Ludography
Hareraiser cover

1984 · Adventure

Hareraiser

1984 video game

Released
1984
Platforms
Acorn ElectronAmstrad CPCBBC Microcomputer SystemCommodore 64Commodore C64/128/MAXCommodore VIC-20Dragon 32/64MSXVIC-20ZX Spectrum
Genres
Adventure
Developers
—
Publishers
—
Modes
Single-player
Perspective
Side view
Country
United Kingdom

About

Hareraiser is a video game released in 1984 in the United Kingdom in two parts: Prelude and Finale. The game was published for Acorn Electron, Amstrad CPC, BBC Micro Model B, Commodore 64, VIC-20, Dragon 32, MSX, Oric Atmos, and ZX Spectrum at £8.95 for each part.

The solvers of Prelude would also then have to buy and solve Finale. They could then enter a competition to locate the prize, the bejewelled 18 carat "Golden Hare" pendant featured on the cover. The prize was worth £30,000 and would be awarded to the first winner of the game and found the hidden location (in the real world) first.

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Gameplay

The game is a title screen with the game rules and a series of graphical screens showing grass, sky, and trees with text clues at the top and bottom of the screen. The hints in the first part of the game, "Prelude," are well-known proverbs and sayings. The only interaction is pressing the cursor keys to follow the hare, which moves across the screen and disappears to one side. "Rooms" are a non-Euclidean space - the user wanting to go back and pressing the appropriate key did not always return to the same place, sometimes ending up in a different "room."

The game also presents a title screen with the rules of the game and a series of graphical screens, the action takes place in the evening (night). The hints at the top and bottom of the screen are specific search instructions, information that not all of the words in the hints are in order, and a numeric code common to all copies of the game.

Reception

The game was awarded 3/10 in Sinclair User with reviewer Richard Price struggling to find any reason to play the game except "the sincere need to get rich".

At the Norwich Gaming Festival in 2017, comedian and computer game historian Stuart Ashen described and showed the game play, and called it "quite possibly the worst video game ever," further revealing that the solution to the videogame's predecessor had been discovered via cheating. Ashen further stated that he believed the puzzle was intentionally designed to be unsolvable so that Haresoft would not lose the art piece (the golden hare).

Releases by platformdates and regions as published

PlatformReleasedRegions
BBC Microcomputer System31 December 1984Worldwide
Acorn Electron31 December 1984Worldwide
Amstrad CPC31 December 1984Worldwide
Commodore C64/128/MAX31 December 1984Worldwide
Commodore VIC-2031 December 1984Worldwide
Dragon 32/6431 December 1984Worldwide
MSX31 December 1984Worldwide
ZX Spectrum31 December 1984Worldwide

Games like this

Collections3 collections

Platform libraries

Description adapted from its source, CC BY-SA 4.0.