Spirit Software

 1 1/2 Pembroke Mews, London W8

It began innocently enough. An advert in PERSONAL COMPUTER NEWS (January 21st 1984 page 67). "FORMULA ONE AND STEERING WHEEL," was the eye-catching headline. Followed up by, "Naturally you cannot steer a racing car effectively by pressing buttons or wiggling a joystick so we have developed a steering wheel that fits to the Spectrum... the wheel is strongly made and thanks to a brilliantly simple design we have been able to keep the cost down to a minimum. It will be used for many games in the future but is now only available with FORMULA ONE." How intriguing. And all for the (relatively) low price of £8.95. It's more expensive than a standard game admittedly, but how many games come with an innovative add-on?

Imagine

5 Sir Thomas Street, Liverpool, L1

The 1984 collapse of Imagine Software was a seismic event for the UK software industry. Imagine had become one of the biggest and best known software houses in just over 18 months of existence. Its professionalism, marketing, and overall corporate image seemed to point the way for the rest of the fledgling software industry. There is also the irony that a company as obsessed by image and marketing as Imagine should have its collapse documented in real time by a BBC film crew making a documentary for a series called Commercial Breaks, "A series that follows the fortunes of entrepreneurs around the world as their stories unfold."

Mastertronic

8-10 Paul Street, EC2A

"Pocket money games tapes, at £1.99 each have been launched for sale in video shops, petrol stations, hi-fi stores, supermarkets, and newsagents," was how HOME COMPUTING WEEKLY introduced budget software house Mastertronic; issue 57 (April 10-16 1984 page 1). Fourteen games were released at launch, "eight for the Commodore 64, four for the Spectrum and two for the VIC-20. Another seven will appear by the end of the month and then at the rate of one to three a week." I think those initial 14 games were Vegas Jackpot, Duck Shoot, Bionic Granny, Mind Control, Magic Carpet, Spectipede, Munch Mania, and Space Walk for the C64;  Vegas Jackpot, Gnasher, Spectipede and Magic Carpet for the Spectrum; and Vegas Jackpot and Duck Shoot for the VIC-20.

Graftgold

2 Freebournes Court, Newland Street, Witham Essex CM8

I remember looking through a friend's copy of ZZAP64 issue 3 and reading Andrew Braybrook's diary, THE BIRTH OF A PARADROID (July 1985 page 46). I didn't realise at the time but this was my introduction to the independent games developer Graftgold. The rapturous reviews of Paradroid and later Uridium produced the first cracks in my ZX Spectrum forever attitude. Looking back, what's surprising is Graftgold's invisibility despite the acclaim. The earliest mention of the developer comes two years later in issue 24 of ZZAP64, in Andrew Braybrook's follow up diary about writing the game Morpheus (April 1987 page 90). The same is true of fellow magazine CRASH where Graftgold is first mentioned in issue 47 (November 1987 page 11).

CRL

CRL House, 9 Kings Yard, Carpenters Road, London, E15

"A golden opportunity from Computer Rentals Limited." That's the eye-catching promise at the back of the October 1982 issue of YOUR COMPUTER (Vol 2 number 10, page 134). The text only advert looks basic but the tone is breezy. "If you have written some software, don't waste it on a small audience of family and friends. Send it to us, and we will take a good look at it. If we like it, we'll publish it, leaving you nothing more to do than cash your royalty cheques... we don't pay meanly... A royalty of £1.50 for each cassette sold is our offer and when you think of the size of the market, you can see how generous we are." The response to the advert must have been good because by January 1983 CRL, or Computer Rentals Limited as they preferred to be known, was advertising seven games in YOUR COMPUTER; Vol 3 issue 1 page 102.

Elite

Anchor House, Anchor Road, Aldridge, Walsall, WS9

The spiritual home of this blog is Anchor Road, Walsall. I've written before about my long fascination with the artwork on Elite's 1987 job advert and it's Gerry Anderson-esque vision of Anchor Road as the Moonbase Alpha of the Midlands. A trip to Anchor House was inevitable at some point. It just took slightly longer than expected because The Great Petrol Panic of autumn 2021 put paid to my first set of plans. It's going to be a while before the Travel Tube brings us to Anchor Road and before that address, before in fact Elite was even called Elite, the company had a more humble origin.

Melbourne House

Castle Yard House, Castle Yard, Richmond, TW10

Melbourne House was my first stop on an August 2021 trip across London, the day after Argos failed to deliver my washing machine (this bit is not relevant and would be removed by any decent sub-editor). It was my second full day of scouting old offices but only the first time I'd actually done any sensible planning. The first trip was done on an impulsive basis, like one of those films where Mickey Rooney suddenly goes "hey why don't we put on the show right here."