atari Archives - PS

Confessions of a 1982 video game junkie

Mantooth — Mon, 01 Jan 2018 18:41:00 +0000

When I think about 1982, my mind drifts to three things, action figures, Doctor Who novels (mostly written by Terrance Dicks) and VIDEO GAMES.

My then eleven year old brain had Pac-Man fever bad, I was a total junkie. I bought terrible magazines about video games where even i could point out the grammatical errors, drew pictures of them, pretty sure I even bought that weird “Atari Force” comic book that DC comics made.

My parents were not shelling out for a home system and they forbade Grandma to help in anyway but my dad knew of a job opportunity in printing that only a kid would take.

So, the winter of 1982 was the year i toiled for weeks tearing misprinted sheets out of 35,000 Ottawa tourism booklets for exactly one penny each.

Nights, weekends, I spent the entire March break tearing watching day time TV and tearing out that same page out of that damn booklet.

The above page was my spirit animal, I stared at it during this period so much i probably bore holes into it.

Eventually, I raised $300 from my endeavor and my dad took me to Pinocchio’s toys in the midtown mall to purchase a system. He would also help me buy a game as well. I remember pressing my face against that Jeweler’s case and picking out Activision’s Kaboom!

All was right with the world, I was so proud about owning this thing and played combat until 2am with my dad (who was also a big arcade enabler to be honest).

However, i would encounter one little problem the following Monday, a problem by the name of George Plimpton.

Mattel had launched a competing system called Intellivision and used Plimpton to snobbily tout it’s superiority to Atari. This ad campaign was especially effective at my grade school where kids would quote the man (who probably never visited an arcade in his life) to mock the 2600 and my choice.

Me, filled with incredible pride of ownership (after all, i earned the money) took it all too personal and often challenged the other kid to a fight, this was despite my 40/60 success rate in playground scraps, never tell me the odds or the stats.

BTW I attribute my prodigious ability to snore as an adult to these pointless donnybrooks.

Happily, this lead me to my tribe of the other Atari 2600 kids and we would happily swap games, occasionally, I would get a cartridge that totally reeked of cigarettes, causing my mum to have kittens but how else was I going to play Atlantis?

While the rivalry existed between 2600 and Intellivision kids remained, we both looked our noses down at the Odyessy 2. This weird disdain totally disappeared if I was a kid’s house who had it though, mostly because I wanted to play it of course….

And then there was Leisure Vision, the system that you get when you send your dad to the store but don’t come along to supervise. It’s low priced and looks like the Intellivision and Atari had a baby, so you can’t blame frugral parents and grandpeople for surrendering to it’s siren song.

My obsession with video games would last until about 1984 until I got caught up in the world of Home Computers (more on that later) and well, girls but i always think fondly of this weird little era where I had the fever…

BrAiN

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Atari Dreams

Mantooth — Wed, 21 Dec 2016 13:04:00 +0000

My grandmother never threw catalogs out, she let them sit until the new one came in.

So I can remember spending the better part of a year staring at this image, plotting as to how I would make the Atari 2600 mine.

I had to get my first job but it was so worth it and it changed Christmas forever.

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Parker Brothers Video Games

Mantooth — Thu, 01 Sep 2016 13:57:00 +0000

I had three of the four games on this page, I’ll leave it to your imagination which one I passed on.

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Atari just added another new game

Mantooth — Wed, 23 Dec 2015 15:10:00 +0000

For the brief time after Star Wars and before the discovery of girls and punk rock, Atari dominated my thoughts.

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Sears Video Arcade

Mantooth — Thu, 28 May 2015 14:20:00 +0000

As a kid, I was pretty brand loyal to Atari, even getting into fisticuffs with an Intellivision fan once, which is pretty embarrassing to admit now.

I bought my 2600 with my own money (from menial labour gigs no less) and even though this Sears knock off was a better deal, there was some stigma attached to it that my 11 year old self couldn’t shake.

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Parker Brothers Video Games

Mantooth — Thu, 29 Jan 2015 05:00:00 +0000

Parker Brothers really seemed to dominate my video game purchases in the early eighties and seeing this toyfair ad from ’83 made me smile.

They had my favourite arcade game of all time (Tutankham) and the Star Wars license, so my loyalty was assured…

If I didn’t have one of their games, it surely was on my wishlist, someday you will be mine Spider-Man!

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Atari Halloween

Mantooth — Thu, 23 Oct 2014 04:00:00 +0000

For some reason I didn’t add this page to the 1983 Collegeville Catalog when i did it and it only took me 7 years to figure that out. I can’t imagine the conversations when the designers were told tha they had to develop a costume for Asteroids but in the end, I can’t say I could do better…

BTW i was true blood atari fan, I got in fist fights with Intellivision kids, I still hate George Plimpton…

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Vintage Toy Store Photos Volume 16

Mantooth — Fri, 29 Aug 2014 04:00:00 +0000

In an effort to combat the end of summer blues, I’ve dig deep to the days of Pegboard and regional toy stores to bring the 16th edition of our vintage toy stores feature.

Installment 16 features old favorites such as the Bionic Woman and Six Million Dollar Man, Barbie, the Osmonds, Atari, Fisher Price, Mego Diana Ross and much more.

We explore such long forgotten chains such as Bambergers, Two Guys as well as local toy emporiums such as The Toy Shoppes and Youngtown.

Check out Vintage Toy Store Photos Volume 16 here.

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Vintage Toy Store Pictures Part Ten

Mantooth — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 04:59:00 +0000

I cannot think of a better update for our fifth anniversary other than doing another vintage toy store update. When I set out to create the original vintage toy store gallery for the site, I never imagined I’d get to part 2 let alone roman numeral X!

Being a toy nerd this is my favourite section of the site and I love that I’ve unearthed this much goodness and that it’s touched so many of you.

As sequels go, Part ten does not disappoint with plenty of iconic toys spotted on the shelves, We’ve got Micronauts, Star Wars, Mego 2XL and Star Trek, Tonka Trucks, Janex talking alarm clocks, Dinky cars, Dancerella and a few more suprises!

Click Here to visit Toy Stores Part Ten

And if you haven’t already check out parts 1-9:

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atari Archives - PS

Top 5 Parker Brothers Video Games for Atari 2600 & Intellivision

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Confessions of a 1982 video game junkie

Atari Dreams

Parker Brothers Video Games

Atari just added another new game

Sears Video Arcade

Parker Brothers Video Games

Atari Halloween

Vintage Toy Store Photos Volume 16

Vintage Toy Store Pictures Part Ten