It is a little embarrassing...

[rredmond]

Definitely many of us wanted to binder up our stuff! I could be recalling incorrectly but I do not think they came pre-holed.

[tumblingdice]

The 1981 Basic and Expert sets that I bought recently had both the rulebooks hole-punched as well as the modules that came with them (B2 & X1), though the module covers were not hole-punched. They were all punched much too nicely to have been done after the fact. Also, back in the day, because my 1983 BECMI set did not include module B2, I had to buy my own copy separately. This copy was not hole-punched.

Long story short: yeah, they came that way.

[rredmond]

Ah. I've seen punched and unpunched. The punches always seem to hit a word here or there so I always assumed...ah well. Interesting though, and who knows (back then) what edition or even what book I was looking at.

[Blood axe]

Definitely many of us wanted to binder up our stuff! I could be recalling incorrectly but I do not think they came pre-holed.

Maybe there are different versions. I had my Red & Blue set right out of the box- and they were pre-punched. I bought a set still in shrink - and it was also pre-punched. (the rulebooks)

[rredmond]

Honestly I was always a 1E guy... I bet I'm just totally misremembering this stuff from others. I'm checking PDFs and see I was confusing stuff. Holmes isn't punched, neither are the Mentzer editions, but Moldvay, expert cook/marsh, and even M&t Assortment all seemed to be punched.

[tumblingdice]

Honestly I was always a 1E guy...

I think we can all agree that none of the 1E stuff was hole-punched.

[barrataria]

I have to ask did those come originally out of box with holes or was it common practice at the time to make holes in rulebooks to fit them same binder where you hold campaign notes?

The idea was that you would keep your rulebook in a 3-ring binder with your campaign notes and whatnot. Which I do

The books also suggested that when the X book came out you should split the pages of both rulebooks and organize them by sections. Which I never, ever did

[redwullf]

Two words: Rules Cyclopedia. The one I own is near mint, kept in an atmospherically controlled vault under my basement, and guarded by 2 neckless gentlemen named "Rolf" and "Günther."

[The Venomous Pao]

My original B and X books are still bound in the trapper keeper I bought for them right after I got them in '81. They did indeed come right out of the box with the holes drilled. But like barrataria I absolutely never split the books to recombine/reorder them. The thought gives me chills, actually

[Blood axe]

I would never chop up those books!
I had the Rules Cyclopedia (actually two) I prefer the originals. Just me.