Sadly the same could not be said of their administration, and despite being one of the UK's top software houses, their finances were in disarray. Two titles, Psyclapse and Bandersnatch - so-called Megagames - were blanket-advertised in the specialist press, despite the fact that they were never actually finished; and by mid-1984 the company was fast going down the tubes. In stepped Beau Jolly, who bought the rights to all Imagine's back catalogue plus several unreleased games, allowing Imagine to concentrate on developing the Megagames.

The first of these unreleased Imagine games was launched by Beau Jolly this week 15 years ago. BC Bill was a caveman. As such his life consisted of looking for women, clubbing them over the head and then dragging them back to his cave to produce children. Once he had a few on the go, he then had to go out and hunt food, using the same method, to keep them happy and also fight off the odd dinosaur and other cavemen who coveted his wives. Each child that reached maturity (10!) earned Bill a bonus point and then left the cave. And that was it. Had it been released today, BC Bill would no doubt have given those organisations who protect battered women a new cause and, well, it wouldn't be released today, let's be honest.

BC Bill bombed, as did the only other Imagine gem that Beau Jolly released, Pedro, an everyday tale of a Mexican gardener. Beau Jolly recouped some of their investment by sticking all the good imagine games - including Arcadia, Jumping Jack, Zoom and Ah Diddums - in a compilation pack. Imagine, the company, duly folded but several people who clambered clear of the debris later went on to fame and fortune, not least of whom was Ian Hetherington, co-founder of Psygnosis.