ZX81

From Pixels to Perfume: Retro Gaming Scents You Didn’t Know You Needed

September 16, 2025 By ausretrogamer

Eau de nostalgia

Just when you thought retro gaming couldn’t get any cooler (or weirder), Andrews UK drops a surprise that’s equal parts nostalgic and nose-tingling: a collection of premium fragrances inspired by classic home computers. Yep, you read that right — retro gaming perfumes are officially a thing, and we’re absolutely here for it.

Launching just in time for Christmas 2025, the Retro Gaming Fragrance Collection features four unique scents that pay tribute to the legendary machines that shaped our pixelated childhoods: THEC64, The Spectrum, ZX80, and ZX81.

🕹️ The Lineup: Smell Like a Legend

Here’s what’s in the olfactory lineup:

THEC64 Fragrance Pour Homme
Bold, sophisticated, and just a little bit mysterious — think citrus, florals, and a rich patchouli-musk base. It’s the scent equivalent of booting up your C64 and hearing that SID chip sing.
The Spectrum Fragrance Pour Homme
A vibrant blend of bergamot, woody warmth, and musky depth. It’s like loading Jet Set Willy on a rainy afternoon — comforting, chaotic, and unmistakably British.
ZX80 Eau de Parfum
Feminine, elegant, and sparkling with florals, soft fruits, and creamy vanilla musk. A scent that’s as graceful as the ZX80 was groundbreaking.
ZX81 Pour Homme
Refined and masculine, with lavender, leather, and aromatic freshness. It’s the kind of fragrance that says, “Yes, I coded in BASIC — and I smelled great doing it.”

🧴 More Than Just a Scent — It’s a Collectible

Each 100ml bottle comes in packaging that nods to the iconic design of its namesake computer. These aren’t just fragrances — they’re wearable collectibles for the retro gaming elite. Whether you’re heading to a gaming expo or just want to smell like your favourite 8-bit machine, this collection has you covered.

And let’s be honest — they really missed a trick not bottling that hot C64 PSU smell. Imagine a cologne called “Thermal Drift” — notes of melting plastic, ozone, and the faint whiff of a CRT monitor warming up. Eau de nostalgia!

🎁 Pre-Order Now for Christmas 2025

The Retro Gaming Fragrance Collection is available for pre-order now via AUK Direct. Whether you’re buying for a retro gaming fanatic or just want to spice up your shelf with something truly unique, this is one gift that’ll raise eyebrows — and maybe a few pulses.

Sinclair Book of Remembrance (SBOR)

November 17, 2021 By ausretrogamer

We received the following message from a friend on behalf of Jim (from SBOR – Sinclair Book of Remembrance) so we thought we would share with you all as we think it is a great idea for the community to share their memories of Sinclair’s computers and also remembering Sir Clive Sinclair.

The Sinclair Book of Remembrance (SBOR) is a project dedicated to the memory of Sir Clive Sinclair who sadly passed away on the 16th September 2021.

Moved as I was, SBOR has been a personal labour of love, to do something in honour of “Uncle Clive”. It is not a business project. It’s completely free and non-monetised.

The objective is to create a unique digital monument, composed of our shared Sinclair memories encoded together so that the final product represents each and every one of us.
For those thinking this is an NFT thing – it is definitely not! It is an opportunity for each of us to share a memory, and together create a unique dedication to Sir Clive.

I am asking that each of us contribute a Sinclair memory, by simply sending an email with your story (with up to 4 image attachments). By sending your email to [email protected] it will trigger the system to automatically create an entry to the SBOR site – for example: https://sbor.uk/m/1?code=41ce. You will receive a reply containing the link to your contribution, which I would urge you to share far and wide!

At a pre-determined date, say the 1-year anniversary of Sir Clive’s passing, all of the entries will be combined and encoded into a single unique value. This will be unique in the universe and will represent all of our combined memories of what Sinclair meant to us and something we can all share in.

Micro Men: Clive Sinclair vs Chris Curry

May 31, 2015 By ausretrogamer

If you are tired of the same old documentary style films about the history of the British home computer industry, then Micro Men (2009) might be right up your alley. Micro Men tells the story of legendary inventor Sir Clive Sinclair battling it out with ex-employee Chris Curry, founder of Acorn Computers, for dominance in the fledgling computer market. The rivalry comes to a head when the BBC announce their Computer Literacy Project, with the stated aim of putting a micro in every school in Britain. When Acorn wins the contract, Sinclair is furious, and determines to outsell the BBC Micro with his ZX Spectrum computer. What transpires grips you like a vice for the duration of the film, only letting go once the credits roll some one hour and twenty minutes later.

Alexander Armstrong plays Sir Clive to a tee, and Martin Freeman is perfectly cast as Chris Curry, Clive’s eventual nemesis. Scottish Director, Saul Metzstein truly captures the fervor of the British home computer rush of the late 70s and early 80s. If you were a fan of British home computing, or a computing historian, then do yourself a favour and watch Micro Men – it will be the best 80 minutes you’ve watched about the battle between Sinclair and Acorn Computers.

Now, if only someone would make a film adaptation of Brian Bagnall’s Commodore: A Company on Edge book!

video source: gimpymoo
material source: BBC