When did you first get a 2600?

[IntellivisionDude]

My Mother bought me an Intellivision for Christmas in 83 so i never had an Atari growing up. Actually that was the only system she ever bought me. I did have a friend with an Atari so i did get to play it a bit as a kid.

 

But i got my first Atari around the spring of 2009 at a yard sale. It was a 4 switch model. It was in a box with 1 controller, 2 games (Basketball and Warlords) and all the cords and wires were all mangled like a rats nest. But she wanted rid of it and i got it for $5.

 

A funny story is (being that i didn't have much knowledge of the 2600) i thought something was wrong with it or the controller port may have been messed up. I tried Basketball and i couldn't control it. I tried Warlords and the same thing. So for next 5-6 months i didn't do anything with it. I just let it sit there and forgot about it. But after all that time i decided to try again, so i bought another joystick off Ebay. But same result, so i thought the control port was damaged. But a few days later, i had a revelation. I can't recall what sparked my revelation, if it was something i seen online or something i thought of myself. I just remember thinking, why not try the controller in port 2. Ding Ding, that was my problem. Then later that day i took a closer look at that Warlords cart and seen that it said, For Use with the Paddle Controller. Duh moment #2.

 

But now over 2 years later i went from 2 games, to about 200 games for it. And hope my collection keeps on growing. It is slowly becoming my favorite system. I seem to play it more than my Intellivision. Shhh don't tell em that over in the Intellivision forum.

Edited November 20, 2011 by IntellivisionDude

[CorTat-G]

On eBay about 3-4 years ago, I Still have it, it is a 4-switch wood veneer model. It came with the power supply,2 (barely working) joysticks and a 1981 atari catalog, and no games. Since it came with no tv connector, I had to use an old Radio Shack TV Switchbox.

 

Before it arrived I went down to the local Flea Market and bought some games at $1 each or 6 for $5.

I'm pretty sure the titles I bought were:

 

Pac-Man

Asteroids

Frogger

Human Cannonball

Breakout

Donkey Kong

 

I know, Pretty stupid of me to buy Breakout when I had no paddles, So, for a couple of months, I just watched the ball go down an empty playfield, while my lifeless paddle just stayed there, hoping that the ball would move toward my paddle so I'd score at least 1 point.

 

In total, It cost me about $27.

[Chuck D. Head]

I seem to play it more than my Intellivision. Shhh don't tell em that over in the Intellivision forum.

 

What's all this then,.....brother?

[Torr]

XMas of 1986. I recently got hooked on my cousins 2600 and Colecovison so my parent got me one that year (I was 5).

It was a Junior Model of course and 6 games. Asteroids, Defender, Frogger, Missile Command, Pac-Man and Yar's Revenge. Plus then a month or two later I got Star Raiders. That game was over my head till I was about 7 or 8

 

To this day those are some of my favorite games. Not only cause they are my first experiences with the VCS, but to this day most of them are revered as classics in one way or another... a pretty good christmas... I'm pretty sure I still have all the original carts, but the system is long dead... I can tell my originals, cause as was the thing in 80's, my original carts of COURSE have me and my sisters name on them...

[Ranthulfr]

I received my first Atari 2600 for Christmas 1981. I'm pretty sure it was a light sixer. I got Adventure at the same time and life was good.

[Ransom]

I know my first 2600 was a light sixer, and I know I got it for Christmas. Dunno if it was 1979 or 1980, though. It came with Combat and my parents also bought me Space Invaders. Asteroids came out the next year. That was my dad's favorite game, and we played the heck out of it.

[BassGuitari]

December 1999. Just before Christmas. Borrowed some games from a friend in my Boy Scout troop (which I still have -he never asked for them back, and I kind of forgot about it as I got more and more games and as we grew up/apart. I guess they're technically and legally mine now...) and have been rocking Atari ever since.

 

(It was a 4-switch woodgrain. Still have it.)

 

[cybercylon]

Back in 1980.... along with space invaders by saving up my paper route money. Not sure what happened to it. The one I have now is a heavy sixer from a flea mart.

 

I do know I sold off all of the games in the late 1980's. I was pretty careful about keep boxes and instructions. There are a few R7's and R8's that I had once, but who knew then?

