First a little background. I am a 39 year old Girl Geek who loves Star Wars and Napoleon Dynamite so it's no wonder that my early years were spent playing way to much Atari. Here is my journey on becoming a veritable Atari expert. Read on!
My First Atari 2600
I clearly remember the Christmas of 1981. I was almost 12 years old and eagerly awaitng my passage into the cool teenage world of video games. I was beyond excited and stayed up as late (Ok 10pm) playing Asteroids. By then I was addicted to Atari. I had the Atari VCS - CX2600A with wood grain. Mine only had the 4 switches on the console as 2 had been moved to the back of the unit. Darn I wish I still had that one. I do have 3 vintage 2600 units that I have picked up over the years and about 50 games. Atari 2600 Commercial
Atari 2600 Consoles and Clones
- AtariAge - 2600 Consoles and Clones
- AtariAge gives a really detailed descriptions and photos of the Atari Consoles starting with the Atari VCS - CX2600 Sunnyvale Edition. A very nice collection here.
The Atari Times
- The Atari Times
- The popularity of the Atari 2600 VCS is what really began the video game movement. Developed by Atari and led by Nolan Bushnell, the Atari 2600 was released in 1977 after Atari merged with Warner Communications.
Atari-less Homes
My poor husband grew up in a world devoid of this amazing game. Turns out his father was so afraid that the 2600 would ruin his beloved Zenith Televsion that he banned Atari from their home. Apparently this was a ploy that was used by parents to keep kids from getting an Atari. The myth goes that the game would "burn" the screen and create splotches. Well I played constantly and our TV held up just fine.Instead his Grandmother bought a freakishly weird electronic learning game called the Omni (see photo). I couldn't even find it online, let alone sell this thing on ebay. I would have moved out, but that's just me. Luckily the neighbors had Atari so he didn't completely miss out.
What Do You Mean That's My High Score?
OK kids, here's a neat lesson for you PS2 & Nintendo players. Back in the day of the 2600 there was NO, I repeat NO way of keeping track of high scores. Once the game cartridge was removed or you hit reset you lost everything.Well being a savvy 12 year old I had a solution. I created a "High Score Book". I made a page for each game. Not only that but I also created a page for each VERSION of each game. Now in Asteroids that's like 100 games. I had a really big note book. Well I was determined to win so I created a baseline for each game. I played every single game and recorded my score. Then I would visit my cousins and my friends and challenge them to beat me. If they succeeded I would let them record their score and sign my book. Yes I was a nerd!
Well here's where the story get really crazy. Atari scores only went to 99,999 then they started over. Well I was having an amazing Astroids day and managed to get to 99,999. Of course the score flipped to 00,001 and no one believed me. WHAT? That was so unfair, I signed my own book that day with my real score. Can anyone say OBSESSED? I'm better now, I only made my husband sign my book once!
Collecting Atari
Retro-Electro: Collecting Technology from Atari to Walkman
Amazon Price: $29.95 (as of 07/11/2009) 
The Atari Historical Society
CLICK HERE to enter the
Atari Museum!
Dang Those Jittery Paddles
As anyone who has every played a game of Breakout or Circus Atrai with "jittery paddles" knows my pain. There is NOTHING worse then getting a great game going only to be thwarted by your paddle. Having a good set of paddles, especially today is as good as gold. You can try ebay but they are still few and far between. Atari 2600 Paddles on ebay
Fetching new data from eBay now... please stand by
AtariAge - Atari 2600 Rarity Guide Search
- AtariAge - Atari 2600 Rarity Guide Search
- This is another great feature from the people at AtariAge.
For example, did you know that Air Raid (not Air Raiders) by MenAvision is one of the rarest Atari Games?
