Thankfully, this story had a happy ending! After the failure of Masquerade, Kit Williams decided to try again and did everything possible to ensure no one could possibly pull a Dugald Thompson. He released a book with no title where the puzzle was to discover the title of the book. The prize(A gold Queen Bee statue and a copy of the book that actually had the title)would go to whoever could figure it out and come up with the most creative(non-verbal)way of sending the title to Williams himself. In the end, Steve Pearce sent in a small decorated handmade cabinet that revealed the title when the handle was turned and walked away with his rightfully won Queen Bee statue and uniquely titled copy of "The Bee On The Comb".

It makes me sad that they cheated the physics people. The pendant is really beautiful.

Hareraiser: £8.95 Hareraiser Season Pass: £8.95

Some plonker released a game on Steam that was supposedly a really hard puzzle with 16 levels. Nobody ever solved the first level because it's so haaaaaard. Disassembly showed that the game was just one level copy-pasted 16 times and there was no level change logic (or indeed game logic) implemented at all.

I did not expect that to be as fascinating as it ended up being.

The game was so bad, he essentially gave a TED talk about it. That's how bad it was.

Kit Williams did an un named book quest in the 80`s which with puzzles & pictures you had to find the title . It had a story based around the seasons and the result one season ousting out the next . The idea of the competition was to find the name of the book & convey it without using words . My entry got into the finals with many amazing others , I had to go to London to retrieve it . The name of the book was " The bee on the comb " so I made a bee hive , a large one which I had to carry on the tube with lots of dubious looks from fellow travellers .

I'm old. I had the book as a child, and later I was able to buy Bamber Gascoigne's book and learned the whole sordid story of Ken Thomas. What a disappointing end to a beautiful story. I'm glad Kit Williams and the pendant are still around!

This was an amazing story.

Glad I viewed this. Stuart is a fine storyteller and I hadn't known the whole story of Masquerade or even heard of Hareraiser before.

Plot twist, the spelling of “puzle” is the first clue

Heh, I remember how annoyed landowners and councils got due to people trespassing and digging up random bits of land thinking the hare was buried there. Williams got a lot of flak for that iirc.

If you're intimidated by the 38 minute video I still recommend you watch it. There's very little fluff. This dumb game just has that much of an interesting history behind it. And it's not just the usual "Oh no we tried to make a game but we didn't know it would take up so much time/money so we had to put it out unfinished"

That truly was a terrible old game I'd never heard of.

"Told you it was awful." Best ending of a presentation!

The story of Masquerade was truly fascinating, and what a sad thing that somebody actually got the answer absolutely correct and didn't know it.

I read 'Hareraiser' and thought it was a parody of the Hellraiser series with rabbits. Ah well.

Me, 36 minutes ago: "Worst Game Ever" are strong words. I mean, that's a very low bar to slide under. Me, just now: I am sorry I doubted you.

Great talk, thanks for uploading. Interestingly, at 9:18 he explains the words 'frog' and 'stone' didn't mean anything, but there is a picture in the book (#3) showing the hare sitting on a flat rock with frog’s eyes. In Ampthill Park, near St. Catherine's cross, there is a stone nicknamed the 'frogstone' for its rounded, lumpy shape (although apparently Kit Williams was unaware of this rock).

I wonder if that "Ken Thomas" guy got the computer game idea from "Pimania", released in 1982 (the year he got his hands on the golden hare.) Pimania was eventually solved and in 1985 its very genuine prize of the "Golden Sundial of Pi" was won, but not before many had accused Pimania of being an unsolvable scam. So did he think "so all you need to do is make a scam game and people will believe it"?

I'm happy the crowd guessed Jimmy Savile because when the question was asked, I immediately thought "Oh god... I really hope it wasn't Jimmy Savile".

