Games older folks would play :-)

[Joel D. Park]

I remember back in the day, about the only game I could ever get my mother to play was Kaboom!

 

There's a few games out there that appeal to almost everyone...

[+Random Terrain]

Kaboom was my mom's favorite game too.

[Bob Bytchin]

My dad had always been an "anti-gamer" when I was younger. I had straight A's in school, so you think his argument that games rotted the brain would be a moot point. I did however manage to get him interested in the game Trick Shot and Space Invaders. When my parents divorced, my dad used to take my brother and I to an arcade every time we would go to visit my grandmother. My dad would play pinball mostly, but he discovered the game Galaga and since it compared to Space Invaders (in a way), he found that games could be fun. So he started playing more games, and he actually bought Galaxian on his own one day.

 

[ 05-16-2001: Message edited by: Bob Bytchin ]

[Tempest]

I can remember begging my dad to get the rocket to land in Space Inavders (the Atari 400/800 version had a rocket that got lower for each wave you cleared, eventually it would land and the UFO could take your guy away). I also remember him getting to the key rounds in pac-man.

 

Ahh memories...

 

Tempest

[Joel D. Park]

Not Atari related.. But until just this past year, I don't think my dad had ever played a video game in his life. But I talked him into trying out Midtown Madness by Microsoft on the PC.. I was amazed how giddy he became.. He kept trying to run over pedestrians, but they just jump out of the way...

 

Just so you know, my dad is a Big, Scary guy, it was really something to see him playing Midtown..

[Bob Bytchin]

I can relate. LOL. My dad was "anti-computer" for a few years until his new wife bought a computer. She mainly bought it so that she could keep in touch with our widely dispersed family through email. She said that he wouldn't go near the computer for the longest time. But I sent her a copy of most of the Hoyle's games, some chess games, and even a few emulators. She said the he either plays Cribbage, or he plays Atari 2600 games like Space Invaders or Galaxian.

[+-^CrossBow^-]

This is a good topic as it really brings me back some memories.

 

My stepdad was never into the Atari much...but on occasion he would play 2 player Space Invaders with my mom. He never really was anti-computer or games..but just didn't seem interested in them himselves much. That is until he too discovered Galaga one day as a Pizza Hut. Ever since then he has to pop in a quater into one any time he sees it. I tried to get him interested in playing Galaga when I bought it for my 7800. But it just wasn't the same for him. Heheh...

 

As for my Mom...she has always loved...and still does to this day...video games. She used to actually play our 2600 more often than I did. Her favs were Defender, Moon Patrol, Ms. Pac-Man, Space Invaders, and Midnite Magic. Ah yes...I can remember having to ask her repeatly to get off so that I could get in my time on the thing...hehe..

 

Emulation has been the best thing for her PC in recent years as she would much rather play Z26 and her old favorites than the Mame.

 

She has too since I took the 7800 and the 2600 and all the games when I left home...hehe...

[Joel D. Park]

Nah, I actually meant Older Folks, like our parents and stuff.. Not really us, I'm still too young (23) to concider myself an aging gamer.. :-)

 

The thread really took off though.. I enjoy the memories.

[Bob Bytchin]

I guess that those of us that remember playing "Pong" or "Tanks" when it was brand-new and sitting next to the pinball machines for the first time are the "oldies" LOL

[Kikstad]

Kaboom was cool. I was a big fan of Pacman and Asteroids and Missile Command -- I basically starting playing "video" games in the arcades back in the 70s so when Atari came out with home versions of the classics, those are the ones I bought and played.

[Bob Bytchin]

There are only a handful of games I have been able to get my step-father and mom to play. The list includes (non 2600 games): Leaderboard Golf on the C-64, Family Feud (on the C-64), Jeopardy (on the C-64 and PC), MS Golf, Who Wants to be a Millionaire, and the You Don't Know Jack series. Not much variety. But when my mom and step-father were visiting, I was playing some TFC and UT and my step-father thought it was pretty cool...especially when I was playing with my friends using Roger Wilco.

 

BTW, was this thread "Games older folks would play" meant for us aging Atari fanatics?

[Scooterb23]

Just gotta add my 2 cents here. For my mom, it was only 2600 Pac-Man and Kaboom. We had similar highs on Pac-Man (both 350K or better) but she had it all over me on Kaboom, I think she could break 10-12K with ease, while my best was about 4500!!

 

My dad was big into Combat, Armor Ambush, and Artillery Duel for the 2600, he liked trying to outwit me with his military knowledge (big war buff) but his favorites were C64 games like Falklands '82, Top Gun, and a ship game on a green disk that had Japanese versus Russian fleets (can't remember the name of the game, I think it was by Spectrum Holobyte, I definitely remember the green disk, and that you could play as Tojo, any help??) But his favorite all time game was Two Tigers in the arcade, nothing like a good Dogfight.

[popeal]

Cool topic.

 

My dad was into Atari 2600 back in the days... his favorites were Asteroids and Freeway... Mine as a kid was Atari's Bowling and Moon Patrol... and Masters of The Universe (but, I always used to go over to my friend's house at the time, because he had Intellivision, and that He-Man game was 10X better! hehehehehe). Good old days... still play em' thanks to the z26....

