How long did you play your 2600 for back in thEngland day?

[Tickled_Pink]

This is something that just came to me. Because of the warm fuzzy feeling I get when I see people showing off their new finds and the fact that I still have my original 6 switch to this day, I always feel like I played the 2600 for years before it ended up in storage.

 

Just realised that wasn't the case. I probably stopped playing it around Christmas 85 when I got an XL. I know that the last game I bought was Pole Position during Spring/Summer 85.

 

So in total I played it regularly for 3 years, having had it for Christmas 82. So it wasn't really very long.

[toiletunes]

1982-1991, 2002-Present. The 90's sucked!

[+save2600]

Take a look at your subject heading... It's all mucked up.

 

But to answer your question, sure... the 2600 took a short break for a while in the mid to late 80's, but she and a couple of her sisters have been running strong and uninterrupted ever since!

[Tickled_Pink]

Just noticed. It's the stupid Samsung S7. Great phone let down by the worst predictive text in history. But that's a rant about reviews for another time.

[BassGuitari]

1999-present. It was more steady earlier on when I was still in high school and had more time for it. My game time in general is more intermittent now, as one might expect, and I've got a lot more systems now to divide my attention between. But I take some time with my 2600 titles at least a few times a year.

[jaybird3rd]

I got my first 2600 (a light sixer) some time in 1981, and it was my main game console for the next eight years. That's probably when it got the most active use, even though my library at the time was fairly small. My family got an NES in the summer of 1989, and I got an Atari 800 about a year later, but I still kept the 2600 around and would play my favorite games at least once a month. I lost my original sixer during a move in late 2000, but by then I had other 2600 (and 7800) systems to replace it. I honestly can't think of a time since then when I didn't revisit the 2600 at least three or four times a year. To one degree or another, the 2600 has been a constant presence in my life for 35 years.

[jhd]

I received my first 2600 (4-switch) as a gift in March or April of 1981. I sold it in about June 1983 to purchase a Coco.

 

I bought another at a local rummage sale in about 1990. I now own several consoles -- I just bought a Flashback 2 -- but I have not used real, vintage hardware in many years. Most of my collection is in storage,

[JeffIrok]

I got my Atari VCS (as it was known then) in early 1981, and pretty much played it into the ground about '84 - '85. Instead of replacing it, I got a Commodore 64 and my interests became more interested in computer games. (I missed the whole NES thing as a result!)

 

I started to use emulators in the mid or late nineties as the emulators got better. I finally got a hardware replacement for my VCS last year, with a 7800.

[Mister-VCS]

1979 - 1993

2001 - today

 

(OK, sometimes I stop for eating and drinking!)

[AtariTexas]

1979-1983 then 1999 to present

[totallyterrificpants]

2010-2013, 2015-present

[ave1]

1982-85 then 1991-1997 then 2011 to present.

Edited July 10, 2016 by ave1

[The Eyeball Mural]

Christmas 1982 - Autumn 1987

>>> My original 2600 VCS, about five years worth of solid play.

 

Then various on-again and off-again periods of playing both authentic hardware and various emulators, over the course of about two decades. Then:

 

Summer 2011 - Present

>>> An eBay acquisition, a 2600 VCS four-switch model, another five years of regular enjoyment!

 

I can relate to the original post, though. When I sold my system and games in 1987, I had about 120 cartridges. About half of those I acquired in the first six months of owning my system. So my games library grew quickly, and I think my most important and special memories of playing the Atari 2600 come from those first six months. Not that my subsequent gaming was any less fun, but that first phase was intense!

 

 

 

[+-^CrossBow^-]

Christmas 1982 - 1988 played daily for hours by myself and my mother after I went to bed.

1999 - Present played with on occasion whenever testing mods, console repairs, checking out new WIP .bin releases on my Harmony, and whenever I get the feeling to fire it up. However, it isn't my 2600 that I use, I use my 7800.

[sleeky]

My first exposure to the 2600 was actually in the early 90s when I got a Systema TV Boy from Argos one Christmas, i would have been about 6 or 7 at the time and already had a Master System but I still had great fun with the TV Boy for many years, probably until I got my N64 around 1997, even then I left it at my Nan's house to play when I was over there. I used to play it with a 3 button mega drive controller. I still to do this day cannot work out what I did with it though.

 

However I had no idea that the TV Boy was actually a 2600 clone until the 2000s when I started researching into gaming history and the 2600 when I started to realise a lot of these games looked rather familiar...

 

I have actually just snagged a bundle of broken TV Boys for cheap on eBay to try and get going. I already have an av modded Jr, a ton of games and a harmony cart - but i'd still like to get one of these TV Boys working to compare to the real games!