So when he played the game I just did a stream of thought experiment. "The grass is like a carpet" means some place with open space, like the English countryside. Or perhaps a large garden. "The sun shines up" is some place that has a reflection, like water. "The count has begun" either means some place that has competitions, like a marathon, or some place with a visible clock tower, like a town square. "Help is here" refers to a military saying, like a cavalry charge. "Search from coast to coast" means it's inland, nowhere near the sea, meaning "The sun shines up" refers to a river or lake. So I came up with on or around the grounds of Castle Ashby, because it's centermost in the country, has all those things listed, and is pretentious enough to work for a guy who just won a golden pendant making a video puzzle.

19:37 "Now there's a feature on a laptop called mute..." Initial (speedy) thoughts: Oh wow! Was the title music purpously annoying in order to have solvers mute their TV? Then through some form of detection, would act as yet another herring, or actually act as an obscure clue (as the book was famous for)? "...It is a good feature." God damn it I love your commentary Stuart.

I wonder if the Voynich manuscript was some shady person saying," Hey buy this book and if you solve it you win big! Like the secrets to the Universe Big."

Many years ago (when I was a child, I think), while I was going through a box of books that I think someone was throwing out, I found a softcover version of 'Masquerade'. I still have it on my shelf. I had no clue that there was a 'sequel' of sorts in the form of a computer game until now. A fascinating presentation as always.

What amazes me about Ashens is that some people are good at either commentary, acting, or presentation. Ashens does ALL of them easily and naturally. It's seriously a rare gift to do all of those three VERY different things well.

Not merely the most technically incompetent. Not merely the most overhyped. Definitely the most evil, with the most evil backstory, and the most evil reason for existing as far as we know. Brilliant story of, in the deepest sense, the worst game.

An excellent story. No really, this was fascinating.

"I love humans. Always seeing patterns in things that aren't there." - The 8th Doctor

When I was a kid in the late 90s I had a CD-ROM game called Treasure Quest which had a $1m prize behind it. It seems to be a much better game than Hareraiser, but it was apparently plagued with errors, and the end prize is also steeped in much mystery.

In order to make through this I had to close my eyes and picture hands over a brown sofa.

I wouldn't have clicked on this if I hadn't seen that he was holding a copy of Masquerade. I was born in the 90s but I spent hours and hours on that book.

So Hareraiser is the British home computer version of SwordQuest?

Oh gosh darn. Those poor teachers. Gee wiz.

Hareraiser is completely solvable. The first part of the game is a map of the Harrods department store, a hint about this was given in one of the game magazines, when the TV presenter went there from the program about this kind of games and treasure hunt. But the second part could be "passed" only for the BBC micro platform - it was there that there were "rooms" with the name of the owner of Haresoft (before that he was anonymous) and the digital code that was needed to receive the prize. the hare was in Harrods Bank, used as collateral for opening Haresoft. if someone knows how to look at game resources, he will also find this code in all versions of the game. but the ad and articles were hinted at "for the whole family" and it was emphasized that "can be used on the school computer" and "we did two parts so that people of any age could win". there are clouds - lamps, trees - stairs, spiders descending on a cobweb - elevators, descriptions below, for example, an indication of bright stars - a description of the ceiling, etc. This is best seen in a room with an escalator. I spent 3 days on the solution. sorry for mistakes, i don't know english.

If it were indeed Jimmy Savile, then perhaps a child of 10 could have had as much success as an Oxford don.

I was there! I got my book and DVD signed by him, easily one of the best parts of the year for me

Stuart is the epitome of all that is great with the world of today.

haresoft is now called EA

Wow, I had no intention of sitting through 40 mins of talking about an 8-bit puzzle game but this was an absolutely fascinating story i'd never heard about before, admittedly I'd grown old enough to get into computer gaming a couple of years after this debacle, but either way amazing story and now I am off to Ebay to find a copy of the Masqurade book. ;-)

That was so much more entertaining than I thought it would be.

That was fantastic. I'm so happy you posted this, Dr Ashen is one of the best KZfaqrs around and the story/ies of the golden hare fascinate me.

