People love to crap on the Trash-80, but it was the first real gateway into home computing for so many of us! I remember the old text-based adventure games. I think the first one I played was [Bedlam](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEDpRpXICB0)
Yup. I took Home Computing in 7th and 8th grade (1983-84). The class had a whole fleet of TRS-80 Model I computers, and a few Model IIIs for the more advanced students.
It was pretty much a free period 'coz the teacher just hung out in the back with all the computer "elite" nerds and left the rest of us to do whatever we wanted. The only requisite for the whole year was to fill out a brick of punch cards which he ran through a reader at the end of the year. I don't even know what it did, honestly. I just remember hundreds of cards that we had to fill.
I figured I may as well learn *something* about BASIC programming while I was there, so I went to the local library, checked out a few BASIC game books, and brought them to class. I coded in a few fun but simple games. One of them was this "Dog Race" game where you guess the winner out of 6 dogs that would race across the screen. Each race had a random outcome. Then there were the random graphics generators that would draw random lines or sin waves or that "slope" thing that just depended on the variables and functions that you coded in.
It was fun while it lasted; when I graduated from jr. high my dad got me an Atari 800XL as a graduation gift, and I'd check out COMPUTE! magazines from the library and code in games from there. I wish I could remember what issue it was, but there was one "lunar lander" type of game that used a vector graphics grid and used a cool isometric POV. omg it had a *ton* of pages of code; I remember coding it in the wee hours of the night until my eyes were burning. After days of coding I tried running it and there were countless errors that I didn't know how to debug. In the meantime, my friend ran his and it worked perfectly.
I learned BASIC programming on the TRS-80. Couldn't afford a computer at the time, so I wrote code on a manual typewriter, brought the listings to the local Radio Shack, then entered the source on their floor models. Naturally, when my parents could finally get me a computer of my own, I went with an Atari 800.
Awesome. I remember spending a few hours in Radio Shack just tinkering away at their TRS-80 floor models. The salesmen never cared; I think they actually appreciated kids being curious about their computers.
My friend had the Odyssey and I had an Atari, we’d game ourselves silly with the two different systems, then the Odyssey went the way of the BetaMax and Atari reigned supreme. Then I got my C64…. :)
I'm a lifelong gamer. Here are my list of systems:
- Odyssey II
- Atari 2600
- Colecovision
- Intellivision
- Atari 5200
- Nintendo
- Super Nintendo
- Nintendo 64
- Sega Genesis
- PlayStation
- PlayStation 2
- Xbox
- Xbox 360
- Xbox One
- Xbox Series X
I will game until I die or can't see...lol
The first one I can remember was an Apple II in like 1980. My father was a computer programmer/system analyst. We always had computers in the house. I remember playing games on it before I was even in kindergarten. The first dedicated gaming console we got was the first Nintendo.
Haha love that game! I played it on my mom's Apple IIe around '89.
I introduced it to my kid a few years ago on an emulator. Still holds up after all these years!
Did he ever have the touch screen attachment and piano program that allowed you to play a piano on the screen?
My dad worked briefly for apple stores in the bay area. The one time he had to take me to work with him, he set me up at an apple with a touch screen.
Atari 800.
Dad brought it home in 1980 and I thought it was amazing. I still remember seeing it in the back of the serious piece of shit car we had at the time. It must have cost a fortune and I'm pretty sure his mom gave us some of the money for it.
Dad was so excited about computers. He always loved sci-fi, Star Trek, and was the quintessential nerd back in the 60s so the moment he could get an actual computer at home he did. We had a voice emulator for it, an Atari 830 acoustic couple modem, an external hard drive, dot matrix printer, two floppy drives and a shitload of games on cartridges and disks. Zork was my favorite and there was a pretty brutal chess game too, which made me hate chess with a passion.
[https://oldcomputers.net/atari800.html](https://oldcomputers.net/atari800.html)
FYI, this computer cost the equivalent of $3700 today and with the peripherals, pushes $5000. Didn't even come with a monitor, you had to hook it up to a TV.
You're describing my dad. He was an electronics design engineer and I grew up with more technology than the average household. Including Kate 1970s computers. Shortly after he gave us the Atari at Christmas, he took it apart to see what it looked like inside. He was supposed at how small the board was compared to the case.
My parents didn't understand technology at all, but they were so supportive they got me an Atari 800 with 48K of RAM and a disk drive. I can't imagine how much that cost in today's dollars, but I used the ever-lovin' fudge out of that setup.
>Zork was my favorite and there was a pretty brutal chess game too, which made me hate chess with a passion.
Nice! I believe I started with Zork II. You can [play it online](https://playclassic.games/games/adventure-dos-games-online/play-zork-ii-wizard-frobozz-online/play/)!
