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It’s Letter Croft! Royal Mail puts iconic British video games from Tomb raider to Sensible Soccer on new range of stamps
- Royal Mail to honour British video game developers with stamps depicting games made in the 1980s and 90s
- Early games including adventure series Dizzy, Sensible Soccer and racing game Wipeout to be put on stamps
- The two decades saw designers create games via coding on microcomputers which spawned global industry
- The Tomb Raider series, a global franchise created in Derby, is shown through the years with four stamps
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Early video games from the 1980s and 1990s are being celebrated by Royal Mail in a new set of 12 stamps.
British games including Tomb Raider, which went onto to became a global franchise after being created by developers in Derby, is depicted through the years from 1996 to 2013 in four stamps.
Space trading title Elite, the Dizzy series and 1989’s Populous are included, as well as Scottish-made Lemmings, Micro Machines, Sensible Soccer, Wipeout and Worms.
This 1995 game, Wipeout, was an early racing game set in 2052, just another 30 years away from today. Royal Mail chose the games with the help of gaming trade body UK Interactive Entertainment
The Tomb Raider series saw protagonist Lara Croft hunting a Scion artefact in Peru. The series together sold more than 74 million copies globally. The four Tomb Raider stamps will be presented in a Miniature-Sheet.
‘The UK has been at the forefront of the video games industry for decades,’ said Royal Mail’s Philip Parker.
‘In the 1980s and 90s young designers grappled with coding on the new microcomputers and set the template for the industry with iconic games.
The aim of Lemmings was to take the group from one side of the game to the other. The decades of the 1980s (and as with Lemmings, early 90s) saw designers create games via coding on microcomputers, which later spawned a global industry
This space-based video game, Elite, came out in 1984. Users played Commander Jameson and had to go on a series of missions
‘We celebrate some of their landmark creations on stamps.’
Royal Mail chose the games with the help of gaming trade body UK Interactive Entertainment (Ukie).
‘This collection celebrates a selection of the great British video games that have helped define both the national and global development scene over decades,’ said Ukie chief executive Dr Jo Twist.
‘Video games are a key part of our cultural footprint and we’re pleased to see their contribution recognised in such memorable style.’
The set will be available in a presentation pack for £14.25, to pre-order online or buy in Post Offices from January 21.
Sensible Soccer, released in 1992, was a popular game and (as the name suggests) users could compete in matches. The game used a bird’s eye view while users played the game
This 1995 hit, Worms, was a combat game between two teams of worms. The game was developed by British company Team17. ‘The UK has been at the forefront of the video games industry for decades,’ said Royal Mail’s Philip Parker
Micro Machines came out in 1991, where players had to race their toy cars across a hazard-laden track. ‘This collection celebrates a selection of the great British video games that have helped define both the national and global development scene over decades,’ said e-gaming trade body boss Dr Jo Twist
The video game Populous, released in 1989, saw players having to create their own world. The early game is just one of the titles which are being celebrated by Royal Mail in a new set of 12 stamps
The 1987 game Dizzy saw users playing an egg who had to complete a series of challenges. The set of stamps will be available in a presentation pack for £14.25
Tomb Raider was created by developers in Derby. The stamp depicts Lara Croft in the tomb. Tomb Raider went on to became a global franchise selling more than 74 million copies worldwide
Adventures of Lara Croft was published just two years later. The series is depicted through the years from 1996 to 2013, with the 1998 game pictured above
The follow-on Tomb Raider Chronicles, published in 2000, shows Lara Croft in an underwater jet suit. The four Tomb Raider stamps will be presented in a Miniature-Sheet
Protagonist Lara Croft is seen in a 2013 remake of Tomb Raider, which was almost 20 years on from the original at the time
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