Spring - "AHOY!"
This was the 30th anniversary throwback cover.
It was composed out of design elements from many of the 2600 covers of days past.
The base was an aged marbleized facsimile of our first issue from January 1984, with the text from our very first article in the background.
The masthead was a hybrid of several versions of the magazine throughout the years, and it contained our latest URL:
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(The three Xs on either end indicated 30 years of 2600 while the 62 in the middle was the next best thing to having 26 in the middle, which we unfortunately were not able to grab in time. The whole thing was also meant to mark the upcoming HOPE X conference.)
The throwback cover saw the return of the mini-cover (on the upper-right-hand side) from our early years, this one containing the 2600 QR code.
Other elements found in this cover include the "EMMA Operator" name tag from the 2009 covers (hidden behind the barcode in the printed issues), the elephant being airlifted by the hot air balloon from the Summer 2008 radio building cover, the cats in the window from the Autumn 2007 hacker camp cover, the man with the box from the Autumn 2005 boat cover, the soldier with the blue box (with a NYNEX "X" added to it, again to mark the HOPE X conference) from Spring 2004, the Earth from the Summer 1994 original HOPE cover, and the traffic light from the Spring 1994 cover.