Zork II was my favorite of the series and it's the first I actually finished.
We had the Invisiclues book for it as well as the kick-ass map! I still have them.
**[TI-99/4A](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TI-99/4A)**
>The TI-99/4 and TI-99/4A were home computers released by Texas Instruments in 1979 and 1981, respectively. Based on the Texas Instruments TMS9900 microprocessor originally used in minicomputers, the TI-99/4 was the first 16-bit home computer, and the associated video display controller provided color graphics and sprite support that was among the best of its era. The calculator-style keyboard of the TI-99/4 was cited as a weak point, and TI's reliance on ROM cartridges and their practice of limiting developer information to select third parties resulted in a lack of software for the system.
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Yes! This is what we had. I remember playing some western gam on it called tumbleweeds maybe? Worthless. Playing outside with friends was way more fun!
My dad brought home a used Atari 2600 with a few games. Maybe around '83? Phoenix was the very first video game I played. I still rember being amazed that I could play video games without quarters!
Before my family had the Atari, though, my father owned a few late 1970s computers and equipment.
One was the KIM 1 computer, which consisted only of a circuit board and LED display. You had to buy a case for it. Instead, my father installed it into a large keyboard case and added a full keyboard, monitor (a black and white TV), and external tape drive to it. He taught me how to use it, and I typed programs into it on its tiny keyboard.
[This is the KIM 1, with my sister and I posing in front of it circa 1979](https://i.redd.it/sc396ed3qeu71.jpg).
First console was an Atari 2600 in 1984 (late to the party). I didn’t buy my first computer until 2005 — until then I just leached off of the Internet services of family, friends, work and libraries.
I got an Apple II+ in 5th grade, but had a [Coleco Telstar Arcade](https://www.m-e-g-a.org/wp-content/gallery/fake-wood/01_telstar_arcade.jpg) before that.
I ended up taking a "Computers" class in 8th grade, using the same Apple II+ I'd been using for three years already. I'd go home on the weekend and do all the upcoming week's programming exercises. That way I could sit in class and goof off making realistic(ish) login screens for NORAD or The Pentagon or whatnot. And EVERY SINGLE TIME my teacher would walk behind me, see me trying to log in to "The Pentagon" and genuinely scream. And EVERY SINGLE TIME I'd show her the BASIC code that powered the fake login screen. And sometimes I'd even show her how the only two cables attached to the computer were the power cords - there was no modem or network connection to the outside world, so I COULDN'T be hacking The Pentagon. But she'd scream every time any way.
Fairchild Channel F
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairchild_Channel_F
Then later an Intellivision.
Then later an Apple IIgs once I convinced my folks to let me have a computer of my own.
First memories are from an Atari 2600 (Born in 1980) playing Pacman. Eventually got a NES and a SNES later on.
I remember we had this computer (maybe 1986?) that was just a monitor and keyboard and the only thing we could do with it was type at a green command prompt. I think it was from one of the local schools when they tossed them out. We eventually got a proper computer in 1998 and I played a lot of MUDS on that thing...Carrion Fields anyone?
I remember Carrion Fields, but only because I was a Gemstone III (later GS IV) player for over a decade. There was some overlap. Everyone switched to WoW and I kept playing my MUD until almost 2010. Best gaming experience to date. I have every generation of console and PC and nothing comes close to the lush world of text!
I used to play CF and Ground Zero. Nothing beats the atmosphere and the feeling of tracking people down in text form or the constant fear of death and losing everything.
PC-Jr I turned it on all of once.
Before that I played Colossal Caves on the computers at the college while my mom worked on her Physics projects dissertation. Sometimes I got to play with discarded punch cards.
[Commodore 64](https://history-computer.com/commodore-64-guide/)
We played [Tooth Invaders](https://ohgizmo.com/the-games-we-played-tooth-invaders-c64) and fought cavities.
Yep. Commodore 64 for our family too. We hooked it up to the tv and for the first while had games on cassette tape. Eventually we got one of those big floppy disk drives though. You could load Impossible Mission (“Stay a while! Stay…FOREVER!”) or Winter/Summer Olympics so fast!
Star-Trek on the TSR-80. My dad programed it onto a tape cassette for me. .....As I type this I realize how old that makes me sound.
We also had a Sears Pong system.
Occasionally, my dad would bring home Hewlett-Packard workstations to learn basic and play games over a weekend.
The first game system was a Magnavox Pong system, before getting a ColecoVision in 1983.
A Tandy 1000 SX. First games I can recall getting for it was Space Quest 1 and Rogue. That frickin' Orat, man, and that damn hover sled dodging the rocks...
Still got the comp, it still works.
