Where Did You Get Your First Atari 2600 and What Type Was it?

[Mirage]

Christmas 1981, Atari light sixer. Combat pack-in and also got Asteroids.

 

Only 2 games and they kept me entertained for weeks. Now have 100's (just 2600), and as great as that is, it's nothing compared to the magic of those 2 games that winter '81/'82.

Edited January 18, 2013 by Mirage

[Atari2600Lives]

It's sad but I have no memory of Where I purchased it . I do remember setting it up for my 13th birthday ( atari light sixer) and playing combat way into the night . Ironically I remember where I got many of the games that followed though .

Edited January 18, 2013 by Atari2600Lives

[nofrills100]

New from a toy shop in Oct 84, a Vader with Phoenix as a pack-in, games Ms Pac-man, Super Cobra, Enduro total DM 1000 which was like $1600, I think

 

Fwoooaar!!!

Seriously DM1000!

In any case, are you sure the exchange was $1600 back then?

[magnusfalkirk]

Actually I goofed on my earlier post. My Sears was a six switch unit with the wood grain. Just realized that after looking at the pic Zylon posted of his. Getting older sucks, it's only been 30 years since I gave that Sears Video Arcade, and all the games I ha for it, to my now ex-in-laws.

[oldjd]

Bought mine new right after they came out.I remember waffling between the Atari and the Intellivision.

Went to a hobby shop,and talked with the counter guy,who I guess was about as in the know as anybody

I asked him which was better because they were both about 200.He said Intellivision was great for sports,but Atari was

all about action.

So Atari it was.Heavy 6,with combat.

I think about a week later went and got Breakout and Space Invaders,at 35 bucks each.Oh,and had nothing but problems with the

paddles,jitter,jumping.The guy at the hobby shop was cool about it,but they would only work a couple weeks and start

with jitters again.

I cant remember if it was ever resolved long term,because I was so frustrated,I stopped playing it(Breakout)

Stayed with games that didnt need paddles.

[nesrulz]

http://www.atariage....ari-2600-rambo/

 

Dad brought us this, from Bulgaria. They were more "advanced" than us in Serbia.

 

Edited January 18, 2013 by nesrulz

[racerx]

My folks picked up a used one for my sister and me Christmas of '79. Heavy sixer and 8 games, and I think they paid $200 for it.

 

It stopped working about a year ago...I just picked up a light sixer to play until I get it fixed.

Edited January 19, 2013 by racerx

[shadow460]

It had to have been Christmas 1980. We got a 4 switch Woody, so Atari must have put 'em out in time for the holidays. I remember for a fact that around Labor Day 1982 I got a Smokey and the Bandit slot car set for my birthday, so I would have gotten the Tyco slot car set for Christmas of 1981. That means the 2600 was in 1980. The unit was CIB up until sometime around 1989 or so.

 

Anyway, we got Missile Command, Asteroids, Codebreaker, and Combat with it. I remember going into the mall not too long before and my brother and I played Combat at a kiosk. We had an absolute blast with the thing. That probably sealed my parents' decision to buy us a 2600. My uncle was in town that Christmas. I guess he'd gotten a load to haul through Oklahoma City, so he stopped off at the house for a while and enjoyed Christmas with us.

I remember while he and my Dad were playing games, I asked my Dad where "the rest of the games" were. Dad told me that they were all there, to which I replied, "You mean there's only one in each box? But these boxes are big enough for at least two. Why don't they fill 'em up?"

[Philflound]

I think it was a heavy sixer, Christmas. Not sure if it was 1977 or 1978. Probably 1978.

 

Phil

[RJ]

First saw one at my neighbors house w/ Pac-Man & told my dad how impressive this thing was. Soon we rented one for a week from Discount Video along w/ Combat, Space Invaders & Pac-Man. That had to have been summer of 1981.

 

So I probably got mine that Xmas of '81, a 4 switch.

[+atari2600land]

I got mine in September of 2005 from a local used game store called "Game Crazy" Not affiliated with the national one. On January 1, 2013, the place was destroyed by a fire. The South Salem one is still going, though.

[Ranthulfr]

It was Christmas 1980 or 81. Light 6-switch. Played Adventure and Superman like crazy.

 

[kyle]

For my birthday in 1988 my mom and dad took me to Roses Dept store and I could pick out something for my birthday for $50.00. I got an Atari 2600jr! I had games for it already about 15 or so that my cousin gave me with his broken 2600 that I wanted for some reason lol. Anyway I finally got to play those games that had been sitting there for months ! I bet you I played Mrs Pac Man Bowling and Pitfall all night.

