Random cracktro capture
Random cracktro capture
The Scene Archives title  
Random cracktro capture
Random cracktro capture
Drink or Die.
1993-2001 (utility, application, iso)
DODISO
Text revised 26 February, 2007
Drink or Die the famous and originally Russian group are known for three different reasons.

  • The first is that back in 1995 they publicly released Microsoft's Windows 95 weeks before it's official release date (though Pirates With Additudes and Nokturnal Trading Alliance did as well, it was DOD who received the mainstream rap for it).
  • It is also known for being the publisher of the first utility that successfully by-passed the DVD CSS protection system. Enabling people to rip DVDs to their computers for the very first time.
  • Finally Drink or Die is the group that was eventually taken down in 2001 by the well publicised FBI Operation known as Buccaneer.

If you want to find out more about the DOD application DVD Speed Ripper and DeCSS, we have a text file detailing it's history.

The following history was taken off the old Drink or Die web site before it was taken down. We found the text reprinted at this site.

"The glorious Drink Or Die label started in the end of April, 1993, in one Moscow flat by Deviator. This DOD thing flashed in his mind and he decided to take this name to build his own underground computer empire. He called his comrade Baphomet and offered his plan. This point marks the beginning of the DOD Legacy. For the first couple of months, DOD was busy exploring the scene and feeling out the competition. Also trying to find it's place among many American and European teams. Soon, Deviator renamed himself to the now infamous Jimmy Jamez in the summer of 1993. The first official release of DOD occurred in May, 1993 and was called License User Crack for PCBoard 15.0 (cracked by DOD old skool - Trasher). Actually, most group's first releases were dedicated to PCBoard users. It was the time of PPE's and PPE groups and DOD easily took a good share in this "market". For the first 6-7 months DOD was strictly RUSSIAN and no foreign dudes were taken into the group at all. This policy finally changed when Jimmy Jamez and Baphomet developed some relations with Dutch and German pirates. Silverado BBS (4 nodes) joined DOD as Dutch HQ and Sewers of Darkness BBS (2 nodes) in Germany as a Courier HQ. People all over the world started to see DOD releases on their boards regularly. Besides awesome PPE work. DOD concentrated on cracking and releasing trainers for games.

DOD Boy We were one of the first to create in-game menu training engines along with Widget/TRSI (HiHo!)..Zool 2, Chaos Engine, Reunion, Delta V etc.. Our trainers spoke for themselves! Old skool people will remember DOD dudes in all forms of major trading and having fun on such legendary boards as Mirage, Unlawful Entry, Gates of Asgard, the list goes on... Drink or Die was recruiting more and more people all over the world and building a quality reputation as a stable and tight scene player. In the middle of 1994 Jimmy Jamez and his friend and partner Abbot Dervish finally appeared on the internet scene and via IRC, started their own channel called xxxxxxx. We can call it the 2nd birth of DOD because right after that, the group decided to release utilities and cracks only. Being one of the first IRC/INET pirate groups, DOD easily conquered all release records and took all of the best suppliers in early 1995. The first real challenge appeared in March of 1995. Several DOD High-Council members decided to form a coup and make their own group. This is how PROPHECY (PCY) started. What can I say!?? It helped DOD alot to overcome adversity and become stronger. Right after the coup another Russian dude (known for his successful project called PHOENIX, TYRANNY) from NYC merged his group with DOD. Many IBM/MS/Novell releases appeared because of this deal, many store/inside suppliers joined DOD and nobody was able even to come close to our releasing power. Even Bill Gates remembered us with a warm word when we released MS Windows 95 crap 2 weeks before it was released for American customers. Many people finished DOD "school" of scene-life this year (1995). We can easily find them now in high positions in groups like X-FORCE, SODOM, PAW, LNG, MT, CORP etc. In only 12 months of 1995, DOD released over 3 gigabytes of software in 379 releases! The 1996 year started well but soon the scene came to it's dark side.. IRC became very, very huge and flooded with many lamers and people who have no idea what the scene is all about.

