I called a few back in the day for clues. Sonic 3, Tomb Raider 4 (I think), Overblood (lol) were a few games that stumped me as a baby child. This was long before I had internet let alone a PC that could connect.
It was something like 5-6 bucks per minute a total rip off to have someone tell you you're a dummy for not looking up and pressing 'A'.
Yeah I remember we had Simons Quest for the NES and we were so stuck on it, finally my dad (who was playing it) called the number and you had to like kneel by a lake for 5 seconds after picking up some item based on a cryptic message of a villager. It was a 1-900 number so it probably cost like 10 bucks. There wasn't even any internet unless you were at a university, I still don't know how you were supposed to figure it out on your own.
Yeah it cost like 3 bucks to call and then like $2 per minute and you were on the line waiting for some dude to look it up in a strategy guide and give the answer.
The soundtrack of that game still rules. What a terrible night to have a curse
Simon's Quest progression is Nintendo Power core
Castlevania music slaps in general