Atari 2600 Games
ASTEROIDS - Pro - Breaking Asteroids, Con - HyperspacePITFALL - Pro - Groovy Music. Da-Ner-Ner-Ner, Con - Those stupid alligators
MISSLE COMMAND - Pro - Free Cities, Con - Aliens AKA little white dots
COMBAT - Pro - Nada, Nothing, Zip, I hated this game, Con - Everything!
CIRCUS ATARI - Pro - I loved jumping, Con - Jittery paddles
DONKEY KONG - Pro - Jumping barrels, Con - Never getting to the top!
STAR WARS THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK - Pro - Flashing "Bomb Hatch", Con - A damaged speeder
ADVENTURE - Pro - Looking for Keys, Con - Once it's over it's over.
PAC-MAN - Pro - The Vitamin Pellet, Con - Never getting very far.
Q*BERT - Pro - He's Cute, Con - I sucked
Atari 2600 Games Poll
Atari 2600 - Centipede
Atari 2600 - Centipede
Atari 2600 TV Advertisment Uploaded By Locke2007 of MechaMetropolis.co.uk
Runtime: 0:59
75880 views
10 Comments:
Vintage Atari 2600 Games on eBay
Fetching new data from eBay now... please stand byYou Mean Atari Has Music?
Game Sound Legend Series: That's Atari Music, Vol. 1
Amazon Price: $61.99 (as of 07/11/2009)
Atari vs. the Wii
Which would you rather have?
Fetching blurbs now... please stand byA good old Atari 2600?
Robin_Forlonge_Patterson says:
Probably the Atari.
I and my children had Commodore 16: 12.7 kB to play with if you were using Basic, but commercial games used most of the full 64k and were quite spectacular and were by no means so slow that you could always win.
My son learned to type his name on it. Now he's a commercial pilot, which says something about the flight simulator that worked passably on the C16 and the swept-up Flight Simulator games for PC that we bought him later.
But I discovered strategy games, starting with the original Civilization. I hope your Atari has them.
Posted March 12, 2009
Lisa-Marie-Mary says:
Atari, for sure!! I'd play Games by Apollo video games, oh yeah! Maybe I need to make an Apollo lens, come to think of it!
Posted October 21, 2008
A brand new shiny Wii?
fefe says:
I love the Wii! I used to have an Atari 2600 before Nintendo came along. I would like to get an old wood grain Atari 2600 system. I have an Atari Flashback 2 system which is cute, but not quite the real thing.
Posted May 10, 2008
More Atari 2600 on eBay
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Atari 2600 on eBay
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I love my Atari 2600! ebay is one of the best places to find vintage Atari 2600 merchandise! So get nostalgic for one of the greatest games ever made! Come on, I know you want a Pit Fall game, and ebay just happens to have some!
Guestbook
chefkeem wrote...
I've brushed this beautifully nostalgic lens with a little Angel dust. Now it's shiny again! 5*s
Posted October 22, 2008
Lisa-Marie-Mary wrote...
I absolutely, completely, and totally LOVE this lens! :D
Posted October 21, 2008
Treasures-By-Brenda wrote...
I have read about people searching for Atari 'stuff', reconditioning, cleaning etc. and then reselling it. Of course those selling it in the first place, have a box of what they consider very dated 'junk.' They have no idea that there may be others out there looking for this antique video game!
Posted October 20, 2008
About Me
Lensmaster bdkz, aka Bonnie D., has been a member since February 17 2007, has rated 4,370 lenses, favorited 240, and has created 386 lenses from scratch. This member's top-ranked page is "Zazzle 101 ... How to make a profit on Zazzle". See all my lenses
My Bio
Bonnie is a Giant Squid Community Organizer and Head RocketMom here on Squidoo. Interested in being a Giant Squid? Click Here to find out how! Because you CAN be a GIANT!
She is also a digital artist, blogger and writer from Cleveland, Ohio. She loves Sociology, Pop Culture, the news, people, genealogy, 80's music and observing human nature. She hates cooked broccoli, ignorance, people who speed, smoking and crooked politicians.
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