2600 at summer camp

[littleman jack]

I've been working at a summer camp this June, and it is interesting to see the kids choose games for the various consoles during game-time. The N64 is the most popular console by far. But the Atari has gotten a lot of visitors as well. For the 2600, the most popular games have been:

 

Kaboom

Pitfall

Home Run

Outlaw

Slot Racers

Jungle Hunt

Fishing Derby

Bowling

Freeway

and Montezuma's Revenge.

 

Thought this post might make a lot of old timers smile and remember childhood days spent playing the games listed above. I know I spent a lot of time on Pitfall, Jungle Hunt, and Home Run when I was a kid.

[A.J. Franzman]

I'm really surprised that the kids are even allowed to play video games at your camp. After all, isn't a summer camp all about recreation in the great outdoors?

 

Anyway, for a summer camp, I would recommend getting some good four- and two-player games and some good sets of paddle controllers.

 

Try these if you haven't already:

Combat/Tank Plus

Medieval Mayhem (or substitute Warlords if you don't want to risk loss/damage to a homebrew)

Air Sea Battle/Target Fun

Video Olympics/Pong Sports

Frogs and Flies

Indy 500 (needs Driving controllers)

Breakout

Super Breakout

Space Invaders

Space War/Space Combat

Edited June 28, 2008 by A.J. Franzman

[Zonie]

Maybe its a day camp. When I was a kid, our summer day camp had "classes" like Rocketry, magic, photography (we built pinhole cameras out of quaker oats cans) puppetry, and one was electronic games. We had a Tank 2, one of the Tandy TV scoreboards, and a Sears video arcade with tank plus. I couldn't figure out why my mom couldn't find tank plus until I saw it at sears.

 

Put in combat or air sea battle, hide all the rest of the games and watch the kids line up to play...

[littleman jack]

Yes, it was a day camp. And we only played video games during the middle of the day to get a break from the sports and music spread throughout the rest of the day. So, not too much time in front of tv sets and not too much time in the sweltering Tennessee heat either.

 

Combat, Air Sea Battle, and Space Invaders got into the rotation. Thanks for the suggestions.

 

The clear winners were Kaboom, Montazuma's Revenge, and Outlaw, however.

 

Every summer is slightly different it seems.

[classicgamingguy]

Yep, made me smile in fond recollection of some of these games. It's great that the kids still will even play these titles!

 

Steve

[Vic George 2K3]

The only video games I got to play during my summer camp years (which were at an all-summer-long camp program called Camp Vinhaven) were various handheld games, including my second TRON handheld game which I got during a 2-week break from the program in 1983 visiting my family. I could only envy that children get to play today's handheld game systems at any summer camp program...but then it wouldn't hurt to have other outdoor activities to participate in.

[yuppicide]

I envy people with today's technology as kids, but also don't envy them. There's a certain charm in those old games I had when growing up. I remember when I found out a pattern in the Coleco tabletop Pac-Man and I couldn't lose. I played for hours without stopping before I finally got bored.

[Rik]

Its great to see kids enjoyin classic gaming.I've never seen any myself.All I've ever seen is the usual"these games totally suuuuuck"OR,"Oh man,look at how awful and boring the graphics are".Kids today who prefer classic games are a RARETY,they can see the charm that the others cant.They like,what they like,nevermind what others say!!!!Thats a GREAT quality to have!!!!!!!!!

Edited July 29, 2008 by Rik

[GameboyReviewer]

You know growing up we didn't have all this technology like we have today but my goodness circus would have to be right up there in my books for day camp games.