[GameGirl420]

My older brothers had an Atari 2600 back in '82 and that was the first time I was exposed to videogames. I remember one day my mom asked my sister and I " Do you want to play Pacman????" and I remember thinking to myself "Packman??? a game about the mailman? lol"...but then when we saw the game we were immediately hooked. Then the second game I remember playing on my brother's 2600 was Gran Prix.

 

Didn't get my very own Atari 2600 until late '86 when they came out with the Atari Jr.

[snstay]

I had an intelivision as a kid, and just recently got into atari so woo hoo i got my first atari in 2010! Now with a loaded harmony cart its my favorite gaming system.

 

 

 

 

scott

[IntellivisionDude]

I seem to play it more than my Intellivision. Shhh don't tell em that over in the Intellivision forum.

 

What's all this then,.....brother?

 

 

[tisaperfectdayelise]

My dad worked for a toy distributer in the late 1970s. Just before I was born, they were given a VCS as a corporate Christmas present. I think that was 1978. It lasted until about 1990, when our basement was flooded. Dad threw it out, while I was at school. I spent the next five years looking for one (with all of the means that an elementary school student has), and I eventually found one at a local church's rummage sale. $20 bought me a Vader, 30 games, 3 joysticks (but no paddles), the AC adapter and switchbox, and one of those Game Center things to keep it in. I've had (at least) one in my possession ever since (that was probably 17 or 18 years ago).

[roberto]

My Mother bought me an Intellivision for Christmas in 83 so i never had an Atari growing up. Actually that was the only system she ever bought me. I did have a friend with an Atari so i did get to play it a bit as a kid.

 

...

 

But now over 2 years later i went from 2 games, to about 200 games for it. And hope my collection keeps on growing. It is slowly becoming my favorite system. I seem to play it more than my Intellivision. Shhh don't tell em that over in the Intellivision forum.

 

Like the soon-to-be "AtariDude" I got an Intellivision as a kid but one of my cousins had a 2600 so I could play with him sometimes. I got my first 2600 off ebay (a nice 4 switch woodgrain made in Sunnyvale) soon after joining this forum. I now have three: besides the 4-switch (which I AV modded), a light sixer (both of these are lose but in good condition) and a 4 Switch Sears fully boxed and in mint condition, which is the most treasured item in my hardware collection

Edited January 25, 2012 by roberto

[jdrose]

Does Stella count? Discovered it in December of 2011.

 

My very first 2600 hardware is a 7800 console system I got in January of 2012.

 

My girlfriend's family in 1980 had an Atari 2600 that I got to enjoy when I visited her house. Good memories.

Edited January 25, 2012 by jdrose

[+stephena]

Summer of 1984. I remember it vividly. I bought it used with 2 games (Keystone Kapers and Space Invaders) and a 12" B&W TV. I got it for $50, which took about a year to save up from a paper route. I'm not sure what happened to it, but I didn't have one for most of the 90's. At the end of the 90's I got involved in Stella development, and now have 4 or 5 (and also a 7800 that was generously donated a few months ago). I'd never have guessed in 1984 that 15 years later I'd start working on a 2600 emulator, and over 10 years after that I'd still be working on it

[FireStar]

Although my actual atari has only had two months in my house, I've known the 2600 through the Flashback 2 since it was new. (2005?) My first one I got as a birthday gift.(Still have the box from that one) I later gave it away trying to save shelf space. The second one I got about a year ago at a goodwill. The Vader that has displaced my flashback was found abandoned in my uncles girlfriend's house.

Edited January 26, 2012 by FireStar

[Master Phruby]

I got an Atari VCS (heavy sixer) for Christmas in '79. I also got Space Invaders along with it. My dad couldn't figure out how to connect it to the TV. He kept muttering along about Damn Engineers as he tried to figure out the instructions. Finally he gave up and I plugged it in in about three minutes and was happly playing Combat. He had no idea how I did it and was afraid I would break the TV. I guess I grew up to be one of those Damn Engineers.

[1FF8]

This is weird--like an addicts' confessional or something. Does the padre absolve us after we confess?

