How did you find out about The Crash(TM)?

[Rodney Hester]

I know a lot of folks (particularly in Europe, where home computers dominated at the time) weren't even *aware* there was a video game market crash in 1983...but for those who lived through it, how did you become aware?

 

There was no Internet or the like back then, and my local 6 o'clock news was as likely to cover a pumpkin chucking contest as anything noteworthy, so I was actually rather blindsided by the whole thing.

 

There was once (and sort of still is, in an incredibly limited capacity) a US department store chain called K-Mart, and they were sort of the Walmart of their day - bigger, brighter, and cheaper than anybody else who came before.  (They also had a signature thing called the Blue Light Special, but that'd be a post/novel/rant unto itself...)

 

Like most department stores of the era, they had an electronics section, and that's where you'd find the wall o'games...behind locked glass, of course.  Budget titles were often hung on the wall across the aisle, but the AAA titles of their day - Atari, Activision, Imagic, Mattel - were locked safely away from us nefarious youngsters.  Not without reason, mind you - new releases prior to the crash topped out around $30 US (that's $83.72 today!), making them MORE expensive (relatively speaking) than the premium Xbox and PS4/5 titles of the modern gaming era.  As a result, my very poor self had a VERY small collection of games going into 1983...Combat came with it, I had Asteroids that I picked up on sale from Roses (another failed local department store chain in my area at the time), and Donkey Kong was a (major) Christmas present.  Playing games at other neighborhood kids' houses (there were a LOT of them!) was popular as a result, and it's how I got my first exposure to Defender on the 2600...probably my fondest gaming memory ever (well, that, and watching James Bond on laserdisc while playing it - that family LOVED tech!).

 

I didn't mind having a very small games collection since such a variety of games was so readily available only a few minutes walk in any given direction.  Sure, I'd have loved more, but I barely had enough to even warrant a very small cartridge case...if anything, it made my stash look smaller.  But that was all about to change...

 

I no longer remember the month, much less the date, but I know it was a Saturday in 1983 when my parents hauled me off to K-Mart for the weekly shopping pilgrimage (a sacred capitalist tradition!).  As usual, we went our separate ways - my parents to clothing, home goods, maybe the sporting section (camping was a big thing!)...and me to electronics, every single time.

 

Something was clearly different even as I turned the corner to head down the game aisle.  It was more crowded than I'd ever seen it, and an absolute MESS...cartridges and crushed boxes littered the floor, the wall of budget titles was completely empty, a large bin was in the middle of the aisle with what looked like the budget games having literally been shoveled into it, and the glass display case was...open.  Every door unlocked and slid open, like the end of the world had come and even the gaming gods had forsaken us.  What on earth was going on?!?

 

I soon found out.  Prices weren't scanned by bar code then...they were emblazoned directly on boxes with paper tags and glue backing, with the price hammered out in ink on the sticky tag (that NEVER came off the box cleanly!).  A few boxes - particularly new ones from major publishers - had pre-printed (and honored!) MSRPs on the box and thus were generally untagged, but everywhere I looked, boxes were now *double* tagged...the updated price tag being haphazardly slapped on top of the old one (frequently so much so that the original price was still clearly visible).  The *very first* box I looked at - Adventures of Tron - had such a double label.  It was *one US dollar*.

 

I knew it had to be wrong, and I knew if I tried to buy it I'd be challenged by the store clerk, with a wary manager stomping over to declare it was a mistake and take it away forever (they didn't have to honor ANYTHING back then - if the price was wrong and they knew it, you paid what they said the price should be or you did without!  Or you tried again at a different register...).  I looked at another box next to it (whose title I don't even remember)...$1.  Not even $0.99 (yes, it was a custom even then to make things look "cheaper" that way)...$1 even.  As my eyes scanned across the sea of shiny boxes in the now-wide-open glass fortress, I realized EVERY SINGLE TITLE said $1.

