The Rubber-Keyed Wonder asked Kickstarter for £30,000 when it went live on 1 October. By the next day Time Extension had the total at just under £49,000, roughly £19,000 over target.
It’s a book about the ZX Spectrum, written by Kim Justice and published by Golden Slumbers Ltd. It’s also a companion to the 2024 documentary of the same name, and the Spectrum itself turns 45 in 2027.
Where the campaign stands
This is a live crowdfunding campaign, not a book yet. It runs until 2 November 2026, nothing has been printed, and every pound is a pledge.
I couldn’t find a confirmed delivery date. One book-listing site says 2027, and that’s the only date I came across. I haven’t quoted pledge prices here, because they’re best read on the campaign page itself.
What the money buys
Kim Justice previously wrote Arcade Decades – ’80s Edition. The Spectrum book runs to more than 200 pages of written and visual history, with contributions from major figures around the platform. It covers 48 games. Time Extension credits the documentary to directors Anthony and Nicola Caulfield.
Rewards start with a digital copy and climb through paperback and hardback to a Collector’s Edition. That one is a run of 480 individually numbered copies with an exclusive dust cover, bookmarks and a 42-minute documentary by Gracious Films.
Forty-eight is a very small number
The Spectrum’s library is huge, and the book picks 48 games out of it. I haven’t seen the list. Every selection of 48 Spectrum games is wrong for somebody, and the comment threads will find the gaps before a single copy is printed.
I’d still take a book that’s willing to leave things out over one that tries to be complete and ends up a catalogue. Which game would you fight to keep in? And which of the obvious ones would you quietly drop?
