Playing Atari in the stores when you were a kid...

[AlwaysOnPlanetPatrol]

Man, I remember spending a ton of time playing at the store.  I didn't have a VCS for ages, so I ended jumping on my bike and ride to downtown shopping district in Hamburg to play at Kaufhof and Kastadt department stores in their toy or computer sections. I remember playing Boxing, Spider Kong, Berzerk, and Chopper Command at the stores.  I don't think the store employees ever said anything to me in all that time.  There was also a 1000 Toepfe store with their TV department, but always felt awkward going there since there was rarely anyone in there, so the staff always asked me if I needed anything.  They always seemed to have the older/simpler games like Maze Craze, Dodge'Em, or Air Sea Battle which I found boring.  

 

Not just VCS though, spent a lot of time tinkering with the computers or playing the hand-held games in their displays.

[classicgamesnut]

     Another flashback...the Sav-On Drugs in my area had an Atari kiosk.  

     On one visit, Adventure was the cartridge on display, and my experience was like others mentioned here.  Didn't understand it, didn't like it.  Thought it was ugly.  Indeed that sentiment would do a 180 eventually.

     On another visit, a much bigger, older kid was playing Dragonfire, and due to his age and size I assumed I would only be watching this amazing and colorful new game.  But no!  He not only happily turned over the controls, but gave me some playing tips as well.  That didn't happen too often.

[Keatah]

I had similar experiences with the "bigger kids" in the early arcades, like Dispensas and Aladdin's Castle. Or "castle" something. They'd always hoist me up to see the game and controls as long as I would keep swearing and flippantly flail about from time to time. It was easy to entertain the druggies. And I got some free playtime for doing so.

[zzip]

On 5/29/2021 at 10:45 PM, classicgamesnut said:

Might be scraping the bottom of the barrel here (pardon the cliche) but has anyone else out there got a story to share about squeezing in some games of Haunted House or Breakout at the Atari kiosk in Sears while your parents looked at toaster ovens and vacuum cleaners?

Usually I wanted to see the games that I or friends didn't have,  so I wouldn't play those games in the store.

 

I remember at one point  there were a lot of rumors and anticipation about Donkey Kong coming out for 2600.   One day my parents took us to JC Penney and from a distance I could see people playing a game with ladders on the 2600.  "Is it true?  Could Donkey Kong really be here?"   I get over to the system and it was actually a game I had never heard of-- Pitfall!    It was kind of cool, different,  had nice graphics, but still felt disappointed it wasn't DK!  Of course I had no idea at the time that DK on 2600 would be nearly as disappointing as Pac-Man was.

 

On 5/29/2021 at 11:27 PM, toiletunes said:

I remember trying Adventure.

Not having read the manual, it was confusing and frustrating, nothing like the arcade games I was used to- Rally X, PacMan etc. There were other things to look at, so I moved on.

When I eventually got Adventure (probably from a yard sale) and played at home without distractions, it was a different experience. Starting the game at the beginning probably helped out.

 

Weird how misleading that first impression can be.

I remember when I first saw Adventure in the store, I thought it looked horrendous and wished the store would stop showing it,  to me it was embarrassing and made the Atari look bad next to the other consoles.   Strange how it ended up being one of my favorite games on the console.

[atarifan88]

I remember going to Kmart and playing what ever cartridge they had plugged into the kiosk.  I do remember a time when they abandoned the cartridge system and switched to a kiosk that would let you play a choice of several games.  That is when things got crazy!  I would spend the entire time in the store glued to that kiosk.  They also had an Intellivision as well, but I didn't play it because the controller looked too complicated at the time (too many buttons)! ?

 

I think once I got an Atari at home, I didn't head back to that kiosk as much.  I just gazed over all the cartridges trying to decide what to ask for next! ?

[Keatah]

I didn't always seek out the latest & newest carts to play at the kiosks. Always played something I was familiar with in order to maximize hi-score and playing time..

 

The discovery and exploration of new games would happen through Electronic Games magazine at home, or whatever new game I happened to get that weekend.

 

[classicgamesnut]

Here's a chuckle...on numerous trips to the stores, when I wanted to play/watch at the Atari display, and my folks wanted to look around other areas of the store, my dad would say (very sternly) "OK, you stay RIGHT HERE and don't run off."

     I was the most obedient kid in the world on those occasions.  No arm-twisting required.

[christo930]

On 10/31/2020 at 11:40 PM, Atari_Bill said:

My local Sears just happened to be right next to my favorite arcade.  When I’d get the chance to spend time there with my roll of quarters it was so convenient with the last of my quarters gone, I would step next door to play some Target Fun on the Sears kiosk just inside the doors. 

I lived near the major Sears distribution center in Philadelphia, which was attached to a very large Sears store.  It was 3 floors and just absolutely enormous.  I think it was the biggest store I have ever been in.  The current property holds a home depot, a Walmart, a shopping center and a bunch of individual stores and restaurants , but that includes the warehouse space. They had a catalog pick up part as well.  On the lowest floor, which was a basement was the electronics section complete with all the displays and on the top floor was a full sized arcade. They had about 10-15 arcade machines and like 5 pinball machines.  So it was straight to the arcade and then after blowing my allowance on arcade machines it was down to the game kiosks.   They had a restaurant in there too.