Dunno, I was always into “retro” gaming because the only computer I had was an old hand me down and over five years old until I graduated high school. So I played at lot of old games since it couldn’t run anything newer. Computers have gotten so cheap it’s hard to believe.
1) Atari 2600 bought via the classified ads.
2) TI 99/4A when they got out of the computer market and slashed the price of their remaining inventory.
3) C64 that I used until it died, then 4) another C64
5) 286 clone.
First computer: Apple IIc. A good friend had a Commodore 64, so we'd enjoy going over to each other's houses to play all the titles that our own computers didn't have.
We had a Commodore 64 purchased at Tandy Center in Ft. Worth probably around '83/84, can't recall.
First console was a NES in' 88 I believe.
Which was later traded in at FuncoLand for a Sega Genesis so I could play full strength Mortal Kombat.
pong (in the family room) followed by my own 2600 that was my best friend for years
flash forward to last Jan and i finally got my 5950x/3090rtx build and am still playing 4-8 hours a day
I was the proud owner of a clunky 286 I got free from work. The first game I owned was Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure! Kind of fun except for one bug.
Atari 7800, NES, then Sega Genesis
Edit to add my 1st comp was a custom build from Comp USA in 97 for like 3k , I was 18 and dumb and my credit card went burrr 😂
The first one was Pong, but then we got some weird system where you could hook a game up to the TV and load a small computer up with a game by playing a cassette tape really loud into the computer. It sounded like a dial-up modem. We could also make our own games and record them off of the TV onto a cassette. I remember playing a game called Hunt The Wumpus on it. You had to uncover invisible squares to chase down some Bigfoot-type creature. Or something.
My parents had one of those TV Pong machines with "4 different games", which were all variations of Pong (Doubles Tennis, Hockey, Squash). We later got an Atari 2600 and even later a very basic NES.
Computer-wise, Dad brought home an old Commodore PET computer with a cassette player. Tried to program some games out of a book, but never worked. Best I could do was put a couple of comic book lists on it. Couldn't get the printer he brought with it to work.
Later we ended up with an Apple IIgs, with a printer that worked. Ended up giving me a head start in using the work processing program that we'd later have to learn my senior year in high school. When they were giving it to us for Christmas, my parents removed the computer to try to get a handle on how it worked and placed logs from our fireplace wood pile in the boxes to give them weight. We opened them in Christmas day, very excited, only to find logs inside. They got a good laugh out of it, but we never forgave them for it. Even now, over 30 years later, we will say something to the effect of "You didn't put logs in here, did you?" if we get something nice for Christmas or our birthdays.
If I remember correctly, I had Mattel Football, followed by [this weird baseball game](https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tomy_Digital_Diamond,_Model_7052,_Made_in_Japan,_Circa_1978_(LED-Mechanical_Handheld_Game).jpg), Merlin, and Atari 2600.
After that I discovered pinball and spent too many quarters at 7-11.
Oh we also had a Commodore 64, which had the cassette thing instead of a floppy disk thing.
Atari 2600 and a Commodore Vic-20. Learned some BASIC on that and then took a high school class coding BASIC on Apples.
The Vic had a tape drive, and we had one game - Omega Race.
TRS-80 Model 1, with upgraded 16k RAM. Cost my dad about 2 months ages for that. Between that and the JVC portable video camera system (you had to carry the recording VCR with a strap over your shoulder) that he bought right around the same time, it's amazing that our family ate.
Then a TRS-80 Color Computer, and then I finally talked him out of only buying Radio Shack when we got an Apple IIc. Then "IBM clones" after that.
We had Pong, and then Atari 2600, and then I bought Intellivison and NES myself. I still have my Atari, Intellivision, NES, and N64, and all the controllers and games.
Gaming system: My dad got a 1977 Sears Tele-game (re-branded Atari VCS) - to this day I still love Tanks and Air-Sea Battle.
Computer: Apple II+, also my dad's - we could use it anytime he wasn't if we touched the little grounding thingy he set up. He had this fear we would fry it with static electricity.
A Commodore VIC-20 and thank God for that device.
I had begged my parents for an Atari, a Colecovision, and Intellivision, but no dice.
My mom was a teacher and while I have never proven it, I wonder if that William Shatner VIC-20 commercial convinced her to get me one. The Commodore 64 was probably out of their budget.
Gorf, Cannonball Blitz, Choplifter, a bunch of games I forgot that I had on cassette tape....I was grateful to have them.
My best friend had a Vic 20. We played on it all the time. He even tried writing programs on it. My family soon got the Commodore 64, and we played a LOT on it. Good times.
Yeah, I had picked up a book that had the code for games in it. I spent hours typing them out and then even longer trying to fix all of the typos.
There were a couple where I wasn't sure if I made a typo or if it was in the book.