The reason the physics teachers missed the box was because Kit Williams' calculations were slightly off(he admitted as much later). He didn't realize this at the time because he and Bamber Gascoigne buried the casket at night.

I kinda want my epitaph to be "told you it was awful".

I was so disappointed I missed this! For some reason, I couldn't find out when the talk was happening! Thanks for uploading!

The cover of Masquerade wouldn't look out of place on a progressive-rock album.

This reminds me of the SwordQuest games for the Atari 2600 in that there was real treasure to be had. That did not end well either though, except for 2 people who won 2 of the 5 treasures.

If anyone out there feels cheated and conned for having been talked into buying games like No Man's Sky, find peace in knowing, at least you didn't buy Hareraiser.

I've watched this 5 times now. Still just as entertaining.

The game is called "Hareraiser" and it's about solving an elaborate puzzle? *Easter Bunny:* "We have such sights to show you"

KZfaq kept recommending this so I finally gave in and started watching it. I was expecting to just watch a minute or two to see what it was about and ended up watching the whole thing. Quite the plot twist there at the end!

"You Are My Sunshine" No, you are NOT.

Oh, the shady conning gits! Took a really great idea and completely shat on it. That was great, hugely interesting story. Incidentally, the image of the swimming lady looks to me a fair bit like Carol Vorderman...or possibly Louise Redknapp.

Legit thought I was hearing that guy's name wrong this whole time, but nope... It actually is "Bamber Gascoigne". He died earlier this year :( RIP

I seem to recall someone claimed they had found a solution to Hareraiser, which was that the forest is a symbolic map of Harrods, and that the hare was in a safe deposit box there. This would make a lot of sense, as they couldn't just leave it lying around unburied, and would also mean that the Anneka Rice clue was just the fact she was there. But there's no way to check.

Ashens can litteraly talk about shit on the ground and I'd be absolutely mesmerized

I remember my parents had 'Masquerade' when I was really, really young. As a 3 or 4 year old I spent quite a lot of time looking for the hare that was hidden in each of the pictures in the book. The 'Where's Wally?' of its day :)

_The British version of SwordQuest, ladies and gentleman._

Some University should pick Stewart up to be a lecturer for history of games.

I'd seen a picture of the Golden Hare somewhere online, perhaps to do with it being on display, but I knew nothing more. It is a shame two things so beautiful as the Hare and the book should have been dragged down by that age old enemy, stupid humans.

This story was brilliant. I still don't believe that this was a game or a puzzle just a scam. I don't know if that counts as the worst game ever.

Very glad this is here, still kicking my self that i missed your talk. 10/10 i think you should become a university lecturer ashens.

He's so good at talking and keeping your attention! His humor is refreshing as well.

10:00 The red letters FROG show the frog also pointing to four of the letters with his limbs.. Incredible book.

To be fair to the audience, I also would've guessed Jimmy Saville as the celebrity.

I wanted to cry when you delved into the bad luck of the physics teachers, they, Kit, and Bamber deserved more

I wonder if Kit Williams moonlighted as the Riddler in his spare time with how complex the puzzle is.

What a wonderful presentation, I'll be watching more of your videos for sure.

Rewatching this for like the hundredth time, something occurred to me: did anyone try giving these charlatans the answer of "the Hare is still with the head of the company who didn't bury it anywhere"?

Stewart is so well spoken and this is one of the most underrated videos online right now

OKAY KZfaq. I WATCHED IT, OKAY?! And tbh I wasn't disappointed. It's a great story!

2 years later this brilliant video turns up on my recommendation 👍 thanks KZfaq 🤔

Hareraiser is supposed to be solved by the hints at the bottom of the screen giving directions. "The Grass is Like a Carpet" means "Down/South", (Carpet is on the floor) "The Sun Shines Up" means "Up/North", (obviously) "The Count Has Begun" means "Up/North" (Hands on a clock start at 12, pointing up) etc, etc. Gimme my £30,000.

