My trip to the old folk's home for atari games

[Red 5]

This is a fun story. It is long, but it is pretty entertaining, and I promise it has a

great ending. It is a great story for the weekend warrior atari collector.

 

Here is my tale...

 

So I go to tag sales every Saturday.

Many times I ask if there are any 'old video games' and many times people

go back into their homes and come out with something to sell.

Other times they take my number to call me back later.

 

I RARELY get called back.

 

Well, last year I go to a tag sale at a storage unit facility.

I ask this very old lady (who was there with her grandson) if they had any video games.

They both said that they had a ton of atari stuff but it was burried. The very kind, very old woman took my number, and off I went

assuming that I would never hear from her again.

 

Last week, the nice old lady calls me. A YEAR LATER. I remembered who she was immediately, because

whenever my wife and I drive by that storage facility, she teases me by saying, "Hey, there is a TON of Atari stuff in there

and you can't have it !"

 

My wife can no longer tease me. This is where it gets good.

 

So on the phone, Barbara (the nice old lady) tells me that she finally completely cleared out her storage unit and that she remembered me and kept my number.

She put all the Atari stuff aside and wanted to know when I could come pick it up.

 

I told her when I could go meet her and she gave me directions to the old folks home where she is currently living. I asked what kind of atari things she had, and she said she had like 6 or 7 games and to go over and see. She said they were called PacMan and she thinks "Mrs." Pacman and a few more.

 

Six Atari 2600 games aren't exactly a ton, and PacMan and Ms. PacMan weren't exactly on my list of rare games I still need, but I figured I waited a year to see what was in that storage unit, so what the hell.

 

I pull up to the old folks home and she is waiting outside. She is very happy to see me and we headed inside where she grabbed two shopping carts for me to bring up the elevator to her apartment. I told her I was pretty sure I could just carry it all down, but she said I would need at least two carts.

 

I was officially confused. Two shopping carts for six atari games?

 

We get to her door and she tells me to come in. Outside the door is a shelf full of items, obviously from her storage unit and other residence of the old folks home are coming up to the shelves and taking items. She is giving it all away and the other residence loved her for it. One nice blue haired lady was thanking her for all the owls she gave her.

 

Anyway, we get in her apartment (which is very small) and it is full... wall to wall... with stuff EVERYWHERE. Obviously, she emptied her storage unit into her apartment for some reason. She hands me a small box. Inside are four or five Atari 5200 games. Sure enough, there's PacMan and Ms. PacMan and a few others.

 

I thought to myself, 'why would I need 2 shopping carts for this?'.

 

My question was about to be answered.

She goes to the closet and pulls out an Atari 5200 in it's original box.

Nice.

Then she pulls out a few more bags full of games.

Then she pulls out an Atari 5200 in it's original box.

Then she pulls out an Atari 5200 with the dust cover.

Then she pulls out a loose Atari 5200.

Then she pulls out a loose Atari 5200.

Then she pulls out a loose Atari 5200.

Then she pulls out a loose Atari 5200.

 

By six or seven games, she meant systems. SEVEN systems. Then she pulls out about three more boxes full of Atari 5200 controllers and power supplies and RF switches.

 

I said to her that I don't think I could possibly give her a fair amount for all the stuff.

I had $60 in my pocket and told her that I wasn't expecting quite this much stuff.

She refused. She told me to take it.

I told her I could not possibly take it and we went back and forth for about 5 minutes.

She told me that she just wanted it all gone or she would throw it out. She just wanted her space back.

When I finally told her that it would make me feel better if she just took whatever I had, she told me that since

her divorce she now has more money than she will ever be able to spend for the rest of her life. (She said this with a very big smile.)

 

Then she said she had an idea of how I could pay her back.

She asked if I knew how to set those systems up. I told her that I can set them up in my sleep.

We went downstairs to the office and proceeded to ask if I would be allowed to set one of the systems up in the common room so people could play.

 

I was given permission to do so, and Barbara showed me the way to the common room.

I set up one of the 5200's for her and managed to find a couple of joysticks that worked.

She asked me to leave Ms. PacMan and Super Breakout (Super Breakout was her favorite).

 

As I was leaving with my car load of free games and systems, there was Barbara and an elderly gentleman

of about 80 or so years old playing a 2 player game of Ms. PacMan on an Atari 5200.

 

I mean... how cool is that ! ?

I wish I had a camera.

So when you are looking at your atari collection and thinking about how 90% of us are 30 something year olds reliving our childhood, remember

that somewhere in New England is an old folks home that has a 5200 in it, with a bunch of Grandma's playing Super Breakout.

 

I did ask her why she had so many 5200 systems. She said she bought them years and years ago for her grandkids. Then they all wanted Nintendo. She said they could only have the NES systems if they gave the 5200 back because she did not want them to have two systems at once for whatever reason.

