For Amy Dyson, Tomb Raider never really stayed on the screen.
The 33-year-old has been awarded the Guinness World Record for the largest collection of physical Tomb Raider video games, after her collection reached 291 items. She now owns 342 video games, magazines and a life-sized Lara Croft statue.
Amy, from Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, said she has loved Lara Croft since childhood and started growing the collection after her 21st birthday. Her collection is kept at her mum’s home.
The Tomb Raider franchise follows archaeologist Lara Croft as she searches dangerous tombs for lost artefacts. It includes 12 mainline games and three live-action films, and will celebrate its 30th anniversary in 2026 ahead of two new entries in the series.
Amy said the franchise helps her manage functional neurological disorder, or FND. She was diagnosed eight years ago after her arm began twitching and said she experiences brain fog and paralysis.
“The levels are familiar because I’ve played them again and again.
“It’s a nice distraction technique to calm me down, especially if I’m struggling with brain fog.
“It’s helped me in other ways too.
“I’ve always been terrified of heights but I channelled my inner Lara to climb the O2 arena.
“I wanted to create something I could look back on with pride and show that FND doesn’t define what I can achieve.”
Amy said Lara Croft also gave her a rare example of a female lead in games when she was growing up.
“I was one of very few girls in my primary school and I was the only one playing video games.
“The games were catered towards more caring aspects of their female characters but with Tomb Raider, I’d finally found something where the woman was a lead character.
“She was out having all of these adventures and, growing up in the countryside, I would feel like Lara, climbing over things.”
Amy first played Tomb Raider when she was six, after she, her dad and her brother found Tomb Raider II in a discount bin in a shop. She was not allowed to play it because of the age rating, so she read the instructions while it was installing. When her dad and brother could not get past the first levels, she took over.
At university, she received Tomb Raider merchandise for her 21st birthday and began buying more items on eBay with spare student loan money.
“To begin with, I was looking more at the quirky merchandise. I realised I was sitting on some rarities and I kept finding more.
“My bank would call me to check the transactions were actually me, I was ordering from abroad.”
Among the items she acquired was a 6 foot 7 inch tall Lara Croft statue, which she kept at her university house.
“When we had a house viewing, I kept her hidden in the corner.
“All these poor new students got scared by this giant Lara Croft by the front door. I had to tell them she was mine and no, she didn’t come with the house.”
Amy said her most prized item is the June 1997 edition of Face Magazine, which featured Lara on the cover. Her copy is signed by several Lara voice actresses and game staff, including early game level designer Neal Boyd.
She now runs the Instagram account Tomb Raider Games Library, where she posts photos from the collection and invites others to share the nostalgia.
Two new Tomb Raider games are due to be released in the autumn this year, and Amy said she is ready to keep collecting.
“When I was a child, my brother and I picked up a gaming magazine and he read that there was going to be no more Tomb Raider.
“I burst into tears in the middle of the shop, I was absolutely distraught.
“Then later we were watching TV and we saw an advert for a new Tomb Raider. Lara was coming back.
“She always does and with the new games coming out this year, we can’t wait.”
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