First videogame rated by the BBFC (British Board of Film Classification)
- Who
- Dracula (CRL)
- What
- First
- Where
- Not Applicable
- When
- 09 December 1986
Granted a "15" certificate on 9 December 1986, CRL's Dracula – based on Bram Stoker's legendary vampire novel – was the first videogame to be age-rated by the British Board of Film Classification. Despite being a text adventure for 8-bit computers, the game featured stills that were deemed grisly enough to be unsuitable for younger audiences. Publisher CRL had actually hoped for an "18" certificate, conscious of the extra media attention that the game would have garnered. "The idea to get a BBFC rating was brilliant," CRL founder Clem Chambers told Eurogamer in 2015. "We'd been pushing for an 18 certificate as we reckoned the higher the certificate, the better the sales."
The first videogame rated "18" by the BBFC was CRL's later text adventure Jack the Ripper, released in 1987 and based on the infamous serial killer.