Playing Atari with a ten year old

[Despina83]

Over the Thanksgiving holiday, I got to play Atari with my brother's ten year old step-daughter, who unfortunately, I only get to see once a year due to them living on the other side of the country. Anyway, she really enjoyed it. We played Jr. Pacman (I finally managed to beat the first level a few times), Ms. Pac-man, Tapper, Breakout, Centipede, etc. She said "Atari? What's that? What?? I'm only ten, I don't know!" I was also amused when she lost while playing Tapper and said "I was just about to get to you guys, if you had just chilled like manly men!" and everytime a guy would send the glass back, she'd yell that he's "ungrateful". While playing Summer Games, she was convinced that the swimmer was in fact a bird and wouldn't hear otherwise. Which is funny, because I'm pretty sure I thought the same thing when I was a toddler and my brother would play. She thought Q*Bert stunk because she couldn't get used to the controls (it does take awhile), and my joystick needing to be replaced didn't help matters. When Q*Bert "swore" she said, "what's that question mark? Is he questioning my skills?!" Anyway, from what I've seen, a kid can have just as much fun with an Atari as they can with a PS3. On another note, I was dissapointed that my brother claimed that he'd never seen Midnight Magic in his life, when I feel almost certain that it was one of the games he owned when I was two, three years old. Maybe I'm crazy.

[Brian O]

Over the Thanksgiving holiday, I got to play Atari with my brother's ten year old step-daughter, who unfortunately, I only get to see once a year due to them living on the other side of the country. Anyway, she really enjoyed it. We played Jr. Pacman (I finally managed to beat the first level a few times), Ms. Pac-man, Tapper, Breakout, Centipede, etc. She said "Atari? What's that? What?? I'm only ten, I don't know!" I was also amused when she lost while playing Tapper and said "I was just about to get to you guys, if you had just chilled like manly men!" and everytime a guy would send the glass back, she'd yell that he's "ungrateful". While playing Summer Games, she was convinced that the swimmer was in fact a bird and wouldn't hear otherwise. Which is funny, because I'm pretty sure I thought the same thing when I was a toddler and my brother would play. She thought Q*Bert stunk because she couldn't get used to the controls (it does take awhile), and my joystick needing to be replaced didn't help matters. When Q*Bert "swore" she said, "what's that question mark? Is he questioning my skills?!" Anyway, from what I've seen, a kid can have just as much fun with an Atari as they can with a PS3. On another note, I was dissapointed that my brother claimed that he'd never seen Midnight Magic in his life, when I feel almost certain that it was one of the games he owned when I was two, three years old. Maybe I'm crazy.

 

Brian O likes this.

 

 

Oops, sorry, thought I was on Facebook for a minute there.

[godzillajoe]

Very cool. I plan on indoctrinating my 2 year old nephew to the cult of Atari when he gets a bit older.

[Stan]

Yeah man, we ever have kids they're going to be playing it old. I've actually found children like older games. My little cousins had a blast last Christmas playing 'the first Wii' when I plugged in Athletic World on my toploader NES for them with Power Pad, mind you.

[StanJr]

There is hope for the future! Sounds like you had a lot of fun, and she sounds like a pretty bright kid!

 

ROCK

 

[+cmart604]

My five yr old son is just as enthused for us to play INTV, 2600 or CV as he is the Wii or PS3. No difference to him, he just likes video games. One day, he'll get to inherit all of it...

[+save2600]

Oh yeah, classic gaming is still very desirable from kids and grown ups alike. I deal with people all day long in an arcade setting that prefer the classics in fact. Awesome story Despina83! Those will surely become some of the greatest memories for you two down the road

 

 

[JingleJoe]

from what I've seen, a kid can have just as much fun with an Atari as they can with a PS3.

Correct! The graphics only have a small part to play in how enjoyable a game is. It's really all down to the gameplay, not the graphics which we who play Atari 2600's may have noticed, is exactly what Atari games are: all game no graphics.

 

Sidenote: alot of modern games can be reduced to space invaders when you take out the flashy graphics.