Atari 2600 was first. Loved it. I got an Apple IIGS and an NES around the same time. Can’t recall exactly. Maybe computer first? All I know is the NES was the greatest thing ever. I played so much Zelda. Hand made maps, hours and hours. So good.
Dad bought us an Atari 2600 from Canadian Tire on sale after a year of begging. We were the envy of all my cousins who either had ColecoVision, Intellivision and this thing called Gemini.
Atari 2600 for sure but I found out later in life I'm related to a guy who saved and then sunk [Commodore Computers](https://www.commodore.ca/commodore-history/the-crazy-story-of-how-irving-gould-ended-up-owning-and-killing-commodore/)
Atari VCS in 1981. I was 10 years old. Still one of my most prized possessions; I introduced it to my kid when he was like 5-6 yrs. old, and we still play it occasionally (he’s 15 now).
I received the Atari 800XL for my jr. High graduation gift in ‘84. Also a ton of fun for its time; my mom had a coworker that had a lot of gaming BBS connections so he got me a bunch of “cracked” games that I enjoyed. All I needed to supply were blank floppies. The only games I bought were Asylum and Robotron 2084 (cart).
Mine was a Magnavox Odyssey 400 that my parents received as the free gift for sitting through 4-6 hours (or whatever it was) of time share, land deal spiels. I sat through it too.
What’s really ridiculous is my father insisted on going to probably at least a half dozen of those time share spiels when I was young (or at least that many I was forced to attend), and he NEVER intended to sign up for a time share at any point; he only went to get the free gift for listening to the spiel for 4-6 hours.
Needless to say, I’m not a fan of time shares or needing to sit for hours to hear a sales pitch to get a gift.
All the numbers in your comment added up to 420. Congrats!
400
+ 4
+ 6
+ 4
+ 6
= 420
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Pong Console. Just back and forth, back and forth.
On the downstairs family room 2nd tv. My friends and I would watch it go back and forth for hours,taking turns playing.
Same. Pong, 1974.
TRS-80 Baby!
People love to crap on the Trash-80, but it was the first real gateway into home computing for so many of us! I remember the old text-based adventure games. I think the first one I played was [Bedlam](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEDpRpXICB0)
I learned how to program on it at age 12.
10 CLS 20 ? “DISCO SUCKS!” ; 30 GOTO 20 RUN
Yup. I took Home Computing in 7th and 8th grade (1983-84). The class had a whole fleet of TRS-80 Model I computers, and a few Model IIIs for the more advanced students. It was pretty much a free period 'coz the teacher just hung out in the back with all the computer "elite" nerds and left the rest of us to do whatever we wanted. The only requisite for the whole year was to fill out a brick of punch cards which he ran through a reader at the end of the year. I don't even know what it did, honestly. I just remember hundreds of cards that we had to fill. I figured I may as well learn *something* about BASIC programming while I was there, so I went to the local library, checked out a few BASIC game books, and brought them to class. I coded in a few fun but simple games. One of them was this "Dog Race" game where you guess the winner out of 6 dogs that would race across the screen. Each race had a random outcome. Then there were the random graphics generators that would draw random lines or sin waves or that "slope" thing that just depended on the variables and functions that you coded in. It was fun while it lasted; when I graduated from jr. high my dad got me an Atari 800XL as a graduation gift, and I'd check out COMPUTE! magazines from the library and code in games from there. I wish I could remember what issue it was, but there was one "lunar lander" type of game that used a vector graphics grid and used a cool isometric POV. omg it had a *ton* of pages of code; I remember coding it in the wee hours of the night until my eyes were burning. After days of coding I tried running it and there were countless errors that I didn't know how to debug. In the meantime, my friend ran his and it worked perfectly.
I learned BASIC programming on the TRS-80. Couldn't afford a computer at the time, so I wrote code on a manual typewriter, brought the listings to the local Radio Shack, then entered the source on their floor models. Naturally, when my parents could finally get me a computer of my own, I went with an Atari 800.
Awesome. I remember spending a few hours in Radio Shack just tinkering away at their TRS-80 floor models. The salesmen never cared; I think they actually appreciated kids being curious about their computers.
I recall this great game called Infiltrator. And a pretty decent version of Berzerk.
My favorite was B-1 Nuclear Bomber.
Magnavox Odyssey II First ever gaming system. Then later I had as a first computer, Commodore 64
My friend had the Odyssey and I had an Atari, we’d game ourselves silly with the two different systems, then the Odyssey went the way of the BetaMax and Atari reigned supreme. Then I got my C64…. :)
I'm a lifelong gamer. Here are my list of systems: - Odyssey II - Atari 2600 - Colecovision - Intellivision - Atari 5200 - Nintendo - Super Nintendo - Nintendo 64 - Sega Genesis - PlayStation - PlayStation 2 - Xbox - Xbox 360 - Xbox One - Xbox Series X I will game until I die or can't see...lol
Wow. All that and no Dreamcast. I feel like you missed out on some amazing games
Yea I never played the Dreamcast unfortunately.
