Sending letters and birthday cards is about to get a whole lot more exciting in the UK, as Royal Mail announces a new set of classic gaming stamps.

There are 12 different designs set to be available in total; Royal Mail says that the stamps are "celebrating the joy of gaming with pioneering and influential UK-designed games from the 1980s and '90s". Perhaps the most special of the lot is a pack of four that chart the evolution of Tomb Raider and its protagonist, Lara Croft, but we have a rundown of all the other games represented below, too.

If you like the look of these, you can pre-order a full set from the Royal Mail website for £14.25. They'll also be going on general sale at 7,000 Post Offices across the UK from 21 January.

Here's that rundown we promised:

Elite (1984) - was a pioneering space-trading game originally made for BBC Micro and Acorn Electron. Made by Cambridge based duo, David Braben and Ian Bell, the game is legendary and arguably changed the face of computer gaming. Using a tiny amount of memory, this was the first genuine 3D game where players navigated a spaceship through galaxies. It is regularly listed among the most important video games ever created.



Dizzy (1987) - was devised and created by the Oliver twins and published by Codemasters. It went on to become one of the most successful British game franchises of the era. Originally created for the Amstrad CPC, it quickly converted to ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64 and other computers and consoles. The game’s main character is an adventuring egg that runs and tumbles around a fantasy world solving puzzles by collecting interesting objects.



Populous (1989) – was the first civilisation building game and one of the most successful games for PC ever produced. A real-time strategy game, it has won numerous awards and has been voted among one of the most important games of all time. It was created by Bullfrog Productions.



Lemmings (1991) – was created by Dundee based DMA, and was one of the best received games of the 1990s. The objective is to save lemmings, and apply abilities to individuals to aid their escape.



Micro Machines (1991) – a ground-breaking race game developed by Codemasters, where players race miniature toy vehicles. Influential and immensely popular; the game is regarded as a classic.



Sensible Soccer (1992) – is considered by many to be the father of digital football games, and still retains a following. It was listed as one of the 10 most important video games of all time by a committee of US games experts.



WipeOut (1995) – was developed in Liverpool by Sony’s Psygnosis studio. WipeOut was a revolutionary futuristic racing game for the new PlayStation that became a cult hit. It featured original music by Orbital and The Chemical Brothers.



Worms (1995) – was published by Team 17 and featured cartoon-style warfare between worms. The series went on to become an international success story, helping Wakefield-based, Team 17, to become a leading international games publisher.

We imagine most people buying these will be doing so just to keep them at home, but we're secretly hoping to receive something in the post with one on just for the novelty. What a weird, but cool idea.