where did you see/touch your first piece of Atari computer/games hardware

[carmel_andrews]

Was it at a shop window display

 

Was it being Demo'd in a shop

 

At your friends, relatives or parents house

 

Or other

 

 

For me, the first piece of Atari gaming hardware i saw was the orig. vcs console and box in a WH Smith window display in Margate (1980)

 

The first piece of Atari hardware i touched was the Atari 800 in a Dixons store in stevenage (late 1981) where it was being demo'd (i think it was showing Star Raiders, but can't be too sure)

[doctorclu]

The first piece of Atari hardware i touched was the Atari 800 in a Dixons store in stevenage (late 1981) where it was being demo'd (i think it was showing Star Raiders, but can't be too sure)

 

Star Raiders was the best demo for the 400/800. That is what I remember, seeing a 800 attached to a projector TV... oh man, I still get chills thinking about Star Raiders projected on a 8 foot by 6 foot screen. That was just AWESOME.

 

Someday, I play to do that again...

[Thomas Jentzsch]

Atari 2600 at IFA (world's largest fair for entertainment industry) September 1981 in Berlin. Played a few rounds of Asteroids there.

Edited September 19, 2008 by Thomas Jentzsch

[AJ_Maine_Man]

It would have to be when we got Super Pong for x-mas, I was very young at the time (not sure the year super pong came out but I must have been around 7ish)

 

The Super Pong was a present for my older brother I think,but it seemed more like a family gift.

[+atari2600land]

For me, it was a looooong time later. In fact, it was about 2005 when I saw this Atari 2600 for the first time in a used video game shop. I thought, "well, this is an interesting looking video game system. I think I'll buy it." So I did. And then I bought more games for it. And then it died, so I had to get another one (which was for sale at the same place.), and then I got even more games for it. And then I started getting homebrew games for it. And then I started making games for it. And 228 games and 3,000 posts in AA later, I'm still buying games for it.

[Vic George 2K3]

J.C. Penney at the Holyoke Mall, probably around 1980 or 1981, when me and a friend of mine where trying out Combat for the 2600.

Edited September 19, 2008 by Vic George 2K3

[accousticguitar]

At a friend's house in about 1980. I played it once and was hooked. Soon thereafter I went to work until I had enough money to buy a 2600 and a copy of Space Invaders.

[dwh]

Also at a friends house in 1980, playing space invaders without dropping all of your allowance into a coin slot was a very cool feeling.

[AtariLeaf]

The first time I saw an Atari was in an old, now long gone, Canadian Retailer called "Consumers Distributing". I'm not sure what year it was (what year did Space Invaders first come out?) but everyone was buying one to play SI and I was in line with my dad to buy me a pong system. I was so out of date.

[fiddlepaddle]

[OK...if he's going to double-post the question, I'm going to double-post my answer ]

 

My first exposure to TV games was back in 1975 or so. After school, if the 110 baud time-sharing teletype was not available, we would walk over to Sears and play the Pong demonstration unit in the TV department. We got pretty good together and sometimes a crowd would gather to watch.

[Elw00d]

My first physical contact with a 2600 was in my living room. My brother received it for a birthday present. I am 30ish so I am a secondhand Atari fan.

 

El

[Retro Rogue]

She was staring at me across the room, I walked up to her and told her babe, tomorrows so far away. There's something I just have to say, and I dont think I can hide what I'm feelin inside Another day knowin I love you. And I'm getting too close again, I don't want to see it end. Im gonna take you by surprise and make you realize.....

 

And then I took her out back and I told her don't hide it, just divide it. And please don't knock it until you've tried it. So to all of you bitches and all you hoes Lets have group sex and do the rambo! Somebody say hey-y-y-y-y we want some pu......oh, you're asking about the first time I touched my first piece of Atari?

[+Random Terrain]

Saw my first Atari 2600, Atari computers, VIC-20, and Intellivision at Woolco in Tanglewood Mall (Roanoke County, Virginia).

[geosteve]

I used to try the 2600/Telegames displays at Sears in 1980/1981 and finally got my parents to buy me one (the 2600 package with Combat game included) in mid 1981. Sears also had 400 and 800 displays too. I got my first computer, an Atari 800XL, new in 1983. There was a toy store called 'Child World' that had lots of Atari displays shortly before they closed.

[A2600]

At my House with my dads VADER 1989-90 ish I loved Adventure alot!!

 

CLICK HERE FOR PICS OF BACK THEN

[Deteacher]

The first piece of Atari hardware touched was my Uncle's Sears Telegames system, back in the late 70's. The cool part is, about 5-7 years ago, he gave the whole thing to me.

[DarthCalvin]

Around '87 or '88. I was in about the first grade and my friends had NES but my parents wouldn't get me one. My neighbor's grandson had apparently gotten an NES as well because she gave me his old 4-swith woody with 18 games, most in pitiful condition. I have owned and played a VCS non-stop since then but if my neighbor hadn't given it to me, I'm not sure I would have ever seen one. I didn't get anything else until my SNES around '94. I do have a few fond memories of the NES because my stepbrother had one, as well as all my friends. Still, it's very strange when everyone your own age grew up on a generation-newer system than you did. I have to explain Atari to people my own age.

[Rik]

Back in 81,i bought a factory reconditioned 2600 for like $150.New 2600's were like $300 Cdn new back then,considered a great deal back then.So pulling that out of the box was the 1st time i touched anything Atari.

Edited September 20, 2008 by Rik

[Mongy]

Christmas 1979, I got a VCS, came with combat, and air-sea battle.....i played it all day, then all night, my mom kicked me off around 11pm, i was 12.

 

wow...the memories

[MN12BIRD]

In about 1988 (I was born in 1981!) I think a year before I got an NES my uncle let be borrow his 2600 woody and a box full of games and controllers. I remember loving to play Phoenix (IIRC) and Grand Prix on it!

[Ryanw]

Probably in 1998 (lol) at a neighbor's house. They had a shitload of games and just spent a day there trying them all out. I actually don't remember too many of the games besides Frogger, some pinball game, and Pitfall.

[Lord Thag]

My cousin's brand new Atari he got in xmas of '82, a couple of days before my grandpa died. When he passed away, we went down south for the funeral, and the Atari basically babysat my brother and I while my parents dealt with the funeral. I remember playin Donkey Kong for like six hours straight.

[ATARIPITBULL]

My first Atari 2600 system I got a chance to put my hands on was at a K-Mart store around 1980 or so and I played Combat and was in love from the start.

 

[ClassicGMR]

I was 6 the night my father brought home an Atari 2600 in 1978. He just walked in one night - nothing special going on - and dropped it in front of us! I had never seen one before then.

 

He hooked it up to our 27" console tv in the living room and we played it for hours!

[ratfink]

It must have been 1977 so I was 7. There was a family down the street that was the first on the block to get one. Their dad was a computer programmer so he was into tech stuff.

 

I remember being amazed at all those colorful boxes. The oranges, yellows and reds. They kept everything nice and neat and in the boxes on a shelf like books. Of course, everyone else had some version of Pong but man did we soon forget about Pong when we all saw that Atari.