Rolls-Royce has cooked up another bespoke Ghost. This one is not inspired by astronomy or ancient couture. Instead, it pulls straight from the world of vintage video games. Say hello to the Ghost Gamer. It is a luxury lounge that happens to love 8-bit aliens.
It starts in Salamanca Blue with Crystal over Diamond Black. A crisp coachline travels the length of the body until it is interrupted by what the company calls a Cheeky Alien. Hand-painted, of course. On one side, it is green and pink. On the other hand, blue and yellow. Precisely 89 painted pixels. Old school without needing a CRT monitor.
Open the doors, and the fun ramps up. Black and Casden Tan leather set the tone. Every seat wears a gamer tag. Driver is Player 1. Front passenger Player 2. The two lucky ones in the back get Player 3 and Player 4. The pixel-style font mixes white, red, and blue shades. Think flickering arcade-cabinet graphics, minus the sticky joystick and a pocket full of change.
The Cheeky Alien appears again on every headrest in four colourways. Between the rear seats sits a carbon fibre panel featuring a sci-fi scene. Two polished steel flying saucers hover above a hand-painted Martian landscape. The artwork took over two weeks to finish. Patience levels are similar to clearing a very tough game level.
Even the carbon fibre has a silver sparkle within the lacquer. Under light, it gives off a starry glow. Picnic tables show more aliens. Doorsills light up with phrases any arcade fan will recognise. Press Start, Insert Coin, Level Up and Loading invite you to enter your credit card rather than coins.
Look up and the usual Starlight headliner trades romance for retro. Called Pixel Blaster. Eighty bitmapped battle cruisers twinkle overhead. Instead of shooting stars, you get a tiny intergalactic tussle via fibre optic—space Invaders without the beeps.
The Ghost logo on the dashboard is also redrawn. The name forms a gunship of 85 dots. It looks ready to blast through a round of Galaga, possibly while listening to the quiet hum of a V12, which remains unchanged. After all, luxury can still be fast and silent. The Ghost Black Badge packs around 591bhp and 900Nm, which can waft you well above 250kmph without disturbing your coiffed hair.
As always, the client remains unnamed. The description of a tech entrepreneur with a love for arcade culture is a fair clue. The price remains secret. The regular Ghost Black Badge starts close to 3.5 crore rupees. This one would cost a fair bit more. Cheeky aliens do not come cheap. Rolls-Royce often leans into high art and heritage. Here, it has chosen to celebrate button-mashing nostalgia. The Ghost Gamer shows that ultra luxury can smile at itself once in a while. And yes, Player 1 always wins.
