Beau Jolly | Code Like It's 198x

Beau Jolly sold other people’s games. It bought the rights to games that had already been released, put several on one or two cassettes, and sold the pack for about the price of a single new game. Computer Gamer’s reviewer saw where the idea came from in 1987. “The computer business becomes more like the music business with every month that goes by,” he wrote: “stars, charts, promotion budgets and, increasingly, exploitation of the back catalogue. Beau Jolly is a bit like K-Tel: grab the rights to some hits, repackage them for maximum appeal and count the profits.” Beau Jolly began by buying most of the games of Imagine Software as that company went under in 1984, and it was still making compilations for the Amiga eleven years later.

Fast facts

Company: Beau-Jolly Limited, incorporated 21 December 1983, still registered at Companies House.
Address: 19A New Broadway, Ealing, London W5, in 1984–85; later 29a Bell Street, Reigate, Surrey.
Director in 1984: Colin Ashby.
Ties: described in 1984 as the sister company of Nouveau Records.
Series: Mega Hits, Computer Hits, Five Star Games, Big Box, Power Pack, The Greatest and the Beau Jolly Compilation.

Imagine’s back catalogue

In the summer of 1984 the Liverpool publisher Imagine was running out of money. Sinclair User reported in its August issue that, “in a last-ditch effort”, Imagine had decided to sell the rights to its games to “London-based Beau-Jolly, sister company to Nouveau Records”. Imagine would keep a royalty, “rumoured as being as low as 10 percent of the retail price”. Beau-Jolly planned to sell the games in packs of four or six for the Spectrum and Commodore 64.

The sale came before the end. Imagine was wound up by court order on 9 July 1984, and Sinclair User’s September issue reported that “most Imagine games have already been sold to distributor Beau-Jolly”. So the games did not reach Beau Jolly from a liquidator: Imagine sold them itself, in its last weeks.

For Christmas 1984 Beau-Jolly packed them up. A six-game pack for the 48K Spectrum and a four-game pack for the 16K machine mixed Imagine’s established games, such as Arcadia and Alchemist, with newer ones such as Cosmic Cruiser and BC Bill. Mastertronic took over the distribution, and Sinclair User reported that the packs were backed by £250,000 of television advertising on the ITV network, aimed at more than 20 million viewers. Colin Ashby, a director of Beau-Jolly, said: “Mastertronic got it right from the word go, and we are very pleased to be working with them. The market for budget games is large and growing larger.” Ashby also wrote to Dragon User offering Dragon 32 owners a four-game pack of their own.

Mega Hits and Computer Hits

In spring 1985 Beau Jolly licensed ten hits from nine other publishers for Mega Hits, on two cassettes: 3D Starstrike, Blue Thunder, Fall Guy, Son of Blagger, Automania, Bugaboo, Psytron, Wheelie, Blade Alley and Penetrator. Sinclair User sold it to its readers at £16.49, against a shop price of £19.99, and pointed out that the ten games bought separately “would cost you well over £70”. CRASH reported a quarter of a million pounds of television advertising for the launch, and noted that six of the ten had been CRASH Smashes. The advertisements listed W H Smith, Boots, Woolworth, Asda and Tesco among the shops selling it.

The Computer Hits series followed at £9.95 for ten games, in versions for the Commodore 64, Spectrum, Amstrad and the Acorn machines. A typical volume needed many separate deals. 10 Computer Hits 4 for the Commodore 64, which ZZAP!64 listed in January 1988, held Bride of Frankenstein from Ariolasoft, Alleykat from Hewson, Classic Snooker and Magic Madness from Anco, Starquake and Skaterock from Bubble Bus, Uchi Mata from Martech, Iridis Alpha from Llamasoft, Dandy from Electric Dreams and Sacred Armour of Antiriad from Palace: ten games from eight publishers.

In the charts

The packs sold like new games. In Acorn User’s charts for May 1986, Computer Hits was number two among Electron games, down from number one, and number six on the BBC Micro, alongside Yie Ar Kung-Fu, Citadel and Repton 2. In February 1987 Computer Hits 10 Volume 3 went straight in at number one in the Electron chart, with Beau Jolly’s Five Star Games at number eight. On the Spectrum, Computer Hits Vol 4 stood at number seven in the Gallup full-price chart printed by Your Sinclair early in 1988, between Road Runner and Exolon.

The 16-bit years

By 1990 Beau Jolly had moved to Reigate in Surrey and was selling compilations for the Amiga, Atari ST and PC. Power Pack, at £24.99, spent the first months of 1991 in Amiga Format’s chart. The Greatest, at £32.99, combined Dune, Lure of the Temptress and Jimmy White’s Whirlwind Snooker, and Amiga Format’s 1993 games guide listed it as Beau Jolly’s best seller, with a review score of 91%. A Commodore 64 pack, Big Box 2, was still on sale at £16.99 in 1993.

The last big one was the Beau Jolly Compilation of 1994–95, which put Cannon Fodder, The Settlers, The Chaos Engine and T2 in one box. It reached number three in Amiga Power’s chart in June 1995 and was still in mail-order lists in 1996. The company itself is still registered at Companies House, with a director, Nigel Mason, recorded since before 1992.

Sources

Sinclair User issue 29, August 1984: news, “Imagine teeters on the brink” (the sale to Beau-Jolly, Nouveau Records, the royalty, the packs of four or six).
Sinclair User issue 30, September 1984: news, Imagine’s closure (“most Imagine games have already been sold to distributor Beau-Jolly”).
Sinclair User issue 33, December 1984: news, “Bargain basement” (Mastertronic’s distribution, the £250,000 ITV campaign, the Christmas packs, Colin Ashby’s quotation); software directory (19A New Broadway, Ealing).
Dragon User, December 1984: letter from Colin Ashby, Beau Jolly (the Dragon pack).
Sinclair User issue 37, April 1985: Mega Hits reader offer (the ten games, £19.99 and £16.49) and Beau Jolly advertisement (the shops).
CRASH issue 15, April 1985, p. 58: news (a quarter of a million pounds on television advertising; ten games on two cassettes for £19.95; six CRASH Smashes). CRASH names the pack “Megabits”.
Commodore User, November 1985: 10 Commodore Computer Hits review (£9.95).
Acorn User issue 46, May 1986, p. 121, and issue 55, February 1987: software charts.
Computer Gamer issue 23, February 1987, p. 31: Five Star Games (BBC) review, with the K-Tel comparison.
Your Sinclair issue 25, January 1988: Gallup full-price chart (Computer Hits Vol 4).
ZZAP!64 issue 33, January 1988, p. 94: compilations round-up (10 Computer Hits 4, £9.95, contents).
Amiga Action issue 15, December 1990: Beau Jolly advertisement (29a Bell Street, Reigate).
Amiga Format issues 19–21, February–April 1991: charts (Power Pack, £24.99).
Amiga Format Special issue 7, 1993: games guide (Beau Jolly’s address; The Greatest, £32.99, reviewed in issue 46, 91%; Big Box 2).
Commodore Format issue 30, March 1993: Big Box 2 review (£16.99).
Amiga Power issue 50, June 1995: chart (Beau Jolly Compilation at number three).
Companies House, Beau-Jolly Limited, company 01779929 (public record, web): incorporation, status and officers. https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/01779929