Video games are a multi-million dollar business these days. But this booming industry owes much of its current success to a simple little console first sold in October 1977 called the Atari 2600 Video Computer System. By today’s standards, Atari games are not much to look at, but their simple game play is still addictive, especially when nostalgia for this dinosaur gaming console kicks in.
The box for our eBay purchased unit is a little worse for wear.
There a a number of parts in the box, but something is missing.
Wood grain trim — perfect for the modern living room.
More binary symmetry – there are left and right switches.
Place your favorite game cartridge into the system and start playing.
One problem with buying stuff off eBay is that you can’t always guarantee the quality of what you receive. In this case we did not get a power adapter. And I was really looking forward to Space Invaders.
Most of the controllers are here. Two paddles, but only one joystick is in the box.
The paddles indicate a preference for tennis type games.
The basic Atari joystick is the quintessential icon of the video console.
This cartridge alone has 112 games. Apparently, Space Invaders is one of them.
There is some nostalgia to consider. At one time, game developers were often just one guy or gal and made a point of claiming responsibility for their games.
Except for the fact that you use a fancy controller, I bet this boxing game looks pretty similar to Wii Boxing.
Hey look an owner’s manual — that this definitely a throwback to a different era.
Well if I had a power adapter, I would at least be able to hook it up to a television using these handy illustrated instructions.
I used to have about five of these things laying around in the junk drawer.
If we had a power adapter, I would have taken photos of the Atari in action and they would have looked something like this.
Only the images would be on this big LCD.
Bill Detwiler is going to borrow the proper power adapter for the Atari 2600 and we will show some real images of the Atari working soon (I hope). Of course then we are going to perform a Cracking Open on it to see what is inside.
Mark W. Kaelin has been writing and editing stories about the information technology industry, software, hardware, gaming, finance, accounting, and technology geekdom for more than 30 years.
