a good thing I got the whole season when it began!!!! Episode 3 was historic in the Back to the Future universe!!!
	Comment by RexMaster April 5, 2011, 11:21 pm

	downloaded the mac version, will not run, opens up a page with no options on there apart from to see news feed, any idea how to get to work? mac OSX
	Comment by Stephen Smith April 6, 2011, 4:52 am

	Wow. I've never, ever seen so much whining on one page before (maybe I just don't get out much). To play the game, you need to have an account at telltalegames.com. The acid test for this is having the options, in the top right of the site screen next to the Telltale greeting ("Hi Timothy!"), to see Your Cart, Your Games, and Your Settings, as well as having the ability to post in the forums. If all that is already true for you, download the .exe for BTTF:TG Episode 1, install the game, Run it as Administrator, insert your username/Telltale-associated e-mail and password, and enjoy. For goodness' sake, no, this is not an April Fool's prank. Jeez, guys. It'd be late anyway.
	Comment by Timothy April 6, 2011, 10:50 am

	Ok, Three times already, I tried to play the game, nothing comes up in the launcher window! It turns out the telltalegames website won't load either. Ok... So today, the game loads up, yay! BUT.. My game progress is gone!!! My settings are reset too!! Not good!!
	Comment by Drustafa April 7, 2011, 3:07 am

	Vista on a Fujitsu Seimens Amilo Li1718: preordered whole season: episode 1 worked fine. episode 2: installed to custom directory (as with episode 1). run program as administrator - check. logged into ttg website. running episode one launcher lists episode 2 as present however selecting leads to same as running episode 2, ie.: displays launcher backdrop, has 'episodes' list on left, empty, has link (only interactive element) that leads me here. I am at a loss and calling it a night before it manages to put me in a bad mood. Please SOMEONE FROM T.T.G. ! ! ! H E L P ! ! !
	Comment by Quasipod April 7, 2011, 2:13 pm

	P.S. have created the username Quasipod to make sure that that was not the silliness. It isn't.
	Comment by Quasipod April 7, 2011, 2:56 pm

	eu nao consigo entrar nesse jogo como eu faço ja fiz uma conta mais nao entra boxta
	Comment by ens2011 April 7, 2011, 3:39 pm

	@Quasipod: This really isn't the best place to ask. At all. Post in the support forums.
	Comment by Timothy April 7, 2011, 6:43 pm

	@Timothy: thx, here is URL of repost: http://www.telltalegames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=24018
	Comment by Quasipod April 7, 2011, 8:15 pm

	Hey guys, would you consider the Back to the Future series of games as games for kids ? By the way Vista seems to forever blocks access to anything.
	Comment by Katherine Legge April 7, 2011, 9:27 pm

	There are instructions above,,but here they are again... as provided by demonknighted people people people ... Right click on Back To The Future The Game, go to 'properties', then go to Compatiblity, look for Run this Program as an administrator, make sure you check mark it, click on 'Apply' after that OK, and final click on the game "Back To The Future The Game" sign in same way and it should work. This is for win 7 users Thanks again for the stepbystep demon....
	Comment by Sean April 7, 2011, 9:42 pm

	um poco complicado de fazer a conta mais é bem legal esse jogo
	Comment by neninho April 8, 2011, 7:57 am

	um poco complicado de fazer a conta mais é bem legal esse jogo
	Comment by neninho April 8, 2011, 7:57 am

	I guess you cant fix dumb. what dont you get? you need to register to download the first episode for free, correct? so, you use that email(username) /password combo to log in. simple. as for admin rights, this shouldnt be an issue in win 7 64 bit at this time. save games will work. if your having issues, u prolly have a virus. look into that before you go trashing ppls work. this game works. your computer clearly doesn't. fix that, then, if its still not working, bitch. good luck.
	Comment by Cswaine April 8, 2011, 3:16 pm

	works fine for me!
	Comment by thegh0sts April 8, 2011, 5:28 pm

	I take back my previous comment. Game is now not working, i got to play it a few times, but play button no longer works. sketchy
	Comment by Cswaine April 9, 2011, 10:25 am

	I wondering if Telltale will release Episode 4 the very last day of the month without letting us know the release date in advance...
	Comment by Arakara April 9, 2011, 11:04 am

	I am with everybody else GAME DOES NOT WORK NEVER GOT TO PLAY was going to get the whole thing but why wast my money
	Comment by craigdmc12 April 9, 2011, 4:28 pm

	it works first time you know that problem; just press reinstall works every time.i love the game so far but my computer is slow.its cool to be in 1931.
	Comment by fancyboy22 April 9, 2011, 5:35 pm

	I never mentioned: works just fine for me. Download bttf_101_setup.exe from telltalegames.com/bttf, install, run as Administrator, insert Telltale username and password...BAM. Fun.
	Comment by Timothy April 9, 2011, 6:22 pm

	The A500 RAM at 1GB will be available in both 16 and 32GB storage options. The Tab A500 is due to land in April, although their pricing is yet to be confirmed. Some of the specifications of this Honeycomb tablet are as follows; Display It has 10.1” full capacitive multi-touch screen ensures experience from every angle with Aluminum casing and providing higher color accuracy for better visuals from different perspective. http://www.gamegab.com/
	Comment by free online games April 11, 2011, 3:02 pm

	strangely never had a problem with Tell Tale games, but this epi 1 is not working for me. I click "play" and nothing loads. :(
	Comment by greenttentacle April 13, 2011, 10:26 pm

	its not working.... Now I feel that i did the register for free
	Comment by Fontaine April 14, 2011, 7:57 am

	when i press play its not working someone,PLZ HELP MEEEEEEEe
	Comment by Kitty April 14, 2011, 1:18 pm

	fvfrfr
	Comment by Michael Scofield 992 April 15, 2011, 8:06 am

	Excuse me buy why the first episode doesn't work? It's an April Fish or what? Talltale Games can you say something for us? Please...
	Comment by Michael Scofield 992 April 15, 2011, 8:07 am

	If you're having any issues, please shoot an email over to support@telltalegames.com and we'll do everything we can to get you behind the wheel of the DeLorean! :)
	Comment by Alan Johnson April 15, 2011, 4:44 pm

	ログインしたけどそこから動かない
	Comment by ryouhei April 16, 2011, 4:48 pm

	A mí el episodio me ha encantado y me compraría el juego si lo vendieran en España. ¿Sacarán el capítulo 2 también gratis?
	Comment by Mike96 April 19, 2011, 6:17 am

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