 

There is no doubt in my mind that I set a land speed record that morning getting from the back of the store where electronics was situated to the front where the shopping carts were.  I'm sure I clipped the ankles of 3 or 4 adult shoppers who were silly or suicidal enough to stand in the aisles between me and my destination with my rattling, creaky shopping cart that I was about to make good use of.  I didn't care.  The race was on.

 

The way I saw it, it's easier to put things back later than try to find them when they're gone, so I proceeded to very quickly and methodically grab one of EVERY game in the coveted glass case into the cart (and there were still quite a lot - my parents were early risers, thank God!), then deftly moved to the (now very literal) bargain bin, to be shocked once again to see that the lesser titles had also been discounted...to a _dime_.  Yes, $0.10 per game...titles that the day before had cost between $9.99 and $14.99.  I didn't even bother with decorum - I literally shoved both arms into the bin, and whatever I pulled out with my makeshift body-shovel, down it went into the gaping maw of the cart until it was full, duplicates be damned.

 

I made one last pass down the aisle, slightly more relaxed and willing to be a little more choosy in my inspection to see if there was anything I'd missed in my 11-year-old-powered haul, spotting a huge box of Indy 500 with controllers included that was so large I'd mistaken it for something other than a game.  Finally, satisfied that I'd done all I could to maximize my gaming glee, I headed off with my unwieldy cart to find my parents...and on the way realized I was going to have some SERIOUS explaining to do.

 

Having found them wandering amongst round swinging racks of identical jeans, I breathlessly explained what I'd seen to my wide-eyed parents who were still staring in disbelief at the cart that looked like an Atari warehouse had vomited into it.  My mother's reaction, of course, was that there was NO WAY the games were priced correctly and that someone must be trying to get away with something, so I confidently assured my father that it was all true (because...it had to be, right?  This wasn't a cruel joke, was it?) and drug him and my Mom back to electronics to seek out the department manager (a friend of the family, no less!) for confirmation.

 

He'd wisely taken the day off after having spent the evening before with his crew marking down all the boxes, as were were assured by a team member who seemed to want to stay as far as possible for the pandemonium getting ever louder only a few aisles over.  They'd received word from the district boss the evening prior to do the markdowns with no explanation given, just instruction to do it as quickly as possible, which they had.  The sale was real.  The games, one way or another, would be mine.

 

I worked with my parents to weed out all the duplicates from the budget titles (requiring yet another cart as a reject bin, which I unceremoniously parked in the middle of the game aisle once done), and still had a staggering close to 80 games in my cart, all unique.  All brand-new, in box, and the only thing standing between me and gaming bliss now was the matter of around $24 to pay for it all.  I promised my parents the world.  Birthday?  Check.  Christmas?  Check.  Both covered.  Mowing the lawn without allowance for a year?  Done.  At some point I probably also negotiated away my soul and firstborn, but I didn't care.  I'd just scored more games in under half an hour than I'd ever seen in my life combined.

 

That was exactly how I learned about The Crash.  Granted, even in that moment (and in the days to follow), the true import of it failed to dawn on me.  I didn't appreciate that an industry had just almost breathed its last.  I didn't understand that hundreds of loyal Atari (and other) employees were about to lose their livelihoods, that careers would be destroyed, that reputations would be tattered.  No...at that age, what I understood was that I now had a very serious problem the likes of which I'd never encountered before...where was I going to put all of these games?!?

 

The next day, I dragged my father to Roses again, this time to buy REAL cartridge cases - you know, like Richie Rich must have for his collection - and came away with not one, but TWO giant cases that still somehow failed to contain them all.  The irony is that I paid half as much for the cases as I did for the entire games haul the prior day!

