Wessex Max LOBB (1984)

In 1983, Wessex Electronics, whose head office was located just a few minutes' drive from The Haunted Hare, was looking to enter the burgeoning computer games market. That summer, the company's chairman visited the Hare and happened upon a Lobb tournament. So beguiled was he by the game that he decided it should become the flagship title of the company's new gaming division, with ambitions to rival the recently released and enormously popular International Soccer.

Millions of pounds were invested in the development and release of LOBB, which launched in 1984 alongside the company's new Wessex Max home computer. Unfortunately, sales were dismally slow, and a widespread recall of faulty machines proved catastrophic. Wessex Electronics filed for insolvency the following year, leaving LOBB as one of the most expensive commercial failures in the short history of British computer gaming.

Contributed by Mike Hankin