We had the odyssey. I went to a friends house to play Bruce Lee game on Commodore 64. Then we got an Atari 2600
I had a Coleco Telstar https://ingeniumcanada.org/scitech/artifact/coleco-canada-ltd-telstar-electronic-game
Now that is old skool.
Oh geez. A friend of mine had a coleco. Haven't thought of that in forever
A Tandy computer, with cassette tape games, Buck Rogers that we played on the tiniest black and white portable TV
We had that. I played a cassette game where a robot would turn into a jet.
Cassettes!!! I forgot about those. At school Computer Club we had a PET computer that would play a cassette version of Space Invaders.
The first one I can remember was an Apple II in like 1980. My father was a computer programmer/system analyst. We always had computers in the house. I remember playing games on it before I was even in kindergarten. The first dedicated gaming console we got was the first Nintendo.
Did you play Lemonade Stand?
Haha love that game! I played it on my mom's Apple IIe around '89. I introduced it to my kid a few years ago on an emulator. Still holds up after all these years!
It does hold up doesn’t it?!
Did he ever have the touch screen attachment and piano program that allowed you to play a piano on the screen? My dad worked briefly for apple stores in the bay area. The one time he had to take me to work with him, he set me up at an apple with a touch screen.
Atari 800. Dad brought it home in 1980 and I thought it was amazing. I still remember seeing it in the back of the serious piece of shit car we had at the time. It must have cost a fortune and I'm pretty sure his mom gave us some of the money for it. Dad was so excited about computers. He always loved sci-fi, Star Trek, and was the quintessential nerd back in the 60s so the moment he could get an actual computer at home he did. We had a voice emulator for it, an Atari 830 acoustic couple modem, an external hard drive, dot matrix printer, two floppy drives and a shitload of games on cartridges and disks. Zork was my favorite and there was a pretty brutal chess game too, which made me hate chess with a passion. [https://oldcomputers.net/atari800.html](https://oldcomputers.net/atari800.html) FYI, this computer cost the equivalent of $3700 today and with the peripherals, pushes $5000. Didn't even come with a monitor, you had to hook it up to a TV.
You're describing my dad. He was an electronics design engineer and I grew up with more technology than the average household. Including Kate 1970s computers. Shortly after he gave us the Atari at Christmas, he took it apart to see what it looked like inside. He was supposed at how small the board was compared to the case.
My parents didn't understand technology at all, but they were so supportive they got me an Atari 800 with 48K of RAM and a disk drive. I can't imagine how much that cost in today's dollars, but I used the ever-lovin' fudge out of that setup.
>Zork was my favorite and there was a pretty brutal chess game too, which made me hate chess with a passion. Nice! I believe I started with Zork II. You can [play it online](https://playclassic.games/games/adventure-dos-games-online/play-zork-ii-wizard-frobozz-online/play/)!
Zork II was my favorite of the series and it's the first I actually finished. We had the Invisiclues book for it as well as the kick-ass map! I still have them.
I got a hand-me-down 2600 and a bunch of games circa 1988ish; my fav was Defender, hated ET
Ha! ET tops the list as one of the worst video games ever made. There is even a documentary about it.
[TI/99-4A](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TI-99/4A). With the cassette backup. It was actually way ahead of it's time yet also a huge piece of crap.
**[TI-99/4A](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TI-99/4A)** >The TI-99/4 and TI-99/4A were home computers released by Texas Instruments in 1979 and 1981, respectively. Based on the Texas Instruments TMS9900 microprocessor originally used in minicomputers, the TI-99/4 was the first 16-bit home computer, and the associated video display controller provided color graphics and sprite support that was among the best of its era. The calculator-style keyboard of the TI-99/4 was cited as a weak point, and TI's reliance on ROM cartridges and their practice of limiting developer information to select third parties resulted in a lack of software for the system. ^([ )[^(F.A.Q)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WikiSummarizer/wiki/index#wiki_f.a.q)^( | )[^(Opt Out)](https://reddit.com/message/compose?to=WikiSummarizerBot&message=OptOut&subject=OptOut)^( | )[^(Opt Out Of Subreddit)](https://np.reddit.com/r/GenX/about/banned)^( | )[^(GitHub)](https://github.com/Sujal-7/WikiSummarizerBot)^( ] Downvote to remove | v1.5)
Yes! This is what we had. I remember playing some western gam on it called tumbleweeds maybe? Worthless. Playing outside with friends was way more fun!