Ashen has a talent for speaking in public like this and holding people's interest. I enjoyed this very much.

This guy is a really talented public speaker. I mean let's face it, the subject matter shouldn't really be that interesting - a crappy old Com64-era game... but he manages to turn it into a really captivating seminar. That takes serious talent.

Ashens talks on gaming is as interesting as Tim's talks on toys. Wonderful stuff!

I was at Ashen's Hareraiser talk at Norwich Gaming Festival 2017.

I actually went to this talk and I was a few minutes late. I genuinely wondered how much I'd missed but turns out that you can hear me come in at 1:21. Anyway, if you haven't watched it yet, I'd thoroughly recommend it.

I had this book as a little kid in the 70/80s and I was so obsessed with solving the puzzle! The illustrations were so incredibly beautiful that the whole book was just magic to me. How sad that Kit was conned like this. 😢

Fantastic discussion about the book! You need to do more of these.

At this point this video is like a comfort watch for me, I end up thinking about this whole Masquerade Hareraiser situation a lot

I actually thought this was going to be just a simple rant and/or small discussion with the audience about bad graphics, sloppy collision, an attempt at implementing curves etc... But damn Stuart did his research! Very informative, detailed and constructed very, very well. Great video, even my friends are impressed and they're a bunch of pompous arse holes... 10/10 from me!

When I was a kid, my mom had a stack of old Smithsonian Magazines and the Golden Hare contest was mentioned in one and I always remembered it (and a riddle about love that apparently had nothing to do with the answer) and wondered what happened with the contest. The story was far more interesting than I could have imagined. Thanks for solving that mystery for me!

Video game historians: "E.T for the Atari 2600 and Superman 64 are the worst!" Hareraiser: "Allow us introduce ourselves!"

The difficulty of the puzzle really speaks to Kit's intelligence. Too bad the person who solved it basically cheated then scammed several people using his winnings.

Rest in Peace Bamber Gascoigne 1935-2022 💎📺📚

Holy crap my family had this book back when I was a kid in the 80's. I was quite fascinated with it and it kinda freaked me out, like a Dali surrealist painting.

I come back to these every now and then just because they're so fun.

Wonderful narrative on what was not so much a game, but more of a mass of beeping confusion. What an amazing bit of scamming on the part of Haresoft,

Hey look! It's Simon Pegg!

I swear if Ashens was one of my University professors i wouldnt mind lectures so much

Very interesting! I only recently became aware of buried treasure art puzzle games like this due to the recent episode of the Travel Channel's "Expedition Unknown" on the similar U.S. book "The Secret" (Byron Preiss, 1982; inspired, no doubt, by 1979's "Masquerade"). That book contained clues to treasures in 12 different U.S. locations, and 10 of them still haven't been found to this day. BTW, man, pretty tough room! I didn't think British audiences were this stingy with the courtesy laughter! 🧐

I could listen to Stuart for hours. Oh wait, I have. Not only have I listened to him for countless hours, I even like to fall asleep re-listening to former videos. This is now added to my sleepy-time list. Stuart, if you see this, marry me.

Fascinating, makes me wonder why this game was never referenced in Ready Player One.

Thank you so much for putting this up, and of course, thank you Stuart Ashen for doing the talk. I had never heard of this game before I watched this, I had no idea it had such a crazy backstory and history behind it.

This was way more interesting than I thought it would be! Thank you for the story, Ashens!

I love these "Terrible Old Games" live presentations. So entertaining.

Oh holy crap, I didn't even realize when I clicked the link. I only realized when he started talking that this is Ashens. The same Ashens that I've been watching tell me about random tat for years. xD Awesome.

Bamber Gascoigne sounds like an amazing name for a Gnome. Thanks for the info. This was a fun thing to know about a puzzle somewhat older than me (if just barely).

Very nice little presentation, well done!