Advertised in Home Computer Weekly issue 104, Rhyme Land was to be an educational game where children can develop their skills of logic and deduction, improve their reading and spelling, and at the same time have tremendous fun.
There were 33 locations to explore with colourful graphics, but what happened to this intriguing game? Unfortunately it seemed that nothing of the C64, Amstrad, MSX or Spectrum conversions ever surfaced and was very much at large.
In the advert, it showcased what seemed to be C64 screenshots that are shown, with the use of the standard Commodore ROM character set. Thanks to Lee Heise, we were able to make full quality scans from a rare Anirog brochure, showing another screenshot and high quality artwork that would have been on the final cover.
We were then in later years lucky to see one of the developers, Roger Clements, come forward and reveal that the game was released on their own label “The Jolly Rogers” originally in 1984 under the name of My First Adventure. This was before Anirog were due to release the game under the name of Rhyme Land. Sadly they didn’t see any payment for this.
It lives!
The great news was that My First Adventure existed and was already been preserved and out there already. So Rhyme Land had been within our grasp all along! See the download if you want to check it out for yourself.
However, we kept this entry open in the hope we would find out what happened to the Anirog release. Was it ever released, or did Anirog decide against it?
Well, collector John Christian Lønningdal got in touch in September 2021 to confirm that they had managed to find an original copy from someone in Norway. This is the first time an original copy has surfaced, which suggests there was a very limited release.
John confirms that the instructions cover C64, Amstrad and ZX Spectrum and were in English only. Roger Clements and Roger Russell are both credited too.
For now, John has provided a hi-res photo of the game for you to see, and will be sending over a dump of the game very soon – so we can compare to the original release.
In the meantime, contributor Luc777 kindly got in touch as they had a disk backup of the Anirog version and have provided it. You can now find this with the downloads!
Contributions: Lee Heise, Roger Clements, John Christian Lønningdal, Luc777
Supporting content
Available downloads
- Game_Rhyme_Land (zip)
- MY1STADV_10363_01 (zip)
Gallery
Update history
- 06/02/22 – Anirog version of game added to site.
- 07/09/21 – Original copy has been found! Details updated and entry heavily tidied up.
- 27/10/18 – Game has been online all along as My First Adventure :) Updated entry.
- 18/10/15 – Hi-res scan and screens added thanks to loan from Lee Heise
- 08/12/14 – Photo of catalogue added thanks to Lee Heise
The game does exist, Roger Clements was my father in law and I have seen copies of both games in the house, “My First Adventure” and “Rhyme Land”! I haven’t played them myself but I believe my brother in law managed to play them.
Thanks Adam – we have someone else who has confirmed having an original of Rhyme Land too, so it just seems it was released in limited numbers. Hoping to have the Anirog version preserved and available here soon.
I remember it well. I wrote it as “My First Adventure” using the Jolly Roger’s name.
I then gave it to ANIROG, who sold copies, but I never got a penny.
Are you the author of the game? This is so cool. Do you still have copies of the game somewhere? Any chance you want to make it available to the community? That would be awesome.
I have regretted throwing away my old cassettes since I read about the game here. It would be nice to see it again.
The game did exist, I ordered it from Anirog back in 1985(6?). I had it on tape and it’s been in my possession for years. Unfortunately I don’t think I have it anymore. :-(