How long do you plan on playing and collecting atari games?

[Shawn]

How long do you plan on playing and collecting atari games?

(a poll suggestion by AA user Atarian7)

[jhd]

 

I think that there should be a distinction between playing and collecting.

 

I have largely stopped collecting Atari 2600 games because they have become either impossible to find at retail (there are no specialist game store remaining in this city, and I have not seen anything at a thrift shop in many years) and/or prices are far above what I am comfortable paying.  

 

That said, I do still play the games, albeit almost entirely through emulation these days. Between Stella and various commercial releases, I can play 2600 games on every electronic device that I own. My vintage hardware is all packed away due to space constraints. 

 

 

[zzip]

Need something to pass the time.   If I stopped, I'd have to grow vegetables or something *shudder*

[VectorGamer]

Stopped collecting years ago once I got the Harmony cart. Now I've moved on from console hardware to Retropie. I still play occasionally, but not as much as I used to. I'm more into playing pinball now than video games.

[atari181]

I have contemplated stopping many times.  Every time I have thought it was time to stop I have taken an extended break(up to a year).   Each and every time I have been bitten again by the collecting bug.  I guess I will just "know" when it is time. Finding a rare cart has always been a rush to me. I don't see it ending anytime soon.

Edited December 16, 2020 by atari181

[Keatah]

50 minutes ago, jhd said:

I think that there should be a distinction between playing and collecting.

There is, just not in this poll's question. And it's a critical distinction.

 

50 minutes ago, jhd said:

I have largely stopped collecting Atari 2600 games because they have become either impossible to find at retail (there are no specialist game store remaining in this city, and I have not seen anything at a thrift shop in many years) and/or prices are far above what I am comfortable paying.

True enough Long gone are the wild-eyed days of seeing an Apple //c for $3.63 sitting in a RubberMaid. Now I just find VGA cables and power adapters for obscure routers.

 

50 minutes ago, jhd said:

That said, I do still play the games, albeit almost entirely through emulation these days. Between Stella and various commercial releases, I can play 2600 games on every electronic device that I own. My vintage hardware is all packed away due to space constraints.

Most of my vintage Apple II stuff is packed away for space, preservation, and aesthetic reasons. Apple II is interchangeable with "Atari" for this discussion because when we were kids the phrase, "Let's go play Atari!" was a blanket term for anything electronic and videogame related. It meant coming inside on a cold day instead of BMX'ing in the storm drains.

 

Emulation has become my new (old) way of playing classic games after having been goaded into selling off a lot of classic game stuff in the late 80's. In retrospect and how much time & effort I would have had to spend to continue with it (old collection) it was for the better. To be completely accurate I think my then burgeoning collection became untenable once it started going beyond the 8-bit realm. Only a matter of time.

 

Emulating stuff, while obviously not the same as sitting around a 25" Zenith TV in a shag-carpet room, has increased my appreciation of the old stuff while introducing me to systems I would never have otherwise acquired. It has also provided for building and even bigger and better virtual collection. With the advantage being it can be worked on it anytime anyplace for as little or as long as desired, with minimal or no setup & teardown annoyances.

 

 

[GoldLeader]

Until Long after my death.

 

 

Muhuhwhahahwhahhawahhhahaahhhaaaa...

[Bixler]

I stopped trying to collect for anything other than a couple of much more modern systems (Wii, Xbox 360 [which is dirt cheap right now]) quite some time ago once I got my Harmony Encore. I have some solid attachment to both of the latter systems that I just don't have with Atari since its heyday was well before my time. I still use my 2600 regularly, though! Love the thing. But I don't collect for it and have sold off just about all of my old carts, I think.

[BassGuitari]

Hard to say. I'm running out of Atari 2600 stuff to collect, besides really rare stuff. ?

 

Weird controllers and peripherals are always out there. And since I always collected loose, I guess I could fill in a lot gaps in the manual department. ?‍♂️

 

I'll say "for the rest of my life." Even though my 2600 collecting has slowed down a lot in recent years, I can't see there ever being a point where I would pass on a good opportunity to add something missing from my collection.