 

I still remember the wonder and awe of being SURROUNDED by brand-new games, still in sealed boxes, in disarray around me on my bedroom floor as I excitedly and eagerly went from one to another, barely able to even choose what to play next from the smorgasbord of options now available to me.  This went on for an entire day and a half before my frustrated mother finally decreed that I'd either clean up the increasingly distressing cardboard mess building in my room or she'd throw it all away, games included.  It was tidy in ten minutes...but the memories lasted a lifetime.

 

That's how I found out.  How did you?

[zzip]

I guess for me the first sign was the appearance of bargain bins for games, it was just before Christmas in 83, I guess.  

 

Also my local arcades started to shut down.

 

I read Electronic Games magazine, and they had an article on the "Shake Out" (as they called it then), and they also switched to bi-monthly because it was affecting their advertisers.

 

Then videogame selection at retailers started to dwindle, some got rid of them altogether.   The ones that still had them, selection was often hit or miss.

 

My classmates who used to talk about videogames all the time pretty much moved onto other things.

 

Electronic Games magazine became Video Games and Computer Entertainment, and then shutting down completely and becoming just 1 or 2 pages in Video magazine (run by the same publisher).   I think this was really a sign of the time,  there was a huge appetite for home video, but not much left for games at that point in time.

 

So to me, the signs were everywhere.

 

As surprising as it was that it crashed so hard, I was equally surprised when it bounced back and became hot again.

[MrMaddog]

The odd thing was I hadn't noticed there was a Videogame Crash because I didn't pay any attention to the "Video Games Are a Fad!" articles that were in the newspapers.

 

Only indication I had was the electronics store I usually get my game carts from suddenly stopped selling them, period.  I might have still got carts from the bargin bins at KayBee Toys but then again they always sold stuff in the front of the store as "loss leaders" anyway.

 

For me personally it was more of a natural transition to home computers for video gaming because they can do that and everything else more so much better and I was getting computer magazines.

 

The reason I finally stopped playing Atari was when the power supply cord got worn out (from the constant unplugging when taking it between the houses of my divorced parents) and I couldn't get a replacement.  So I strictly played games on computers till I got an NES a few years later, though there were still some arcades open...

 

 

[+atari2600land]

I was born during the crash. So I didn't know about it until I got my first Atari 2600 about a decade and a half ago and joined AtariAge.

[+Stephen]

I got my 400 in 1982, Dad had a VCS since day one.  Honestly, I did not know there was a crash.  I happily used my 8-bit Atari through 1991, my brother never stopped playing the 2600 even long after having a NES.  I read about the new ST and Amiga in 1985.  Couldn't afford them, but I sure lusted after an Amiga + Video Toaster.  All I ever saw was a rapid, steady state of improvement and new shit coming out every few years.  Doesn't sound like a bad time to me!  I guess I learned about the crash that I lived through from reading about it.  I wonder how many articles I read, were written by people that weren't alive during the time they wrote about?

[Lord Helmet]

Never new the crash existed. Went from the 2600 to the C64 to the NES and beyond. Probably read about it first when this site was the 2600 Nexus.


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[BIGHMW]

I found out about the crash through Electronic Games magazine as well, but living down in SoCal (in Northridge and in Sepulveda, now known as North Hills), it seemed like it only wiped out the rather bottom-of-the-barrel competitors like Emerson (Arcadia 2001), Magnavox (Odyssey 2), Bally (Astrocade) and Fairchild (Channel F), but Atari, Intellivision and Coleco were still doing quite well at that time. In fact they were still running commercials on TV for the 5200 in 1984 at that. But, there were a few casualties, G.A.M.E.S., in which was a very well-known (to us EG readers) one-stop gaming shop in Van Nuys, went under in '84, so I had to go to Toys 'R' Us, as well as this one small store right next to it that carried EVERYTHING for the Big 3 companies' systems. I remember walking to the bus stop every month on a pilgrimage to that store to pick up 5200 games, and came home loaded every time. I also added more throughout the years at Adray's in Van Nuys as well, off Van Nuys Blvd., sometimes I'd ride my bike down there, where I picked up titles like Meteorites, Ballblazer, and Rescue On Fractulus! among them. In fact the final time before I permanently moved to here in Port Townsend, WA in 1987, I stopped by Adray's one last time, to pick up 4 5200 controllers since i knew PT was SO isolated from the rest of the world, and I didn't want to take any chances. So yes, I knew about the crash through EG, it just didn't effect me in the way it did others, so I was fortunate.

