How old were you when you played your first Atari 2600 game?

[How old were you when you played your first Atari 2600 game?]

I put four. I was born in 1985, I played my cousin's 2600. It think it must have been 1989 or 1990 because this was before he got an NES and he got an NES before I remember Super Nintendo coming out. He had 20 or 30 carts. I remember Space Invaders, Asteroids, and Barnstorming being faves. Kind of a random selection. We played it once in a while after he got an NES, because the NES was hooked up to the family TV and his atari was hooked up to an ancient 13" in his room. I bought my first atari 2600 in 96 or 97 with allowance money. I doubt it cost me more than $20. A guy in town had a junk shop and he sold 2600 games for $3(!) or 4 for $10 which seemed reasonable to me as I enjoyed the games. I acquired 20 or 30 this way before my dad started taking me around to thrifts. I got about 240 of the 260ish carts I have between age 11 and 16. I have bought the other 20 or so in the last 10 years.

[Play N Trade]

The Murfreesboro PNT has never had any 2600 carts when I've visited, but they have had O2 and SMS carts, which is kinda strange. I've chatted up the employees and while most of them are way more chill than the ones you run into at Gamestop or whatever, their classic game knowledge was low. I still go in once in awhile and have gotten some good NES and PS1 deals. Better than most chains. Speaking of chains that sell classics, what's your guys opinion of Vintage Stock?

[How the hobby has changed for me]

I'm jealous about the Wall Ball! Last time I was in The Great Escape I got some good deals on some NES and N64 stuff, but there wasn't anything 2600 I needed.

 

82-T/A, have you got a link to your ePay auctions?

Isn't the Great Escape the coolest place. I rarely find any Atari stuff I need but I pick up old Jazz records and N64/PS1 era stuff all the time. I love the one in the Vandy area, but the one on Charlotte Pike sucks. The one in Madison is where I found the Wall Ball but I rarely go there since it is out of the way for me.

 

@nonner242

I've seen Final Wars and enjoyed it but I really prefer the Showa era stuff.

[How the hobby has changed for me]

I don't think it's reasonable to expect a steady stream of 2600 games in thrifts for eternity.

Yeah, you are correct. It's just I was out of the hobby for awhile and I hadn't noticed how things had changed. I don't think I will ever be a huge ebayer/internet buyer though, alot of the attraction of the hobby for me, in addition to how fun the games are, is how inexpensive it is. The fact thrift finds no longer abound in my area just makes the finds there are that much sweeter.

 

@nonner242: Of course I love Gojira and Ghidrah is my fav monster, with Megalon as my second favorite(an odd choice I admit.)

[How the hobby has changed for me]

This is my first post here at Atariage, though I have lurked for quite awhile. Today I found a copy of Wall Ball for the 2600 for $.49. It was at this place in Nashville called the Great Escape. This is one of two finds for the year, the other was a Spike's Peak single ender for $.99. I first started collecting in 1997 when I was 12. The Atari 2600 was the first system I played when I was very small at my cousin's house. I went on hiatus about 2001 and started up again about a year ago and have noticed the hobby has really changed. When I first started collecting carts were still plentiful at garage sales, thrift stores, and other such places, at least in my area. After I had acquired about 100 of the most common games in short order, I could still add new carts to my collection every week or two. I still only have about 260-270 games but I cannot seem to find new titles anywhere. The other thing I have noticed is that rec.video.games.classic is barely active. That was a great board and I loved reading about all the cool finds. This is an awesome board and I enjoy reading but I wonder if the lack of find related threads has something to do with ebay and ROM's taking over the hobby. For me the thrill of the hunt has always been my favorite part of collecting all these carts(I only play about 30 different games on the regular.) Anyway, thanks for reading and if your in Nashville let me know how the hunting is