 

I don't know when we got a six-switch Atari, but I was older than ten because I was ten when it came out. The most familiar games start in about 1980, and I remember playing a *TON* of space invaders, so that's a good guess as to the year. A few years later I sold it for a 5200 because that was going to be the hot new system that took over the world. (I'm good predicting that stuff--I also own two Dreamcasts. Fortunately, I use my gift of prophecy only for good. )

 

Later, I regretted the sale, since the 5200 didn't take off and after buying it I couldn't afford nearly as many games as we'd had for the 5200. But when I got it all out again recently, I was sort of happy about it because I certainly wouldn't have one otherwise. Anyway, a while back I bought a Flashback 2 so my boy could play some games I played as a kid, and finally I just rescued a 7800 and bought a Harmony for it so we can play the whole library. I never even saw a 7800 back in the day, probably never even heard of it, so I like having it more than a 2600 if it were only one or the other. I miss the six-switch wood-grain thing, though, and if I ever get an original 2600 that's the only one I have any interest in owning. Difficulty switches don't belong on the back.

 

This is one of the better parts of having kids. :-)

 

F8

[GameGirl420]

Anyways looking back the first one I got in '86 didn't last too long. Sometime in the spring of '87 I got rid of the Atari Jr. and got an NES. I think I gave it to my cousin. After that I went through most of the 90's not playing a 2600 until '96 my friends down the street had one in their garage and they let me borrow it. I kinda feel the Atari 2600 got better over time like a fine wine. I sure enjoy playing it alot more now than I did in the 80's for some reason.

 

 

Wasn't until early 2009 I bought one for myself. It's the main 2600 I play and it's a woodgrain 4-switch that came with 30 games, the box and wireless controllers. Paid only $28 for all of that.

[+Atari_Warlord]

I was saving money for a Honda motorcycle in 1977 when I saw a store display in Sears. I bought the 2600 and still don't have a motorcycle to this day. No regrets.

[jhammond]

Christmas of 1982 (I was 12 years old). Woody 4-switch Unit. Space Invaders, Asteroids, and Missle Command had me glued at first. I owned several "bummer" games I never really played. Then, the Tutankham and Montezuma's Revenge games kept my interest a going again. After High School, this questionable working unit was sold in a garage sale, but I kept most of my games! They stayed in storage for years...until 2008 I got a working Atari unit (all Black "Vader" 4-switch) from Vintage Stock! I've been playing those old games again...fun! Now, thanks to e-bay and Atari2600.com my collection of games has grown to over 120! Discovering games I've always heard about but never tried is fun....it's like being a kid all over again.

Edited June 16, 2012 by jhammond

[Grig]

Christmas of 1982 (I was 12 years old). Woody 4-switch Unit. Space Invaders, Asteroids, and Missle Command had me glued at first. I owned several "bummer" games I never really played. Then, the Tutankham and Montezuma's Revenge games kept my interest a going again. After High School, this questionable working unit was sold in a garage sale, but I kept most of my games! They stayed in storage for years...until 2008 I got a working Atari unit (all Black "Vader" 4-switch) from Vintage Stock! I've been playing those old games again...fun! Now, thanks to e-bay and Atari2600.com my collection of games has grown to over 120! Discovering games I've always heard about but never tried is fun....it's like being a kid all over again.

 

Wasn't growing up in the 70s and 80s just the best? I was born in 1970 and I got to experience all of the great computer/video game achievements first hand. I think I played street racer the most on my 2600 early on. Thanks for sharing the great memories!

[high voltage]

Germany 1984, my mother had just died, I got a whole stash of cash from the house sale, and I went to a toyshop to buy a Vader, pack-in was Phoenix. With the console I also purchased Enduro, MS.Pac-Man and Super Cobra.

Most excellent choice of console and games for DM 1200,00 way back in 84.

[sqoon]

I went to my Uncle's house around Christmas of 1977 and they had the amazing Atari Video Computer System, Sadly, they were selfish and would not let me touch it, despite the fact that I was not a little kid and would do it no harm. That's just the way my uncle was with his stuff. I remember watching him play with hid model trains and RC airplanes, but never could touch that stuff either.

 

By 1980, I had talked my dad into getting me a VCS, and it arrived for Christmas of that year. Don't think I ever went back to my uncle's house after that.

[gorfcadet]

I had a heavy 6 from either my folks or I took it home from my grandparents house after my uncles lost interest. I don't remember since I was playing Atari since I could walk. My uncles used to take turns that lasted forever at Pac-Man and Frogger. I had the H6 until I graduated college and a ex roommate got creative about whose boxes were whose and it didn't make the trip home with me. Still gets me angry.

Until the NES, my spare time was dominated by C64 and Atari 2600. Good times.