 

As for playing, specifically: For the rest of my life. Full stop. ?

Edited January 21, 2021 by BassGuitari

[BladeJunker]

I just bought some carts today, I got a Harmony on the way but I'll mostly use it for my least favorite games and games just too darn expensive to own anymore which are sometimes good and bad heh.

[Keatah]

The inexorable pull of the venerable VCS remains eternal. Powerful. The only force capable of stopping it is the continued desire for an AIO, occasionally bolstered by annoyances and other inconveniences inherent in acquiring vintage material through traditional means. Repeatedly prices remain high for items in good condition. Furthermore, purchasing from ebay isn't nostalgic. Not like getting in gramma's car and making a day of trekking to the supermarket and coming home with groceries and a cartridge or two in the bags.

 

The AIO concept is living. An entity. Growing. Evolving. Continuing to gain capabilities and versatility. And it is this way we continue to collect and enjoy the vintage games of times past.

[sn8k]

The only Atari games I buy now are from here. As long as new games keep coming out and they don't suck......I'll keep buying them. 

[Keir]

I took a break from collecting (and for the most part playing too) for about 15 years. For the last 5 years of that break I didn't even have an Atari 2600. Last year I started going through my video game collection to sell it and clear up space which ironically got me interested in playing some of the games, leading to me picking up an Atari at a local game store. Since then I've gotten back into collecting albeit at a much slower pace (I think I've only added 3 Atari 2600 games to my collection this year, though I did acquire a bunch of boxes and manuals I needed). I'm sure this collecting phase won't last more than a few years, but I'm realizing how much I missed playing these old games and don't see any reason to stop playing, ever.

Edited November 21, 2023 by Keir

[+LS650]

What an odd question.  I've been playing Atari since I was 10 years old... why would I stop now?

I imagine I'll keep playing (and collecting) until my demise.

[littleman jack]

I hope to keep playing for a long time. I still enjoy the games and buying homebrews and games in the wild. And my son enjoys playing some of the games from time to time as well. It's getting more difficult to find good games in the wild, but they are still out there. And there are so many homebrews at the Atari Age Store that look appealing. So I can still buy a new game now and then, and keep enjoying the Atari 2600, 5200, 7800, and 800.

[+bent_pin]

On 11/7/2019 at 11:43 PM, Shawn said:

How long do you plan on playing and collecting atari games?

How long would it take to count all the grains of sand on the beach? How long would it take to count all the cups of water in the ocean? 

[Shaun David]

I was Born with video games I will Die with video games. 

[Krullor]

I’m now in my 50’s and have played computer games all my life mostly first person shooters on the PC but it all started in 1980 with the Atari 2600 and Combat. I can’t see why I would ever stop 🙂

[BydoEmpire]

I turned 50 last year and I still enjoy playing Atari games, no reason to think I won't enjoy them the rest of my life. Collecting? I'm not actively seeking out Atari carts anymore, but if I saw something I didn't have and the price was right I'd pick it up. These days it's tough to find those deals, so who knows if I'll ever buy another (non-AA) cartridge. That's kind of an interesting thought. I think the last cart I bought was Piece O' Cake a couple of years ago.

[HatefulGravey]

Until I'm dead or collect them all. I've been at it for over 15 years, so I think I can hold out till the end.

[Mad-Mike]

I'm a lifer, though I'm reducing how much I'm keeping around at this point so I don't become that weird lonely old man later in life, or leave my wife with a big mess to deal with - and keeping very explicit stuff in my collection.  I've been collecting since 1995, on that fateful day my Gen X sister introduced me to the modenr internet and I wanted to stump Yahoo! by putting "Atari 2600" in the search engine....hoo boy, I did not know what I was in for.  I basically watched classic gaming/retro gaming grow from it's inception of bored college students looking for cheap entertainment to the huge industry it is now.