[classicgamesnut]

On 6/12/2021 at 8:00 PM, christo930 said:

I lived near the major Sears distribution center in Philadelphia, which was attached to a very large Sears store.  It was 3 floors and just absolutely enormous.  I think it was the biggest store I have ever been in.  The current property holds a home depot, a Walmart, a shopping center and a bunch of individual stores and restaurants , but that includes the warehouse space. They had a catalog pick up part as well.  On the lowest floor, which was a basement was the electronics section complete with all the displays and on the top floor was a full sized arcade. They had about 10-15 arcade machines and like 5 pinball machines.  So it was straight to the arcade and then after blowing my allowance on arcade machines it was down to the game kiosks.   They had a restaurant in there too.

     I'd have had a blast at that store, bouncing between the arcade and electronics section.  If the restaurant had hot dogs, I'd have been in heaven.     

 

[christo930]

21 minutes ago, classicgamesnut said:

     I'd have had a blast at that store, bouncing between the arcade and electronics section.  If the restaurant had hot dogs, I'd have been in heaven.     

 

Having restaurants inside department stores was pretty common here. The local K Marts had them too. Two Guys had them and Clover had them. They were the major big box stores around here at the time. The one in K Mart was like a cafeteria.   IIRC, the restaurant in the Sears was both. They had sit-down service and stand in line and get your food on a cafeteria tray and go sit down section too.  Unfortunately, the neighborhood that Sears was in took a nosedive in the later mid 80s. They were losing more in shoplifting than they were making selling stuff. Vandalism. They had a large 4 story parking garage they had to shut down because women were being attacked in it at night.  Toughs hanging in the parking lot (which was enormous). They even shut down the whole distribution center.   I worked in the distribution center for a summer, but that was after the store had already closed. That was like 91 or 92, right before they closed it.  They were arresting workers every single day for stealing out of the warehouse.

[BIGHMW]

Michael's Toys & Hobbies, and then Kay-Bee Toy Stores, both at Northridge Fashion Center, and G.A.M.E.S. in Van Nuys, CA near my old home in (now) North Hills, those were my favorite hangouts for trying out new games before buying them. Plenty of us minor kids (I was 16) back then, Kay-Bee was where I first played 2600 Pac-Man back in 1982, all while we were all huddled around the TV screen awaiting our turns, one play each, and try to run up the score, then it was the next guy's turn after that. Great times.

[mozartpc27]

On 6/19/2021 at 11:35 PM, christo930 said:

Having restaurants inside department stores was pretty common here. The local K Marts had them too. Two Guys had them and Clover had them. They were the major big box stores around here at the time. The one in K Mart was like a cafeteria.   IIRC, the restaurant in the Sears was both. They had sit-down service and stand in line and get your food on a cafeteria tray and go sit down section too.  Unfortunately, the neighborhood that Sears was in took a nosedive in the later mid 80s. They were losing more in shoplifting than they were making selling stuff. Vandalism. They had a large 4 story parking garage they had to shut down because women were being attacked in it at night.  Toughs hanging in the parking lot (which was enormous). They even shut down the whole distribution center.   I worked in the distribution center for a summer, but that was after the store had already closed. That was like 91 or 92, right before they closed it.  They were arresting workers every single day for stealing out of the warehouse.

Clover?  Where you from brother?  Must be from around these parts... they were totally regional to Philly, I think.

[christo930]

5 hours ago, mozartpc27 said:

Clover?  Where you from brother?  Must be from around these parts... they were totally regional to Philly, I think.

Yep, Philadelphia.  I used to go to the one in the Roosevelt mall the most.  I bought my 1541 disk drive there.  It was right next door to Toys R Us, where I used buy games.  Strawbridges were their parent store and that was the first credit card I have ever had.  Clover was kind of a more upscale Kmart, but no Strawbridges.  Probably comparable to Target. A rather pricey big-box store.  My Atari was purchased at a different Clover store right by the Sears I mentioned in my other comment. I think it was the Rising Sun Plaza.

[zzip]

On 6/19/2021 at 11:35 PM, christo930 said:

Having restaurants inside department stores was pretty common here. The local K Marts had them too. Two Guys had them and Clover had them. They were the major big box stores around here at the time. The one in K Mart was like a cafeteria.

JC Penney and Woolworths too.   In a sense we still have them, but they tend to be franchise shops inside the dept store now, like Subway or Starbucks rather than something run by the store.

[mozartpc27]

15 hours ago, christo930 said:

Yep, Philadelphia.  I used to go to the one in the Roosevelt mall the most.  I bought my 1541 disk drive there.  It was right next door to Toys R Us, where I used buy games.  Strawbridges were their parent store and that was the first credit card I have ever had.  Clover was kind of a more upscale Kmart, but no Strawbridges.  Probably comparable to Target. A rather pricey big-box store.  My Atari was purchased at a different Clover store right by the Sears I mentioned in my other comment. I think it was the Rising Sun Plaza.

We had a Clover in Warrington and in Feasterville, went to both from time to time.  Upscale Kmart is right.  Indeed, the last place I ever saw Atari 2600 games for sale at retail was... Clover!