TOP TEN RARITIES
Deep pockets are compulsory if you want to acquire this little lot…
JETPAC
CODE: G27/R
Not the tape version, but the cartridge release, of course. None of the cart games sold very well, as they were also available on tape for around a third of the price, but now they’re the showpiece of any Sinclair collection. of the ten carts, Jetpac usually commands the highest price (around £70-80 in very good condition), probably because it’s such a classic game.
DISEASE DODGERS
CODE: 4327
Back in the day, all the kids wanted this ‘game’ that explored the relationship between health, diet and exercise. Actually, they didn’t at all, but collectors jolly well do now and they’re willing to pay £140-160 for it when it comes up for grabs. It may actually go for more, as a complete copy sold on ebay in August 2017 for a healthy £190.
PLANET PATROL
CODE: 4326
Looking at the cover art you’d be forgiven for thinking that this was a space shooter rather than an educational strategy title. Along with Disease Dodgers this is one of the rarest of the Science Horizons series developed by Five Ways. It fetches £100-£140, but back in december 2013 a copy sold on ebay for £363! Cosmic.
WORDSETTER
CODE: 4329
Fisher-marriot Software developed five numbered Learn To Read titles for Macmillan/sinclair in 1983, but it’s the later silver-box titles that are closely studied in collecting circles. This sentence-ordering card game is currently valued in the £120-£160 range, but has known to go for more (an ebay copy sold for £232 back in January 2016).
SOUNDABOUT
CODE: 4331
Another of the Learn To Read titles, and another obscure silver-box release that is now on the wishlist of many Sinclair collectors. This is one of the more difficult titles to value as its price has varied quite a bit over the years, but it’s never cheap. A copy went on ebay for £315 in december 2013, and more recently in January 2016 it fetched £228.
MACMAN’S MAGIC MIRROR
CODE: 4335
“Meet Macman, the canny Scot who takes children on a fun-packed maths adventure.” So reads the blurb on Magic Mirror, the first of the four Macman games. To acquire these titles nowadays really is a maths adventure, as you calculate how much of your overdraft they’ll chew up. A copy of this title sold on ebay for £240 in 2016.
MACMAN THE GREAT AND ESCAPE
CODE: 4336
Like all of the Macman titles this one hardly comes up for sale and when it does there’s always a commotion. As an example, a copy sold on ebay for £315 in december 2013, and another hit £225 in January 2016. When it surfaces again it will likely go for somewhere between those two values.
MACMAN THE TREASURE IN CAVES
CODE: 4334
More mischief from Mr Macman. each of the titles will easily fetch three figures. This one hit £175 on ebay in december 2013, and in August this year a copy sold for £299.99. Selling at a fixed price is becoming the norm these days so expect to see similar examples snapped up without a bidding war.
MACMAN THE CABER AND EATER
CODE: 4333
This is the big one. It has fetched varied prices in the past, but stands out thanks to an ebay auction in July 2013 where a copy sold for an incredible £448.23! To our knowledge this is the highest amount ever paid for a Speccy title. Who would have thought that a title like this would be so valuable?
THE PAWN
CODE: 5520
The QL titles are not too common and a few fetch good prizes. It’s the text adventures that are most sought after, with Classic Adventures valued at £25-£30, and this, the debut release of Magnetic Scrolls’ The Pawn, typically fetching £30-40. Value is dependent on condition (does the microdrive cart still work?) and whether the silver slipcase is present.