1st 2600 experience

[philnyy]

reading and talking about atari- especially in the early days brings back such vivid memories. was around 13-14 yrs. old. we 1st got the 2600 around 1979/1980. my cousin got one first, which led us to get one probably a few months later (can't remember if it was for christmas or not). most of the memories were of playing it in the summer at a vacation house in the poconos for hours on end- that was easy to do then since there were like only 5 tv stations and cable barely existed (incredible). bought and played only atari games- surround, air sea battle, dodge'em, human cannonball, bowling, breakout....... ahhhh the good old days! didn't get an activision game until a couple years later (it started with skiing and ice hockey).

[NE146]

Easy.. I never knew about the Atari VCS as a kid. I knew there were tv videogames but I couldn't tell apart a Bally Astrocade from an Odyssey 2 to a 2600..

 

However, I loved SPACE INVADERS the ARCADE game...

 

I dreamed of playing it at home so I asked my mom to buy me one (I was thinking that maybe it came in a handheld version (which of course was about 20 years off ). Anyway we shopped around and found the Bandai Missile Invader series and other ones but they weren't what I was looking for.. I was looking for the actual game itself as only a 10 year old could imagine.

 

Anyway, we took a trip to the states that summer to California. I figured if I could find me a Space Invaders.. it would be there. So in we went to the big department store (which turned out to be Sears), went into the electronics dept and while I looked on, my mom asked the guy if they sold a "Space Invaders". He immediately pointed to a tv that was on and a couple of kids playing 2600 Space Invaders. I looked at it and it was obviously primitive.. much less better looking than the arcade game, but it was definitely cool and a lot closer than the handhelds had been. So we scooped it up! I went home with that Sears system and the Space Invaders cartridge in hand. Since it was about 2 weeks before we went home I spent my time reading the manual every time we were in the hotel..usually while on the can

 

The rest is history.

[DuckandCover]

I first encountered the 2600 in 1979, when I was nine years old. I spent the night at a friend's house, and he introduced me to the system. We played games like Combat and Space Invaders until his parents literally made us go to sleep. Of course, after that, all I could talk about wanting was a 2600. The following year, my parents gave me one for my birthday. My first cart, besides the pack-in, was Superman. I've had many, many happy years saving Metropolis!

[Big Player]

I first played a 2600 in 1977 at a friend's house. I enjoyed playing it, but I was indifferent to it. Never did beg my parents for one--not at the time.

 

But when Space Invaders came out, like NE146, I had to have one then.

 

I still have my original 2600, which I didn't get until 1981.

[D.Yancey]

I had a pong/TV tennis type game which I got for Christmas of '77. It was great fun at first but was powered by batteries which ended up costing more than the system eventually! I visited a friend in '80. He had an Atari with nearly every existing title. I played Space Invaders since I had seen and played it in the arcade. My friend had fallen asleep before I finished my game in the wee hours of the night. I had to have an Atari of my own. I saved money all summer from mowing lawns and I obtained permission from my dad to make the major purchase ($249.00). I bought Space Invaders with the system which included Combat from the now defunct department store, Woolco. I bought mainly Activision games as they were released and proudly earned each patch!! Later, our local JC Penny store, which also sold Atari, had a contest for solving Rubic's Cube. The Grand prize was 2 season passes to a local amusment park and a Pac-Man cart for the Atari. The contest was held on the day Pac-Man was released and I wanted it that day. I didn't have the $50 to buy it(WOW!), so I'd have to kick ass on the cube! I practiced every day on the school bus! Everyone brought in their cubes and I would solve them all on the way to and home from school. My head was spinning. All the kids wanted me to win-- even the ones who didn't really like me -- let me solve their cubes. They probably took it home and took credit for the solution! Who even cared about the season passes when there was an Atari cart at stake and no one else would even have Pac-Man for awhile!! I solved the cube in 1:15. No world record, but it crushed any other local nerd in the contest!! Victory!!!!!