As explained before in my first post about Old Spectrum Mags that I’m going through all the old Your Spectrum and Your Sinclair magazines in the run up to the ZX Spectrum Next launch. Here’s my look at the highlights of Your Spectrum Issue 07 from September 1984.
All images are taken from the Internet Archive. Here is the full magazine if you want to take a closer look. Kudos to Jason Scott for uploading it. https://archive.org/details/your-spectrum-magazine-07
Check out the ad below. Oh how times change. Most kids these days wouldn’t even know what a tape is. I used to dress exactly like both of these kids in this ad by the way.
Much has been written over the past couple of decades about the demise of Imagine, but it’s interesting to read this fresh report about it when it actually happened.
I liked how the Sinclair Watch piece below mentions Sir Clive Sinclair making an appearance on Spitting Image. He really had made it into the public psyche of the time.
Matthew Smith has finally been knocked off the top two spots! And it’s Ultimate that is doing the damage, with two great games, Lunar Jetman and Sabre Wulf.
At last. The first mail order games list ad! I used to love scouring these lists for bargains that I didn’t have yet. This children, was the equivalent of our Amazon back in the day. Totally enthralling.
I’m not too sure that Health & Safety today would allow adverts telling children to play their mains powered video games in the bath!
Being based in Scotland in my youth I was never really aware about the ZX Microfairs held at Ally Pally back in the day. But you heard lots of interesting things about them today in interviews with people involved in the early industry. Would be great to pop to one now in a time machine. I bet you had great access to some industry legends who would become very well known in the future.
Check the bottom right advert. Hiring video games! I was never actually aware of any service like this back in the day. Quite a good idea. I hope they asked people to rewind their tapes when they returned them!
‘Practical Software’ is a very aptly named confident. Glad it wasn’t called ‘Exciting Software’. Your first computerised database! This probably was pretty exciting for any horticulturalists back in the day to be honest. I just love how they brag that it takes “only 80 seconds to find the ideal plants to fit your requirements”.
Ooh another mail order games list. Love it. So many games!
Kosmic Kanga. This ad certainly grabs your attention.
I never knew about electronic magazines like this back in the day. What a great idea though.
Here’s another ‘first’ for this issue. I used to love the Input/Output section of Your Sinclair. This is where it all started, here in Your Spectrum Issue 7. I loved circling the items of interest with a pen and then seeing what exciting hardware peripherals I might try to persuade my parents to buy. Very interesting to read what this early version has in it. The adult me is now slightly wary of the two Pen Pal entries talking about Italian boys and wanting pen pals about 14 years old when they like Frankie Goes To Hollywood.
Very interesting piece with a few insights into how Sir Clive Sinclair handled challenges along his journey.
Tune in soon for the highlights of Issue 8.