First Atari memories....

[tantone56]

my grandma got me a hot and missle like two years ago and it was still wrapped up like a new toy. Come to think of it where the hell did she get a twenty year old game in that condition? Ill have to ask her

[Mindfield]

My first Atari memory: September 1982. My 11th birthday. Going with my dad to Consumer's Distributing (one of those Canadian chains whose showroom consisted of nothing but tables with catalogs and order forms on which you'd write down what you wanted out of the catalog) and getting a shiny new Coleco Gemini. Took it home, hooked it up, and spent longer than what must have been humanly possible playing Donkey Kong, the pack-in game. I think I played that damn thing every day for weeks. At least until I got another game to play. :-)

[A2600]

My first Atari memory was playing Chopper Commander with my father... Still today I want to play a small game of chopper commander, but he still insists that Madden NFL 2003 is a better game to play in a weeknight!! and sometimes I end up getting my butt kicked but I have my nights!! But yet eventhough he doesnt want to play Atari he remembers me struggling with that joystick!! And how I used to closely watch as he played!! Watching and Learning!!

[Disco Scottie]

Sears is it for me too... not sure when I was first introduced, probably '78, maybe late '77. I can still visualize the path to the endcap display - Pass the catalog counter at the door, scoot by the hardware department, and bam! There was Target Fun in all its beautiful glory. There was something magically mesmerizing about those shapes on the TV. I was hooked right away.

 

Played it quite a bit in the store with my dad, but I guess it was way too expensive back then, even for a spoiled-rotten only child... my dream of VCS ownership didn't come true until '81. And then poor Sears got the short end of the deal, as my mom found the best price at a place I think was called Leeds. I'm thinking it was about $140, does that sound right for that year? We stopped at Zayres on the way home to pick up Missile Command, Space Invaders and Indy 500. Not a bad way to kick things off!

 

So I'll bend the thread a little and ask this question: how long did you go from knowing about the 2600, to actually having one? Who suffered the longest? Took me about 3 years, give or take a few months.