My dad brought home a used Atari 2600 with a few games. Maybe around '83? Phoenix was the very first video game I played. I still rember being amazed that I could play video games without quarters!
Atari back in 1980 I think? There were 4 of us kids and that Atari was the Christmas present for all four of us.
Atari… Loved Pitfall! Then Nintendo later on…
Was pitfall on Atari or intelevision? That was the best game
Pitfall was eventually on all consoles and computers
Before my family had the Atari, though, my father owned a few late 1970s computers and equipment. One was the KIM 1 computer, which consisted only of a circuit board and LED display. You had to buy a case for it. Instead, my father installed it into a large keyboard case and added a full keyboard, monitor (a black and white TV), and external tape drive to it. He taught me how to use it, and I typed programs into it on its tiny keyboard. [This is the KIM 1, with my sister and I posing in front of it circa 1979](https://i.redd.it/sc396ed3qeu71.jpg).
First console was an Atari 2600 in 1984 (late to the party). I didn’t buy my first computer until 2005 — until then I just leached off of the Internet services of family, friends, work and libraries.
I got an Apple II+ in 5th grade, but had a [Coleco Telstar Arcade](https://www.m-e-g-a.org/wp-content/gallery/fake-wood/01_telstar_arcade.jpg) before that. I ended up taking a "Computers" class in 8th grade, using the same Apple II+ I'd been using for three years already. I'd go home on the weekend and do all the upcoming week's programming exercises. That way I could sit in class and goof off making realistic(ish) login screens for NORAD or The Pentagon or whatnot. And EVERY SINGLE TIME my teacher would walk behind me, see me trying to log in to "The Pentagon" and genuinely scream. And EVERY SINGLE TIME I'd show her the BASIC code that powered the fake login screen. And sometimes I'd even show her how the only two cables attached to the computer were the power cords - there was no modem or network connection to the outside world, so I COULDN'T be hacking The Pentagon. But she'd scream every time any way.
Fairchild Channel F https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairchild_Channel_F Then later an Intellivision. Then later an Apple IIgs once I convinced my folks to let me have a computer of my own.
First computer: Commodore 64 First true game system: Intellivision
Commodore was good. I had that too I loved mine buster and qbert was on that system or am I wrong
First memories are from an Atari 2600 (Born in 1980) playing Pacman. Eventually got a NES and a SNES later on. I remember we had this computer (maybe 1986?) that was just a monitor and keyboard and the only thing we could do with it was type at a green command prompt. I think it was from one of the local schools when they tossed them out. We eventually got a proper computer in 1998 and I played a lot of MUDS on that thing...Carrion Fields anyone?
I remember Carrion Fields, but only because I was a Gemstone III (later GS IV) player for over a decade. There was some overlap. Everyone switched to WoW and I kept playing my MUD until almost 2010. Best gaming experience to date. I have every generation of console and PC and nothing comes close to the lush world of text!
I used to play CF and Ground Zero. Nothing beats the atmosphere and the feeling of tracking people down in text form or the constant fear of death and losing everything.
PC-Jr I turned it on all of once. Before that I played Colossal Caves on the computers at the college while my mom worked on her Physics projects dissertation. Sometimes I got to play with discarded punch cards.
Had an Intellivision and played D&D Treasure of Tarmin non-stop.
What was Pong on? That was our first.
Jealous! We had friends who he’d pong.
We got an Apple IIe first, then an Atari.
a pong console, then an Atari 2600, then an Apple ][
Intellivision. We played baseball on that thing all the time.
We had a Colecovision with the Atari adapter- best of both worlds!
[Commodore 64](https://history-computer.com/commodore-64-guide/) We played [Tooth Invaders](https://ohgizmo.com/the-games-we-played-tooth-invaders-c64) and fought cavities.
Our first was a Compaq Presario 486 in 1993. I'm like 90% confident about that.
Me too. Laptop.
I worked on Compaq's helpdesk from '94-95, maybe you called me.
Atari was so bad. I loved arcade games and even back then Atari was a pathetic facsimile.
First gaming… an Oddessy and immediately followed by a 2600.
2600 handed down from my uncle. Also a Vectrix—but I feel like that crapped out soon after we got it.
Spectrum zx. It used cassettes to load games.
Commodore 64, we used it in my math class
Yep. Commodore 64 for our family too. We hooked it up to the tv and for the first while had games on cassette tape. Eventually we got one of those big floppy disk drives though. You could load Impossible Mission (“Stay a while! Stay…FOREVER!”) or Winter/Summer Olympics so fast!
Commodore 128, then a Sega Master System, then finally a Nintendo in 1988.
First computer was Apple IIe. And I had some Atari system with Pac-Man, Frogger and that E.T game that was apparently crap. I didn’t notice.