[Schizophretard]

Birth 1981, Came out of mom and fell right on it. Light Sixer(maybe). Later dad upgraded to a Vader. He presented it as,"The Dark Vader model!" I was instantly sold. It was like upgrading from a station wagon to the Batmobile.

[LidLikesIntellivision]

I got the Vader model in 84 or 85, I can't really remember. I had 5 or 6 years.

I remember the first time I saw the box and I played Missile Commando which came with the console. I was late and I was too sleepy but I could watch my dad playing and I played two games.

 

My Atari was a Polyvox version (the licensed Brazilian Atari 2600).

[masematte]

x-max 81 i think a Light Sixer, with Space invaders and Bowling

[JadeETC]

I got my light sixer from a neat little place in CA called 4Jays. It came two joysticks, a set of paddles, and Combat.

[IHATETHEBEARS]

Christmas Day, 1980. And the damn thing didn't work! Can you imagine how crushed I was? UGH!

 

Anyway, we took it back to Montgomery Wards the next day and got a new one. I still have it - and the box. It cost $199.99. It was a six-switch that came with Combat.

 

Not long after we got Space War. Then I got Slot Racers for my birthday in September. Space Invaders came right after that. Then Asteroids for Christmas, 1981.

[mkiker2089]

Mine was a Sears woodgrain from a flea market with a box of games in 1982 or so. It was just before the crash and games were dirt cheap in the used market. We got a NES much later, when Mario / Duckhunt was included. A friend still had just an Atari all the way to the 90s though.

 

Mine vanished with time. My brother got a 7800 that was lost in a divorce, then a light six unit. I recently got a Sears Arcade II as I liked the styling.

[retrorussell]

I think Xmas 1980 or 1981. We got the traditional wooden sixer with Combat. We got Asteroids within a couple days or so. Bowling, Defender, Kaboom, and others followed shortly. Yeah, it was about 200 bucks for the system. We were supposed to only get like 2 hours a day of games and make sure we get homework done. I snuck some extra time when no one noticed.

In order to improve my grades I would get a new game a month IF I got good grades/made sure my homework was turned in on time/etc. A couple years later when my mom was moved to Vancouver, WA (divorced from my dad) she bought a Coleco Gemini for me to play when I visited on weekends.

[Sprybug]

I feel pretty special. It was Xmas '81 or '82. We got the limited edition Sears Video Arcade II. The black model with the combo controllers, the push button switches and the LEDs on it. It was a sleek system and it came with Space Invaders. They also got 2 or 3 other games with it. Pitfall was one of them. Played it until it bit the dust in '95. I surprised my dad a few Xmas' ago with a replacement that I had lying around back from my "Vintage Fun World" classic gaming reselling days with the original combo controllers.

[Serious]

Pretty much all of my original Atari stuff was purchased at Toys'R'Us, so I'm pretty sure my first VCS was from there as well. It was a 4 switch woody.

 

They had an entire aisle that ran the length of the store with video games in it, mostly Atari 2600 stuff.. Right around the time of the crash, they added computers, and expanded the video game on half of the other side of the main aisle.

 

There was a whole section for Vectrex for years after the crash where you could buy the Vectrex console for $40 and games for around $10 each.

[Miss 2600]

My parents bought it for me from the Sears Wishbook for Christmas 1983, I think. There was a rebate offered in the Wishbook which finally convinced them to get it. It was a Telegames, of course, four switch. It came with Asteroids and Pac-Man.

[LeeJ07]

Well, my first (and so far only) 2600 is a 4 switch woody, from '82. Found it at my grandparents house, which is where it had ended up after my older brother tired of it in the late '80s. It had 8 games, (Combat, Air-Sea Battle, Pac-Man, Video Pinball, Ms. Pac-Man, Battlezone, and Moon Patrol) and five manuals (including the manual for Haunted House, but not the cart). It also had both standard controllers, the paddle controllers, and the Trak Ball controller. All in all, a great find. I have since bought more games.

[JadeETC]

Christmas Day, 1980. And the damn thing didn't work! Can you imagine how crushed I was? UGH!

 

Anyway, we took it back to Montgomery Wards the next day and got a new one. I still have it - and the box. It cost $199.99. It was a six-switch that came with Combat.

 

Not long after we got Space War. Then I got Slot Racers for my birthday in September. Space Invaders came right after that. Then Asteroids for Christmas, 1981.

 

Was the first VCS you got used? If not, were you able to exchange it for a working one?