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The Lord of the Rings, Journey to Rivendell

Produced by: Parker Brothers
Author: Mark Lesser
Year: Originally scheduled to be released 1983
System: Atari 2600, Intellivision, Atari 400
Type: RPG
Covers: Book One of The Fellowship of the Ring. Possibly also the first four chapters of Book Two.
Distribution: Not released
Availability: Not available
Licensed: By Tolkien Enterprises

The Lord of the Rings, Journey to Rivendell, unlike other computer games based on The Lord of the Rings, was licensed by the commercial company Tolkien Enterprises, rather than the Tolkien Estate.

The game was never completed due to the rapid decline of the video games market.

A box cover illustration and screen shot were advertized in two Parker Brothers catalogues. At least one pre-release copy was made for Atari 2600 and the game was very close to being completed. Several independent sources, both from Parker Brothers and Tolkien Enterprises, say they have played the game.

A former Parker Brothers employee says this about the game: "You spent a lot of time roaming through similar-looking screens, and then the damn Nazgul would jump out and you'd run around like crazy. I forget most of the details. It was a competent but not stellar game I think."

Parker Brothers informed people that called and asked for the game that it was sold out in an attempt to cover up for the fact that it was never released.

In 2001 (just before the release of the new movie) the site AtariAge announced that a copy had been found. See the full story on their page, linked below.

Screen shot

This unique screen from the game was scanned from a Parker Brothers product catalogue. Contrary to earlier information on this page, I have now received confirmation that it is genuine.

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