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And I was hooked. Every place had a few video game machines. Grocery stores,corner stores,gas stations and I would ask for quarters. Go out to have pizza at Godfather's Pizza for dinner, that means I get a chance to play Tempest and Centipede. Dad wants to goto a nearby lounge to shoot pool, I want to go cause the place has Dig Dug and Zaxxon.
Then not long before I turned 5 and started Kindergarten two older cousins each got an Atari 2600. So visits to see them meant I got to play video games at home and didn't need quarters. I wanted a 2600 bad. Factoring in inflation that 2600 would be 250 or so in modern money. Which was way more than my parents would spend on me for Xmas or my birthday. Then thanks to the already mentioned Godfather's Pizza I found me a way to get one.
Godfathers had a contest. Was a picture of the mascot in the newspaper. Cut it out color it and there was 3 prizes. 1st place was trip for 4 to Disney World,which I had been too already. 2nd place was a Atari 2600 system. 3rd place I don't remember. I colored that picture. Got mom to drop it off. Then weeks later we get the call I have won second place.
The ride to town and then back home felt like it was 5 hours long, when it was at most 30 minutes round trip. Get home dad hooks it up and we start playing Combat. Which was the only game I had. It is 2 player only. It was Friday when I won it. That night after I goto bed it starts raining. Lots of the county floods. School gets canceled for 3 days. So I am stuck at home with a new Atari. Only got a 2 player game and Mom don't play it. That Monday after dad got home from work Mom went "grocery shopping" and said I couldn't come. Which was odd. Normally I would go with her and read comics while waiting. She gets home hours later and has me a new game Pac Man. Yep it is hated now but I played the living fuck out of it back then.
From then and IIRC this was September 1980 until summer of 84 I would get like 2 or 3 games for Xmas and 2 for my birthday. Would trade games with my cousins and friends that lived nearby. And I had a decent collection built up. Even had the track ball controller.
Then the crash of 84 hit. Now I had no clue what happened. Just that it went from being 25 to 40 for an Atari game to games being 10 bucks or less. Now I could buy them myself. Xmas and Birthdays went from gettiing 3 games at each to getting 20 games. By 86 my 2600 collection was over 100 games. Mom carried a list of what I had in her purse and at places like TG&Y and Woolco finding games for a buck.
1986 we get back from Xmas break. Buddy telling us he got a new video game system. The NES, with a pile of games. Seems his dad had to order it from some store up north.
Now those games looked ,to us back then,just like the arcade versions. No more "Oh this is so close to the arcade." Nope we had legit arcade games in the home. So again begged parents for a NES. Got told nope already got the 2600 and piles of games.
Too young to get a job. My allowance ain't much. But I had a huge Hot Wheels,Star Wars figure and comic book collection. And all those Hot Wheels got sold. Buck for each car. There was 50 or so bucks. Sold the Star Wars figures for 2 bucks each,they had all their guns. Now I got right at 90 bucks. NES I want is 130. My birthday is soon. Will get cash so I will have that NES soon.
Day of my birthday I am opening gifts. Keeping a total in my head of how much cash I got. Between aunts and grandparents got right at 170 total now in cash. Sweet can get a NES and maybe a game too.
Then mom brings out a huge package. I open it and there is the NES.
So next day I head to the nearest KB toys and got as many games as 170 bucks could get me.
The rest of that summer break was spent playing my huge stack of games. Being not only one of the few kids in the neighborhood with a NES but also having close to 15 games meant by 10am there was always a few kids over playing the NES.
Just like with the 2600 I would get a few games for my birthday and Xmas. Usually 2 at each. But by now I was working part time on my father's shrimp boat. So I had money. Maybe a year after this the 2600 stopped working. Knowing what I know now I am betting it was a faulty power supply, a super easy fix. But back then I just assumed I needed a new system. And yea the 2600 jr was 50 bucks. Still 50 bucks was 1 or 2 NES games. The 2600 got boxed up and put in the closet. That huge box of over 200 now 2600 games was given to the lil brother of a girl I was dating.
1990 is when it all changed. New system, rediscovered the 2600 and learned the joys of retro games.
