When did you get your first Atari 2600?

[atariedsel]

I got my 2600 in '96. I found it in my grandparents attic with 24 games and paddle controllers. She told me she bought it 80/81 when PacMan came out. We dug it out hooked it up to a black/white TV from the attic too and it worked great. Still have that system and 5 other systems with 200 games now.

[4Ks]

Back in 2008/09, my brother showed me pictures of some really old video games. We both laughed at the enormous pixels and simplistic spritework, but something in the back of my mind was sparked, and once he had grown bored of giggling at the crusty graphics I began to do some research. GameFAQs was my go-to gaming encyclopedia at the time, so my first instinct was to search "Atari 2600" and see what came up. Lo and behold, my first hit was the game my brother had just showed me: E.T. I knew even at this point how terrible that game was, but I still couldn't help being fascinated by the image galleries the site had of it. All I had been exposed to up to that point was PS1/2, and the idea that video games had been a thing as far back as 1982 damn near blew my mind. I wanted to learn more.

 

I began hitting up every info site I could think of to find out everything I could about Atari. Wikipedia and GameFAQs supplied most of my kicks, and I also found a couple of new sites such as videogamecritic.net and Atari2600.com. I felt like an archaeologist uncovering a lost city, it was all so new and amazing to my 12 year old mind. After months of fact finding and poring over screenshots, I decided I wanted to experience it firsthand.

 

Actually getting my hands on a 2600 proved frustratingly difficult. Ebay was clogged with broken machines and as-is listings that couldn't be trusted. I wound up buying three broken consoles before my Dad just said "screw this" and bought me a beautifully refurbished unit from a game shop in Chicago. That was when my Atarimania kicked in for real.

 

I spent years playing basically nothing but Atari. Ms. Pac-Man and Pole Position became my personal favorites, and I actively participated in the 2600 HSC (though admittedly I had to use emulation pretty often for that). I had my own little collection going, with about 30 CIB and a dozen more loose carts. It wasn't terribly impressive, but I had to operate on a biweekly allowance so there was only so much I could afford. My library later expanded to include an Atari 8-bit PC and an Intellivision, but the 2600 always had the place of honor. It really stung when the console broke down on me.

 

That was about three years ago, and unfortunately I've since pitched the broken carcass and sold all my games. 14 year old me didn't care much for keepsakes. I'll probably try to get it all back one day, when I have the money.

[rgr1973]

Slightly off topic, but since it was mentioned about the younger generation being interested in the Atari, I thought I'd share something. I'm a returning college student at the age of 41. I decided about 1 1/2 years ago that it was time to finish my education. Obviously a lot of my classmates are late teens and early 20's. One classmate mentioned his love for video games, so I mentioned I still had my Atari. Instead of the weird looks that I expected, this kid was practically on his hands and knees begging me to give him my Atari!!!! Lol!!!!