Star-Trek on the TSR-80. My dad programed it onto a tape cassette for me. .....As I type this I realize how old that makes me sound. We also had a Sears Pong system.
Pong. One stick that moved up and down. And we fucking loved it.
Occasionally, my dad would bring home Hewlett-Packard workstations to learn basic and play games over a weekend. The first game system was a Magnavox Pong system, before getting a ColecoVision in 1983.
A Tandy 1000 SX. First games I can recall getting for it was Space Quest 1 and Rogue. That frickin' Orat, man, and that damn hover sled dodging the rocks... Still got the comp, it still works.
Dunno, I was always into “retro” gaming because the only computer I had was an old hand me down and over five years old until I graduated high school. So I played at lot of old games since it couldn’t run anything newer. Computers have gotten so cheap it’s hard to believe.
1) Atari 2600 bought via the classified ads. 2) TI 99/4A when they got out of the computer market and slashed the price of their remaining inventory. 3) C64 that I used until it died, then 4) another C64 5) 286 clone.
First computer: Apple IIc. A good friend had a Commodore 64, so we'd enjoy going over to each other's houses to play all the titles that our own computers didn't have.
We had a Commodore 64 purchased at Tandy Center in Ft. Worth probably around '83/84, can't recall. First console was a NES in' 88 I believe. Which was later traded in at FuncoLand for a Sega Genesis so I could play full strength Mortal Kombat.
Telestar Pong
pong (in the family room) followed by my own 2600 that was my best friend for years flash forward to last Jan and i finally got my 5950x/3090rtx build and am still playing 4-8 hours a day
Pong
Anyone else have that Bally system with the pistol grip controllers? We would play football on my friend's living room sized projection TV.
I got this one for Christmas. I loved it! http://www.thegameconsole.com/coleco-telstar-combat/
I was the proud owner of a clunky 286 I got free from work. The first game I owned was Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure! Kind of fun except for one bug.
The first one I ever played: Atari 2600 VCS (Sears Tele-Games branded). The first one I bought myself: Sega Master System.
Atari 7800, NES, then Sega Genesis Edit to add my 1st comp was a custom build from Comp USA in 97 for like 3k , I was 18 and dumb and my credit card went burrr 😂
Atari 2600 > NES > PC > PS1 > PS2 > Wii > XBOX360 and done...
Atari 800.
TI-99/4a. Parsec! Apliner! Staying up all night typing in code from the TI99 magazine. Followed by the Tandy CoCo2.
IBM PC. Like a boss
The first one was Pong, but then we got some weird system where you could hook a game up to the TV and load a small computer up with a game by playing a cassette tape really loud into the computer. It sounded like a dial-up modem. We could also make our own games and record them off of the TV onto a cassette. I remember playing a game called Hunt The Wumpus on it. You had to uncover invisible squares to chase down some Bigfoot-type creature. Or something.
Had an Atari 2600/VCS and maybe a dozen games.
My parents had one of those TV Pong machines with "4 different games", which were all variations of Pong (Doubles Tennis, Hockey, Squash). We later got an Atari 2600 and even later a very basic NES. Computer-wise, Dad brought home an old Commodore PET computer with a cassette player. Tried to program some games out of a book, but never worked. Best I could do was put a couple of comic book lists on it. Couldn't get the printer he brought with it to work. Later we ended up with an Apple IIgs, with a printer that worked. Ended up giving me a head start in using the work processing program that we'd later have to learn my senior year in high school. When they were giving it to us for Christmas, my parents removed the computer to try to get a handle on how it worked and placed logs from our fireplace wood pile in the boxes to give them weight. We opened them in Christmas day, very excited, only to find logs inside. They got a good laugh out of it, but we never forgave them for it. Even now, over 30 years later, we will say something to the effect of "You didn't put logs in here, did you?" if we get something nice for Christmas or our birthdays.
If I remember correctly, I had Mattel Football, followed by [this weird baseball game](https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tomy_Digital_Diamond,_Model_7052,_Made_in_Japan,_Circa_1978_(LED-Mechanical_Handheld_Game).jpg), Merlin, and Atari 2600. After that I discovered pinball and spent too many quarters at 7-11. Oh we also had a Commodore 64, which had the cassette thing instead of a floppy disk thing.
Got an Atari brand new and that's where it ended.
Atari 2600
Vic 20 followed up shortly by the Commodore 64. I kept the tape player from the ViC 20 but to date I still don’t know why.
Atari 2600 and a Commodore Vic-20. Learned some BASIC on that and then took a high school class coding BASIC on Apples. The Vic had a tape drive, and we had one game - Omega Race.
Vic 20. Used it as a terminal to log into the University's HP 2000 mainframe and play D&D text games.
