Rare's Dogs of Rare Calendar: A 2026 Retrospective on Paws, Pirates, and Charity

I have a confession to make in 2026: my phone calendar is perfectly synced, my smart speaker reminds me to buy milk, and yet my favorite calendar of all time is still a 2019 charity calendar filled with Rare employees' dogs. Yes, that Rare. The studio behind Sea of Thieves, Banjo-Kazooie, GoldenEye 007, Donkey Kong 64, and a suspicious number of hours of my life. Back in late 2018, they did something ridiculous and wonderful: they made a calendar called Dogs of Rare. It went up for pre-order, released on December 3rd, 2018, and was available for a limited time. I did not know I needed twelve months of developer-owned pups until I saw them. Then I needed them immediately.

The premise was simple. Rare Ltd, the British game developer with a legendary back catalog, decided to jump straight into the New Year with an all-new calendar. Not a calendar of concept art. Not a calendar of release dates. A calendar of dogs. Employee dogs. Fantastic pups. There were some unbelievably adorable dogs in that calendar. I am talking about the kind of dogs that make you say 'maybe I should adopt a third pet' even when your landlord has explicitly said no. The calendar featured 12 months of these dogs. Twelve months. One for each month. It was a masterpiece of scheduling.

But here is the part that makes me emotional in 2026. All profits from the sale of the calendar were used to boost the incredible efforts of SpecialEffect. SpecialEffect is an amazing charity on a mission to allow every single person the opportunity to get lost in the world of video games. They do this by creating specialist setups for those with disabilities. That costs money, and Rare donated all the proceeds from the calendar's purchase to the charity. In a world where gaming accessibility is still not solved, that mission remains vital. It was vital in 2018. It is vital in 2026. And it was funded by dogs. Beautiful, silly, pirate-hat-wearing dogs.

The calendar cost a mere $12.49 / €11.59 / £9.99. That is less than a fancy coffee and a sad pastry in 2026. For that price, you got a New Year filled with dogs on your wall. Cute dogs at that. You could purchase it via the Sea of Thieves store. I may have bought several. I may have given them as gifts. I may have kept one for myself and told no one. Have you seen Bailey dressed as a pirate? I have. It changed me. I am not the same person.

Why does this matter in 2026? Because we live in an age of endless digital content, and yet a physical calendar of dogs from a game studio still feels like peak human achievement. Rare could have made a calendar of guns, or dragons, or slightly tired concept art of pirates. Instead they chose dogs. And they chose charity. That is the energy I want for the rest of the decade.

Here are a few reasons I still think about Dogs of Rare:

• 🐕 It combined my love of video games with my love of dogs, which is basically my entire personality.

• 🎮 It supported SpecialEffect, a charity that helps disabled gamers play.

• 🏴‍☠️ It included Bailey dressed as a pirate, which should be in a museum.

• 💰 It was absurdly cheap for a year of joy.

• 📅 It proved that a calendar can be a collector's item if you fill it with the right pups.

I know it is 2026. I know the original calendar is long sold out. But I am writing this as a public request: Rare, please bring back Dogs of Rare. Make a 2027 edition. Make a 2028 edition. Make a whole Dogs of Rare cinematic universe. I will pre-order. I will donate. I will explain to my cat why he is not on the cover. He will not take it well.

If you missed it back in 2018, you missed a small, furry piece of gaming history. If you bought it, congratulations. You helped SpecialEffect and you got to stare at adorable dogs for a full year. That is a better legacy than most games manage. So here is to Rare, to SpecialEffect, and to the Dogs of Rare. May your wall always have a good boy on it. 🐾