[juansolo]

Just to put in a European perspective. The first time I learned about the crash was American YouTubers going on about the dark times and how Nintendo saved the video gaming industry. I remember thinking at the time, dark times? It was the golden age of computing! Sinclair, Commodore and Atari were kings. I think it was because many of us naturally moved on to computers as they just had so much more potential than consoles. Sure consoles came back eventually, but it'd not be until the Megadrive and Super Nintendo came along that they gained any real traction.

Edited December 17, 2021 by juansolo

[RJ]

TL DR

[mimo]

I'm from the UK and my history with gaming is, Binatone Pong console 1978 ish, Sinclair ZX81 1981, Atari 400 1982, Atari 800xl 1986, Atari 520 ST 1990...........
So never really an early adopter of anything. First I knew about any crash was probably around 2008 after getting back in to Atari computers in 2006 and then discovering the 7800 in 2006. Saw posts about the crash in the 7800 forum.
 

[gilsaluki]

Not knowing at the time it was a crash, expensive (and common) games and software were found for pennies on the dollar at our Kay-Bee Toys bargain bins.   I had no idea there was a 'crash' going on.  I just thought the software was finally reasonably priced.  Before that, it was crazy expensive.  That's why my first couple of pieces of software was Cosmi titles, only thing I could afford at the time (prior to the crash).  Found out about the crash many years after reading histories of videogaming.  I didn't blame it on E.T.  (He had already gone home).

[pablum]

I was six years old at the time of the game crash and had no idea it had happened. I did notice Atari 2600 games got really cheap at the time and my parents got me a bunch then.

 

I likely became aware of it first from an early video game magazine I got in the late 80s/early 90s like Electronic Gaming Monthly or Video Games & Computer Entertainment.

[jhd]

 

I sold my 2600 and games in early-1983 to partially fund the purchase of my first computer. Thereafter, I stopped paying much attention to console games, and so I was completely oblivious to the market crash.

 

I did not read any video game magazines nor did I regularly peruse the evening newspaper.

 

Around 1984, I remember seeing a large dump bin of M-Network games at my local Zellers store (not in the electronics department). I do not recall seeing similar bins at other stores, but, again, I had ceased caring about such things. 

[zzip]

1 hour ago, gilsaluki said:

Not knowing at the time it was a crash, expensive (and common) games and software were found for pennies on the dollar at our Kay-Bee Toys bargain bins.   I had no idea there was a 'crash' going on.  I just thought the software was finally reasonably priced.  Before that, it was crazy expensive.  That's why my first couple of pieces of software was Cosmi titles

Cosmi titles were budget to begin with.   The Kay*Bee bargain bins weren't all markdowns, they had a bunch of budget and import titles mixed in that had fake markdown labels to fool people into thinking they were getting a bargain.   I think Kaybee saw the software bargain bin as a feature, not a problem, they kept it going for years after the crash ?

Edited December 17, 2021 by zzip

[+x=usr(1536)]

6 hours ago, juansolo said:

Just to put in a European perspective. The first time I learned about the crash was American YouTubers going on about the dark times and how Nintendo saved the video gaming industry. I remember thinking at the time, dark times? It was the golden age of computing! Sinclair, Commodore and Atari were kings. I think it was because many of us naturally moved on to computers as they just had so much more potential than consoles. Sure consoles came back eventually, but it'd not be until the Megadrive and Super Nintendo came along that they gained any real traction.

