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Founded by the Stamper brothers, Tim and Chris, along with Carol Stamper (Tim's wife), Ultimate Play The Game is amongst the most fondly remembered UK publisher/developers of the early 1980s. The label "Ultimate" was in fact the trading name of A.C.G. (Ashby Computers and Graphics), which probably answers the question "who the heck is this ACG I see on the title screens?" Selecting one or two key titles from its catalogue is like picking a favourite child, but JetPac, Atic Atac & Knight Lore are stand-outs. And Sabre Wulf. And Tranz-AM.
The company is best known amongst the Sinclair Spectrum crowd, but its titles were so massively popular that they found their way onto the Vic-20, BBC/Electron and in later years the Amstrad CPC and C-64.
By the mid 1980s the company sold its catalogue to US Gold which continued to release games under the Ultimate label until 1987. In 1988 the label was closed down and Ultimate was no more, however in typical videogame tradition, that's not where the Ultimate tale ends.
The Stamper brothers went on the form Rare which, after a fruitful relationship with Nintendo (Goldeneye!) and a 2002 acquisition by Microsoft, when on to publish remakes of Sabre Wulf and Jetpac.
Software Highlights from Credited Titles
Ultimate Play The Game's first work that SPOnG is aware of is the 1983 title, "Jetpac" (Vic-20).
The company has been involved titles released on the C64, Vic-20, Spectrum 48K, BBC/Electron, Amstrad CPC and MSX.
The company's most recent involvement was on the 1987 release "Martianoids" (Spectrum 48K).
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