Game Day: The Atari 2600!!

Never has an electronic device brought so much joy and amazement. Instead of socializing at the local arcade, I could now sit alone in my living room and suck at video games without a crowd pointing and mocking. And it only cost about a hundred bucks.



It was a glorious spring day when my sister and I arrived home to find this baby hooked up to our console television. My mom was already sitting in front of the screen trying to master Pac Man. I believe there was no sleep in my househould for the next 48 hours.



Now, back in the day, we didn't have your fancy-dandy Wal-Marts or Targets. Nope. We had to trek on over to Service Merchandise or Sears to pick up any new games we wanted to challenge ourself with. Oh, and don't even think you could rent them. For the love of all, consumer VCR's were a few years away.



And let's face it. Atari games were masters of impressionism. This:



Equals this:


And, finally, I've got to admit one reason I hold the Atari 2600 at such a high place in my heart, is that it was almost the last time I was any good at video games. Now you know.