How often do you play your 2600?

[TJSLAPSHOT]

I don't play the Atari 2600 everyday, but I definetley play it a few times each week. I enjoy the extensive library whether it is a two player head to head game, achieving the best score that you can get and raising the bar to top it again, and challenging the point total in the Activision games which would earn you the patches. That and the NES were the systems I grew up with in the late 80's/early 90's. The 2600 is more fun to play at night with the lights out in my honest opinion.

Why with the lights out?? Lol

[+sramirez2008]

Best game to play with the lights out is Asteroids VE for the 7800 by PacManPlus.

 

With the lights out and a Starplex controller, you almost feel like your at the arcade.

[cjameslv]

Don't play my 2600s much since i got my UAV boards from bryan. Installed it to my early model 7800 and use it for all 2600/7800 gaming now. Heavy sixer gets to take a rest lol. I play it pretty often, id say 4-5 times a week trying to get better scores usually.

[marlowe221]

I might not play my 2600 for a couple of weeks. But then I will play it every day for a week or two in a row. It just depends. I have other video gaming interests (both retro and modern) that take up some of my gaming time too.

[atariactionman]

Every day.

I have a sears video arcade proudly set up under my telly. I only play for about half and hour to an hour, but it does get played every day. Its great therapy when you need to forget about lifes stresses.

[chuckwalla]

Several times a week, usually for an hour or so at a time.

When I'm not in the mood for a heart-pounding 16-bit game the 2600 is it. Low stress games like Pitfall and a shooter like Phoenix or Demon Attack is nice to play, and more often.

[Sharkham]

Why with the lights out?? Lol

 

Atari just shines when you play it in the dark. All the bright colors and flashing lights really gets you engrossed in the gameplay, as rudimentary as it could be. Especially stuff that gets real flashy with the graphics, like Missile Command or Robot Tank. If your TV's got enough luminescence behind it, you'll get your whole room lit up in the low glow of reds, blues, and yellows.

 

As for the main topic, honestly, my attitude towards my Atari is cyclical. I bought it during a rough patch last summer where I felt really lost and listless, and I thought I could cure those blues with an impulse buy. Didn't work! So while I loved my Atari at first, I gradually grew to resent it as a symbol of wasted time and money...until I started loving it again because, let's face it, Asteroids and Berserk are amazing. I keep little homemade scorecards for all my games, and it's kind of funny how there'll be two-month gaps between scores.

 

Atari's not like modern consoles, I don't think I've ever played it for more than an hour at a time. But sometimes I'm awake at night and don't really know what to do with myself, I'm too tired to concentrate on reading or writing but I just can't bring myself to sleep...it's times like those that I'm glad I have Atari. I don't always want to get invested in some big huge game, sometimes I want to just blast asteroids, defend Earth, or cross the road. Atari's almost meditative in its simplicity, it really does relax me and I'm drifting off before too long.

Edited April 11, 2016 by Sharkham

[littleman jack]

I try to play the 2600 on the weekend, and sometimes on Thursdays. My son loves the Nintendo Game Cube, so we play that a lot. But I like the 2600, the 800, 5200, and 7800 much more than anything modern.