What did you have before your first computer?

[Cobe]

Originally Posted by Retroplay

Speaking of Nu Pogodi, have you seen this C64 version:
http://csdb.dk/release/?id=107792

yup, played it on my c64. Very nice. I recall it kinda starts a really slowly. You have to play it longer until it gets interesting.

[Baboon]

Race N Chase..


Frogger...


Plus Astro Wars and Star Force. I've still got all these somewhere in my loft but I think the battery compartments are missing from all of them?

Good times!

[volvo_0ne]

Nothing!

I bought my first computer to (eventually) program EPROMS for use in CB radios.

Then I discovered what you could do with computers, and sold my CB stuff to get better computers lol

[DannyBoy]

Originally Posted by Cobe

Ah, Nu Pogodi! One friend from the class had this. We were always fighting on the break who's gonna play it during the classes. I'm still looking for working one. I have one in a box with manual but it's hardly working.

Oh gosh! That was it! I absolutely remember there read "Ну, погоди!" somewhere on the case

[amiga_Forever]

I had Commodore 64..

But i always used to go out just to admire in the shop window that Amiga 500+ i could never afford. Then later we got it on lay-by

I was the new A500+ model but it had kickstart 1.3 "Commodore sticker" instead of just the logo

[michaelz]

Before my first computer? Lego
I got a c64 first and then a a500 after that (both leftovers from nephews)

[Pat the Cat]

Some kind of Hong Kong made Pong clone, IIRC.

[twenty90seven]

A handheld Pacman game. It ended once you got to 9,999 points.

[scuzz]

Dark Tower was the closest I guess to a computer before the ZX81 era for me.... Still have it and it works.

http://www.scuzzscink.com/amiga/a_sc..._sep20_420.jpg

Mostly though we use to meet up and play the latest of whatever board game from Games Workshop. These games cost a small fortune but we certainly had our moneys worth.

I still have my ZX81 and that also works. I travelled all the way to Scotland to a ZX81-fest just to buy a proper keyboard for it.

http://www.scuzzscink.com/amiga/amiga_scuzz117.htm

And in truth, what did I have before my first computer.... A life I guess.

scuzz

Thanks for this thread - what a great stroll down memory lane!

Before my first personal computer, I had a job programming two NCR 399 accounting minicomputers. One had 8K, and the other had 16K of magnetic core memory. The NCR technical rep brought a Star Trek game that needed 20K of memory to run. Now and then I'd pool the memory boards from both computers to give it a go.

SCUZZ' post reminds me of one misspent night long ago playing Dark Tower with a bunch of Air Force cadets. That was fun!

[RichMK]

Like others, Atari 2600 (woody six-er) at the end of the 70's. We only had a few games as they were quite expensive so had to borrow games from friends at school.

That console kept us going until the release of the 48k Speccy in 82/83. My dad used to take us to computer shows in the early 80's. It was awesome..

[a4k-oerx]

Schuco - 5 + 1 Multi Game - German version of Epoch Game Box Penta

[Thelemorf]

Game and watch
NES
SNES
Amiga 500
PC
N64
GC
PC
PC
PC
PC

[gimbal]

I didn't own it but we borrowed some kind of console from the neighbors for a day with simplistic built-in games for two players - youtube tells me it was a Videopac G7000 / Magnavox Odyssey. In any case that day was the beginning of the end, I had learned computer games exist.

Not long after that I got an Atari 2600 jr. for myself for my birthday, and that was the end of the beginning of the end**, paired with the awesome MSX that my uncle owned which also stole my heart. The next thing I got was a second hand A500 and well by that time I was destined to be an awkward computer nerd who would wring every minute out of every day to play games, almost making me miss out on a decent education.

It wasn't the Amiga to blame, it was the one day that we borrowed a Videopac from the neighbors.


** [ Show youtube player ]

[plasmab]

Frogger here.

[Anakirob]

The only way I can answer this question is with a reference to this song

[ Show youtube player ]

[Mr.Flibble]

Mostly baby toys - first computer in the house was a Dragon32 when I was about 2.
Then the madness started:

Spectrum +2(A)
Amiga 500
Amiga 1200
Sega Game Gear
PlayStation
PC
PC
PC
PlayStation2
PC
PC
PC
PC
PlayStation 3
*Mac Pro
MacBook
MacBook Pro
MacBook Pro
*Mac Pro
*PlayStation 4
*PC

Those last ones are still current, but I do have the vast majority of the others in storage, apart from the miriad of PCs which were more an ever-changing collection of parts.

Most recently I built another PC with a view to experimenting with VR, but haven't gotten around to the VR bit yet.

Along the way I've also picked up a couple of Amiga 4000's and an additional A1200 and A500+, along with a couple of SGI workstations (hence profile pic)

[Anakirob]

Originally Posted by Mr.Flibble

Mostly baby toys - first computer in the house was a Dragon32 when I was about 2.
Then the madness started:

Spectrum +2(A)...

So I guess your answer to the answer to the original question is "nothing"

[Starglider 2]

Originally Posted by gazj82

3D Tomytronic - Sky attack - [ Show youtube player ]

Still have it, my kids play it occasionally too

Same!

[Titler]

I had many of the classics mentioned here; mostly the Tomy and Grandstand desktop machines, including Alien Chase which I remember most for being one of the few two sided, 1 or 2 player competitive games... really simple now having found it emulated online, but I recall many happy, intense games with my brother way back when...

I really, REALLY wanted Mini-Munchman though, as the first hand held I can ever remember, and one that was hugely popular at primary school. I finally got it a few years ago on eBay, and found there's a guaranteed path that will beat every level and get you the HHH score every time; I don't know if the kids back then knew of it, but it was strangely disappointing to discover it was so simple. I still love my munchkin simply because of nostalgia, but it's not something I ever play for fun.

Especially as Pocket Scramble was godly, and that I do still fire up every now and then. After decades of safe keeping, my original was broken on the London Underground when visiting an ex-girlfriend, and someone kicked my bag I think. I ended up buying a mint condition replacement which never leaves my flat now... but that LCD handheld was incredible, and showed up even some arcade games of the time.

But there's a few handhelds we all had in my family I've never been able to identify; I wonder if anyone knows what they were? They would have been in one of the home catalogues in the mid 1980s; they were bright red, single LCD screens, game/watch sized with left / right buttons. The two I can recall were a basketball and football variant of the exact same game, you moved left and right to keep the balls juggling in the air. They were relatively cheap, and not Tomy or Grandstand from what I can see, and searches of handheld museums haven't pulled them up. Any suggestions?