In a nutshell: While you're unlikely to use traditional mail over email these days, those living in the UK will soon have a good reason to opt for physical letters: a set of postage stamps that celebrate classic titles from the British video game industry.

Royal Mail has announced the set of 12 stamps, which feature games going back to the 1980s. Four of these are from the Tomb Raider series, which was created by Core Design. The images show the original Tomb Raider from 1996, Adventures of Lara Croft (1998), Tomb Raider Chronicles (2000), and the Tomb Raider reboot from 2013.

The other eight stamps feature space sim Elite, egg-loving platform/puzzler Dizzy, early strategy title Populous, puzzle game Lemmings, top-down racer Micro Machines, the much-loved Sensible Soccer, futuristic racing classic Wipeout, and probably the world's best-known artillery tactics title: Worms.

"The UK has been at the forefront of the video games industry for decades," said Royal Mail spokesman Philip Parker. "In the 1980s and 90s young designers grappled with coding on the new microcomputers and set the template for the industry with iconic games. We celebrate some of their landmark creations on stamps."

Royal Mail selected the 12 games with help from industry trade body UKIE, veteran video game journalist Julian Rignall---who worked on famous gaming magazines of yesteryear---and Sam Dyer, creative director of retro games specialist Bitmap Books.

The stamps go on sale this January 21 and cost £14.25 ( $18.70) for the presentation pack. They also come with information on the games.