Many groups were created and much bigger Competition arose. DOD leaders - Jimmy Jamez and Cyber Angel both dropped the scene to do something finally in their real life. Cyber Angel is still somewhere else.. But that's another story.. :) At about the same time that Jimmy Jamez was retiring, other DOD Council members were exploring other ventures and moving on, which left DOD facing it's greatest challenge. To rebuild the empire of only a year ago. Lester became the sole leader in Jimmy's absence. For a few months, it was a time of rebuilding strength and depth in all areas of the group. Lester's determination and hard-work are the only things that kept the DOD tradition alive. By mid-1996, old suppliers were returning, new assets were acquired and old friends came back. EvilTEA, The Pep, David Goliath, Tawni and The Punisher combined with Lester to make DOD the leader in the utils scene once more. And, in late 1996 Jimmy Jamez made his triumphant return to the team, making DOD even more a formidable force. Continuing the tradition of excellence, DOD has gotten off to a great start in 1997. 887MB and 54 **QUALITY** releases in the month of Feb '97 alone. Drink or Die shows no sign of letting up. All the pieces are in place for another great year as a prelude to our 5 year anniversary next year. Current leader of the group is Jimmy Jamez. DOD Council are Bob226, The Evil Advisor, The Pep and Tawni! Special All-Time DOD greets this time will go to: Baphomet - For forming DOD with JJ Blue Sky - For helping us when we just started YoungBlood - Hope you are well! Cyber Angel - Life is a Bitch, MTG rocks :) Lester - Without you there would be no DOD. Scrooge - Nice to see that you became something! Maverick - For making drinkordie.com a reality! The Punisher - For keeping Razor 1911 Alive! The Evil Advisor - Tequila.. Drink or Die? Drink.. The Pep - For excellence in site coordination."

If you want to read more about Drink or Die there are a number of articles an interviews in the coded and text magazine sections. Specifically but not limited to Reality Check Network 34, Anemia 5, Defacto2 #1, Week In Warez 2, The Naked Truth 1 and various issues of Inquisition were Jimmy Jamez was a contributor and Lester was a co-editor.

Also interesting are a couple of quotes from various Drink or Die people during their days.

"I cannot be busted, I have no warez here... And it is not a crime to be in a group. I have however, known many people who have been busted over the years. Some due to their own stupidity, but the majority due to "narcs". (Another unwelcome part of the newbie attacks we suffer from)" That was by Bandido in an interview back in 1999. He spent 3 years in an Australian detention centre while he fought his extradition. In February of 2007 it was announced that he lost his battle and will be deported to the United States to face trial.

"I do not have warez at home. Cops do not have proof that I do anything illegal, and the most funny [thing is] that I lead [the] software department of my firm and [I'm also] a well known software dealer -- licensed software of course." While Jimmy Jamez retired from the scene well before the 2001 bust, the current DOD leader at the time HellFire was convicted and sentenced for 46 months.

History brief
1993 . Drink or Die founded as a Russian centric group
1994 . Drink or Die change focus to an international group
1995 . Drink or Die release their most famous release, Microsoft's Windows 95
1996 . Drink or Die hit their peak within the scene
1999 . Drink or Die release Speed Ripper, the first usable program to bypass the copy protection on DVDs
2001 . Drink or Die is one of the key groups subject to one of many international raids known as Operation Buccaneer, the group folds shortly afterwards

