Ultimate Play the Game

 Ultimate Play the Game, an Leicestershire-based game created in Ashby-de-la-Zouch by Tim Stamper and Chris Stamper in 1982.[8] They were close friends with John Lathbury and Tim’s girlfriend (later wife), Carole Ward. Others from the Stamper family were also involved in the early operation and management of the business and was initially located in a building next to the family-owned newsagent. Chris and Tim were both involved on the development of arcade games such as Konami's Gyruss. Chris claimed to have been the "most experienced arcade videogame designer team in Britain". After tiring of working for other companies and leaving, he founded Ashby Computers and Graphics. The company's first trading in arcade conversion kits, before shifting into the market of home computer software making games under the Ultimate Play the Game name. Blue Print for Bally-Midway, Dingo, Grasspin and Saturn for Jaleco were the first arcade games to be released by Ashby. Ultimate's first release, Jetpac, was May 1983, and it was for the 16K Spectrum. Tim Stamper, in 1983 interview, mentioned that 16K machines were chosen because their smaller sizes meant they could develop more quickly. They could develop one or two games in 16K within a month. Jetpac was a commercial success. The Spectrum version sold over 300,000 copies, which provided the company with a high revenue of over PS1 million. Jetpac, Pssst. Tranz Am. and Cookie were the only four games ever released on 16K ROM for ZX Interface 2. ZX Interface 2. These four games were also released by Sinclair Research on cassette with distinctive silver inlay cards to be used for inclusion in ZX Spectrum bundles. Both games were well-received by the gaming press. CRASH magazine praised Ultimate's utilization of the additional memory Lunar Jetman offered. [15Sabre Wulf Sabre Wulf was released in 1984, the first installment of the Sabreman series and priced at a suggested retail price (PS9.95). The price of Ultimate games had been just PS5.50, which was typical for Spectrum arcade-style games at the time This rise was designed to stop pirates, the reasoning that if consumers were paying more for a game, they'd be less inclined to distribute copies. This was also the time of the introduction in Ultimate of the exclusive "big box" packaging. The packaging was made available in every Spectrum releases , with the exception of Gunfright. Sabre Wulf was able to sell over 350,000 copies on its own on the Spectrum. In late 1984, the Sabreman Series' two subsequent installments were released. Underwurlde was followed by Knight Lore. Knight Lore was a forced-perspective isometric viewpoint , also known as Filmation which was a huge leap forward in the home-game market. The other games that followed its model, like Batman and Head Over Heels, both from Ocean Software. Knight Lore as well as its Filmation sequels Alien 8 were actually completed before Sabre Wulf. However, Ultimate thought that it would affect negatively Sabre Wulf's revenue, so it was delayed until the latter part of 1984.