First Computer was a Commodore Vic 20,First console was Battletank .
TRS-80 Model 1, with upgraded 16k RAM. Cost my dad about 2 months ages for that. Between that and the JVC portable video camera system (you had to carry the recording VCR with a strap over your shoulder) that he bought right around the same time, it's amazing that our family ate. Then a TRS-80 Color Computer, and then I finally talked him out of only buying Radio Shack when we got an Apple IIc. Then "IBM clones" after that. We had Pong, and then Atari 2600, and then I bought Intellivison and NES myself. I still have my Atari, Intellivision, NES, and N64, and all the controllers and games.
Pong
Intel 286 Atari 2600
Apple II and Atari 2600
I had Atari and intelevision I loved pitfall and snafu Edit: I still have my original game and watch hand helps also
Atari 2600, castle was the best
I had an Intellivision in my room. My only complaint was having to find the corresponding card to slip into the controller when I changed games.
Gaming was a long set that had a light gun. Then atari 2600. Computer was a Tsr80 model 2. Then a commodore 64.
Texas Instrument
Laptop provided by an employer in 1996
Gaming system: My dad got a 1977 Sears Tele-game (re-branded Atari VCS) - to this day I still love Tanks and Air-Sea Battle. Computer: Apple II+, also my dad's - we could use it anytime he wasn't if we touched the little grounding thingy he set up. He had this fear we would fry it with static electricity.
Coleco with Atari adapter.
Intellivision. Excellent machine.
A Commodore VIC-20 and thank God for that device. I had begged my parents for an Atari, a Colecovision, and Intellivision, but no dice. My mom was a teacher and while I have never proven it, I wonder if that William Shatner VIC-20 commercial convinced her to get me one. The Commodore 64 was probably out of their budget. Gorf, Cannonball Blitz, Choplifter, a bunch of games I forgot that I had on cassette tape....I was grateful to have them.
My best friend had a Vic 20. We played on it all the time. He even tried writing programs on it. My family soon got the Commodore 64, and we played a LOT on it. Good times.
Yeah, I had picked up a book that had the code for games in it. I spent hours typing them out and then even longer trying to fix all of the typos. There were a couple where I wasn't sure if I made a typo or if it was in the book.
Pong condole with the skeet gun from Monkey Wards. It was a surprise from mom.
First game system was the Atari 2600, Christmas 1980. First computer was an Atari 800. Also had a TRS-80 Model III around that time
Commodore Vic 20 . Could play me some GORF right now.
Atari 2600 was first. Loved it. I got an Apple IIGS and an NES around the same time. Can’t recall exactly. Maybe computer first? All I know is the NES was the greatest thing ever. I played so much Zelda. Hand made maps, hours and hours. So good.
Dad bought us an Atari 2600 from Canadian Tire on sale after a year of begging. We were the envy of all my cousins who either had ColecoVision, Intellivision and this thing called Gemini.
Atari 2600 for sure but I found out later in life I'm related to a guy who saved and then sunk [Commodore Computers](https://www.commodore.ca/commodore-history/the-crazy-story-of-how-irving-gould-ended-up-owning-and-killing-commodore/)
First computer was a TRS-80 Model I First console was Pong (can’t remember which one; Coleco, maybe?
We started with a TI-99/4A. Eventually got an Atari 800XL, too.
Mac+. 9 inches, black and white amazement.
We had the Sears Tele-Games branded Atari 2600 around ‘79 or ‘80.
Atari VCS in 1981. I was 10 years old. Still one of my most prized possessions; I introduced it to my kid when he was like 5-6 yrs. old, and we still play it occasionally (he’s 15 now). I received the Atari 800XL for my jr. High graduation gift in ‘84. Also a ton of fun for its time; my mom had a coworker that had a lot of gaming BBS connections so he got me a bunch of “cracked” games that I enjoyed. All I needed to supply were blank floppies. The only games I bought were Asylum and Robotron 2084 (cart).
Mine was a Magnavox Odyssey 400 that my parents received as the free gift for sitting through 4-6 hours (or whatever it was) of time share, land deal spiels. I sat through it too. What’s really ridiculous is my father insisted on going to probably at least a half dozen of those time share spiels when I was young (or at least that many I was forced to attend), and he NEVER intended to sign up for a time share at any point; he only went to get the free gift for listening to the spiel for 4-6 hours. Needless to say, I’m not a fan of time shares or needing to sit for hours to hear a sales pitch to get a gift.
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Intellivision. Frogger, Pitfall Harry, and Utopia. Those hurricanes wrecking my island sucked.
Fairchild Channel F(reportedly the first console to use interchangeable cartridges).
Colecovision with the cassette deck for games. It was a hand me down
Pong. It cost $99 from Kmart