Search our site using Google WebSearch for any references of Drink or Die
Search other sources: Pouet.net, Google
Wikipedia the free online encyclopedia has an article on Drink or Die
The Scene Timeline during Drink or Die's lifetime, 1993-2001
The web site ISONews has collection of more recent Drink or Die NFO files
31 repository files with 20,444 downloads
roy-dod.ans file: roy-dod.gif or roy-dod.ans
published: type: ANSI Logo downloads: 1,151
By Roy
file: file_id.diz
published: 26th Oct, 1994 type: ASCII Logo downloads: 552
BBS file identification
file: file_id-06-10-00.diz
published: 6th Oct, 2000 type: ASCII Logo downloads: 492
file: file_id131001.diz
published: 13th Oct, 2001 type: ASCII Logo downloads: 477
New NFO style
file: interview with jimmy jamez - anemia1.png
published: Jan, 1997 type: Interview downloads: 742
An interview with Jimmy Jamez, the founder and leader of Drink or Die
DA-DOD.jpg file: da-dod.jpg
published: type: Logo downloads: 605
if-dod.jpg file: if-dod.jpg
published: type: Logo downloads: 629
By Infernal Flames
Iz-drink.jpg file: iz-drink.jpg
published: type: Logo downloads: 591
DOD sponsored web dupecheck advert
SK8-01.jpg file: sk8-01.jpg
published: type: Logo downloads: 658
By sk8boi
skate-02.jpg file: skate-02.jpg
published: type: Logo downloads: 752
By sk8boi
skate-03.jpg file: skate-03.jpg
published: type: Logo downloads: 592
By sk8boi
v666.jpg file: v666.jpg
published: 19th Dec, 2001 type: Logo downloads: 590
A tribute to DOD by viruz666
file: dod1293.nfo
published: 6th Dec, 1993 type: NFO downloads: 662
Messages To All 1.0. Our earliest NFO for Drink or Die.
file: read.me.nfo
published: 16th Dec, 1993 type: NFO downloads: 589
Bubble Dizzy Trainer. 'This is another sort of shitty warez from the cutest east-europe group - doD!!'
file: dod.nfo
published: 27th Feb, 1994 type: NFO downloads: 651
Highway Fighter. New NFO design and a tag line of "Alcoholic Association Presents".
file: dod-15.nfo
published: 12th May, 1994 type: NFO downloads: 886
15 x 15, yes another budget puzzle game
file: dod-catcher.nfo
published: 12th May, 1994 type: NFO downloads: 587
Catcher, another budget game
file: dod-chu.nfo
published: 12th May, 1994 type: NFO downloads: 611
Choo Choo Minder, some budget Russian game
file: dod1.nfo
published: 27th Oct, 1994 type: NFO downloads: 716
Colour ABC by Nikitay. Another new style of NFO, this one contains the now famous tagline "Warez bears from Russia"
file: dod-lucas.nfo
published: 11th Nov, 1994 type: NFO downloads: 643
LucasArts Classic Adventures, this probably would have been nuked
file: dod0995.nfo
published: 9th Jun, 1995 type: NFO downloads: 534
Quarterdeck Web Server BETA. New NFO style.
file: dod1195t.nfo
published: 19th Nov, 1995 type: NFO downloads: 559
Supervoice v2.0g by Pacific Image Communications
file: dod1295.nfo
published: 25th Dec, 1995 type: NFO downloads: 526
Am Jur Proof Of Facts on LawDesk
file: dod0396.nfo
published: 4th Mar, 1996 type: NFO downloads: 621
Arcserve 6.0 for Netware
file: 3dsmax.nfo
published: 15th Jun, 1996 type: NFO downloads: 708
3D Studio Max. In 1995 and in the later part of 1996 was DOD's peak as you can see here with this expensive release.
file: dodsrip.nfo
published: 8th Nov, 1999 type: NFO downloads: 680
Drink or Die's DVD Speed Ripper.
file: dod17-01-00.nfo
published: 17th Jan, 2000 type: NFO downloads: 625
BridgeView v2.1. They now look very established.
file: dodiso15-12-00.nfo
published: 15th Dec, 2000 type: NFO downloads: 600
Fenestrae Faxination v4.1 ISO for Exchange for WinNT2K. Removal of the site listings.
file: dod131001.nfo
published: 13th Oct, 2001 type: NFO downloads: 568
ME10 2000 Plus v10
file: dodiso05-12-01.nfo
published: 5th Dec, 2001 type: NFO downloads: 732
Symantec Ghost Corporate Edition v7.5. This release was one of their last releases from about a week before Operation Buccaneer.
file: more+dod_decss.txt
published: 4th Nov, 1999 type: Text downloads: 1,115
The Truth about DVD CSS cracking by MoRE and [dEZZY/DoD]
Defacto2 © Copyright 1996-2010 - All other files offered are assumed public domain unless noted. We assert no rights over them.
Load time: 0.2 secs | XHTML 1.1 : Valid | Site Security : Safe | Running : ColdFusion 8.0.1