There's a vague recollection in my mind of one of the video game magazines of the time (C&VG?) running a piece on the crash somewhere in the 1984-ish timeframe.  From what I recall, the overall tone was along the lines of, "could the same thing happen here?"

 

In a sense, it sort-of did with the shakeout of smaller home computer companies (Oric, Dragon, Enterprise, etc.) from the marketplace and everything pretty much boiling down to the ZX Spectrum, C64, and Amstrad.  But that was nowhere near on the scale of what happened in North America, nor did it really affect the overall market terribly much.

[Draxxon]

I never noticed the "crash".

It wasn't until years later that I even heard about it from the usual goofball youtubers.

[BONEMAN]

I never knew about the crash until I found this website about 20 years ago. My family's Atari broke so we were not getting any new games. I also never saw any bargin bins or cheap games for sale. Although I do remember seeing commercials for the NES in 1985 and thinking "Are they crazy? Nobody plays video games anymore." I just thought everyone lost interest in video games. That's how it was back then. This was the same time when no one cared about Star Wars anymore.

[Flojomojo]

20 hours ago, zzip said:

I read Electronic Games magazine, and they had an article on the "Shake Out" (as they called it then), and they also switched to bi-monthly because it was affecting their advertisers.

I remember it well ... I think I must have read this in the supermarket or something, as I would have been young. I've attached screenshots of the relevant article and the whole issue as PDF if anyone wants the context. Arnie Katz's writing was a clear, friendly voice. electronic_games_mar84.pdf

 

I noticed things getting going on clearance, and it was clear that an era was ending. I was still eager to play arcade-style games, so I snapped up as many bargain bin games as I could, and later on, it turned into scrounging from yard sales and thrift stores. The crash was a good thing from my perspective, because I got to play a lot of stuff, like an early version of "patient gamers." 

 

It was a small shock to see the NES try to bring things back, and I was skeptical for a while, until I realized that side-scrolling platforms could be fun, too. 

 

 

 

[high voltage]

Germany's TeleMatch had that article as well, August 1984, taken from EG, March 1984 (Telematch translated EG for the German market). 

 

Edited December 17, 2021 by high voltage

[high voltage]

Here's some more US stuff from the 1984 Crash:

 

[nadir]

Never realized the crash happened until reading about it here.  I mean it seemed natural at the time.  Didn't seem like anything unusual was happening...

[+frankodragon]

I never knew about the crash either.  I was a kid back in the 1980's but I remember in Northridge Mall in Milwaukee a bin full of cheap video games outside of a Woolworth's (I think).  I wish I got some of those games but my interests were in model trains at the time.

[+davidcalgary29]

I read about it in COMPUTE!, which I borrowed every month from the library (I was eleven, and couldn't afford a subscription at the time). There was a big story called "Shakeout...at the Winter CES" or something to that effect, and the Atari columnist issued increasingly gloomy and dire warnings about the company's financial future. Those didn't start until '84, though. COMPUTE! was like doomscrolling in '83, from the Aquarius and the TI meltdowns, through Atari's disintegration, and ending up with the PCjr dumpsterfire.

 

But that was all in the U.S. press. I didn't see any of that in Canada -- not even bargain-bin sellouts -- and I don't think R.O.M. magazine covered it at all.

 

My entire family also knew how much I obsessed over My Precious 800, and my Dad reported to me (a little too enthusiastically, I thought) about all of Atari's Troubles.

[cybercylon]

I wasn't aware that there was a crash until several years after it happened. I do remember seeing things appear in sale bins, and figured that era was coming to a close, but I was too young at the time to associate that with an actual crash. Then I got busier with other things, and really didn't keep track of what was going on. By the time I got back into games. the NES was out there. So, the crash flew over my head.

[+Gemintronic]

Never knew about "The Crash" until reading articles pointing fingers at E.T.

 

I just noticed over time Toy R Us had fewer and fewer computer and console options.  Now we have PCs and consoles that are walled garden, locked down PCs.