 

al www.blowoutmagazine.com

[Marco(2)]

Good memories indeed....

 

At one time I got my entire family addicted to playing Decathlon. I had built a small table for the controller, so you didn't have to hold it in your hand which made playing a bit more convenient. Needless to say, the 1,500 meters was still a dreadful event. I also constructed a huge fire button which made it very easy to jump and shoot.

 

One other game we played a lot was Othello. Yes, Othello of all games! Othello was my pack-in game (imagine my disappointment: no Pac Man, no Space Invaders, not even Combat). We discovered Othello was actually a pretty cool game. I remember having family tournaments in which the winner would face new challengers all the time. I think this was the only game my mother also played.

 

However, one thing stands out as the most impressive classic gaming feat from the Atari 2600 days. My father and I were the only family members playing Asteroids. The others did not like it, for some reason (maybe because we kicked their butt all the time). In single mode, we always played variation #9, the simplest game. At one time, I sat down and played, and played, till I reached a score of 480k. Then I was bored and decided to quit, thinking nobody was ever gonna sit in front of the tele for that long to beat my score. Imagine da horror when I came home one day and I witnessed my father finish a game of 500k points. Man, I was bummed! I just couldn't believe it! I think I tried to beat his score over the next couple of days, but without any luck. I'm not sure how long it took (one, two hours?), but I just couldn't get myself to doing it any more. After that week, I never played Asteroids again.

 

Cheers,

 

Marco

[utamav91]

Dad would play Activision Laser Blast with me for hours. I can still hear him saying "You just don't miss. It's that simple." That game gets moving pretty fast after a few levels. He was very good.

 

We also played RealSports series games--baseball was sort of weak (he hated the baserunners could steal so easily, so we played 'no stealing' rules) but I remember he went to a lot of trouble to get the RS Football game from a local record shop in town. That was a good game. We'd play that game a lot. I'm not sure I ever beat him as a matter of fact.

 

He liked Night Driver too. I remember the big pixelly trees and that wild 'level 4' game that generated nearly impossible turns....

[The Night Phantom]

Both my parents played on the 2600 from time to time (usually against me), but most of all I remember my mother playing Space Invaders. I'm not sure she actually liked the game, although it's possible she did. Like it or no, she really got into it. By that I mean that she took the game a little too seriously. When the Invaders got a little too low and a little too fast and were raining laser bolts in her direction, she would cry out in a high-pitched voice such things as "Ohhh—they're coming after meeeEEEE!!!" or just plain "eeeEEEEEEEEE!!!!" Mom was never a calm, rational person to begin with, but her video game panic was a revelation. I shudder to think how she might have reacted to Robotron: 2084.

[Mountain King]

My Dad never played at all or at least not that I know of. And my Mom would play Ms. Pac-Man and Video Pinball. She would sneak in a few games after we went to bed too. For the Nintendo she liked to play Super Mario Brothers three.

 

This is off topic:

I've always had trouble getting girlfriends to play video games with me. The girl I'm Dating now loves space invaders, but a lot of my other girlfriends were just not into video games at all. However the two Girls I took to the Philly Classic convention hung out in the Arcade room and played Tron and Space Invaders. They didn't like crowd in the selling room.

[utamav91]

Remember when it was common to rent an NES system from your local video store?

 

I was always pretty lucky--girls liked those Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune games. A lot of girls I dated were pretty athletic, so they got into the sports games as well. The Larry Bird-Dr. J is game is still a favorite with my wife.

 

And for the price of renting like two boring movies at the time, you could rent the system and about 3 games for several days.

 

Believe it or not, my wife was the one who actually encouraged me to pick up the 7800 system at the electronics outlet store...she really dug the nostalgia aspect. We still play it. And anytime she sees a old space invaders or pac-man game at an arcade or miniature golf facility, the quarters disappear in a hurry.

 

 

This is off topic:

I've always had trouble getting girlfriends to play video games with me. The girl I'm Dating now loves space invaders, but a lot of my other girlfriends were just not into video games at all. However the two Girls I took to the Philly Classic convention hung out in the Arcade room and played Tron and Space Invaders. They didn't like crowd in the selling room.

[TunnelRunner]

So glad to see my friends Joel and Marco here! I bought my 5200 back in 1984, and bought a second system for my family. My folk's were hooked on River Raid and Dreadnaught Factor (what a great time that was, maybe why I still love these old games is the memory of my folks nervously zapping alien spaceships and laughing when they got zapped). The 5200 has since been resurrected in my folks place, and Dreadnaught Factor is at the top of the stack of games, although I don't think they really play them any more. But it makes me happy to think they could if they wanted to.

[jahfish]

hey joel and george, you two should come to the eurocon, so we see us all ... and can play a round of dectahlon together.

 

greetings

 

fish

[Joel D. Park]

I don't even think I'm going to go to GCE this year. It's just Too Far Away!!.

 

Jah, George, how's it going.