 

Final numbers of what I got...

 

6 5200 systems. (Two in the box) - Have not tested them all yet.

1 5200 dust cover

20 5200 joysticks. (4 of which are working perfectly)

3 5200 aftermarket joystick boxes.

2 5200 Wico sticks

2 5200 Competition Pro Sticks

26 5200 games. 8 of which I didn't have in my collection yet. Nothing too rare.

 

So that's my story. I have found systems in all sorts of places, but that is easily the best story I have had yet.

[RickHarrisMaine]

Amazing. What are you going to do with all those systems?

[+SpiceWare]

Thanx for sharing

[danwinslow]

Great story! Thanks.

[classicgamingguy]

Great story..such is a gem of a find, and I'm sure it was a pleasant experience for you with those nice people.

 

Congratulations on your find!

 

Steve

[+FujiSkunk]

Dude, I hate you.

[classicgamingguy]

Dude, I hate you.

877471[/snapback]

 

Heh...feel the love here!

 

Steve

[Red 5]

Amazing.  What are you going to do with all those systems?

877467[/snapback]

 

 

Trade and sell them here probably.

I have to test them all first.

I have a 4 port and 2 port and boxes already, so I will probably part

with all of them. Check the marketplace in a week or two

 

I am probably going to send all the joysticks to get repaired by what-his-name

and go from there. I was surprised any of the joysticks worked at all.

[maibock]

great story!

[ATARIeric]

Sweet! Barbara is very nice lady

[SS]

As I was leaving with my car load of free games and systems, there was Barbara and an elderly gentleman

of about 80 or so years old playing a 2 player game of Ms. PacMan on an Atari 5200.

877464[/snapback]

 

 

SWEET!

[Lord Thag]

Proof again that games appeal to all ages. Congrats!

[sidcrowe]

Yowza!

[Han]

Really cool story! Congratulations! And it always warms my heart to hear that anyone can enjoy a good game...

[StanJr]

Excellent story and a wonderful lady. Have you been back to visit her and her video game addict friends? Very cool.

 

You should contact Big Player, he is looking for a 5200, I think.

[chadtower]

Awesome story, but why is it in the 2600 forum?

[pinball22]

Nifty story! And the Wico and Competition Pro Sticks make me jealous.

[Chickybaby]

Good things happen to good people.

All we have is an extra copy of Pacman for 5200 ( I think) but I would so send it there.

He He, that really is a great story all around and with a 'happy ending' too.

[Brad2600]

Great story! Damn, I am jealous.

 

Never underestimate the power of Atari!!

[128bytes]

Great story. It would be nice of you to save some of the good 5200 joysticks, and stop by there every few months to replace one if it goes bad -- we all know how notoriously flaky those 5200 joysticks are. It would be a shame if they stopped playing because the joysticks went bad!

[hookem]

Awesome story. I'm green with envy...

 

Another thing I was thinking might be nice to do, if I were in your situation, is this:

 

Since they are probably lacking in entertainment options for their common room, I'd drop them a newer system along with the 5200 you set up... like a Famiclone or something with a built in library of games. They could have the Atari for nostalgia and the newer system for a bunch of different titles...

Edited June 20, 2005 by hookem

[Famicoman]

I'm thinking outside the box here. Why is this in the 2600 section?

[classicgamingguy]

Funny, I didn't even realize it was all 5200 stuff he was talking about! LOL!!

 

 

Steve

[Red 5]

Although technically about a 5200, I thought of it more as a story about collecting atari items more than anything else, so that's why I put it here. And originally I assumed I was getting a 2600. Technically I guess it could be moved to the 5200 section or classic gaming even.

 

As for the 'what else I can do' questions, I offered a few things to them.

I offered an older computer and possible internet access... they declined saying that was way over their heads.

 

I offered them more games, telling her that many of the games she was giving me were duplicates. She said she just wanted the two because any more than that would take her too long to teach people how to play.

 

I also offered other game systems that I had, but she just wanted the 5200 set up.

I think she just wanted to be able to play Super Breakout herself and wanted a place to do it. I noticed in many manuals that she has her name written in the high score log with various grandkids name's. Looks like she played a lot ! What a cool Grandma ! My Grandma never played Frogger with me !

 

As it stands now, I told her that if she ever needed help setting something up or anything at all to give me a call. I hope she does.

 

Their common room is mostly books, and old organ, a nice TV and some board games. And now there is an Atari 5200.

[sandmountainslim]

Amazing.  What are you going to do with all those systems?

877467[/snapback]

The proper thing for him to do would be stick em all in a closet and then GIVE em to some punk around the year 2045