What was your first video game experience?

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So since there haven't been too many discussions lately, here's one:

What was the first arcade video game you ever played? Where was it and
was your first experience behind the controls indicative of the
life-long obsession it would later become?

For myself, I was about 11 years old and the game was Space Invaders.
I was lined up with a bunch of other kids in a mall about to meet
Santa. Since Star Wars had just burst onto the scene, everything cool
was given a sci-fi twist, including Santa (for some bizarre reason). So
on our way to see the jolly old interstellar elf, we walked through a
space-age room full of blacklights, oscilloscopes doing that warbling
test pattern thing, and hidden amoung them was the strangest machine I
had ever seen.
You put a quarter in it and you could actually CONTROL something on the
screen! This was amazing! Of course, my wonder quickly switched to
intense concentration as wave upon wave of alien invaders slowly crept
down the screen toward me. I was hooked!

In time these machines would become more commonplace, and of course I
would eventually get a home version (my beautiful Atari 2600) but that
day lined up to see Santa will always be a strong memory for me, and
those evil Space Invaders.
 
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A Space Invaders (taking dimes) and a Scramble in the Mundelein Cinemas
in Mundelein, Illinois. Can't remember which was first, the Scramble
machine was brand new and the Space Invaders was pretty beat up. I
actually became rather addicted to Scramble, and still play it
constantly on my MAME cab.

Either that or the Ms. Pac-Man cocktail table at Potestas Pizza in
Vernon Hills, Illinois. The thing was brand spanking new and I was
amazed.

All 3 around 1981.
 
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I had the good fortune of playing a COMPUTER SPACE game. In the
old Hallmark card store in SHRUB OAK, NY next to the A & P. they had a
bunch of pinball games in the back, Including an ATARI - FIRE TRUCK
(which I was never able to get the hang of, by the way)
It was about 1980. I remember the cool gold sparkle of the
cabinet. and the rubbery feel of the game's skin. I remember it being
a single player game. I only came in contact with a 2-player game
years later (which didn't work <too bad - so sad>).My mother would load
me down with all the change in her purse so that she could shop in
peace. And I would pump every cent I had into those games. And when I
was done, I would stay and watch others play until my mother finally
dragged me away.
 
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The first game that really caught my attention and was fun was Tempest.
I probably played others before, but I was 7 when tempest came out so
that was probably the first one I could control. It was at Carmen's
Pizza in Madison Heights, MI (suburb of Detroit). Seems like a lot of
us got started at pizza places, huh.

BTW, the place was open up till a couple years ago.. now it is an
(Asian) Indian food restaurant and there are no video games :(
 
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The first game that really caught my attention and was fun was Tempest.
I probably played others before, but I was 7 when tempest came out so
that was probably the first one I could control. It was at Carmen's
Pizza in Madison Heights, MI (suburb of Detroit). Seems like a lot of
us got started at pizza places, huh.

BTW, the place was open up till a couple years ago.. now it is an
(Asian) Indian food restaurant and there are no video games :(
 
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First game was either Death Race or Boot Hill.
We used to go camping a lot when I was a kid and I remember playing
these in the rec room...a LOT.
 
T

Troy

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BootHill, then Atari football. that one hurt to play.
soon after, SI then MC. then the 80's boom came.
That's the order they came in at my local arcade.

Troy,


<computerspacefan@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:1119562017.471261.71320@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com...
> So since there haven't been too many discussions lately, here's one:
>
> What was the first arcade video game you ever played? Where was it and
> was your first experience behind the controls indicative of the
> life-long obsession it would later become?
>
> For myself, I was about 11 years old and the game was Space Invaders.
> I was lined up with a bunch of other kids in a mall about to meet
> Santa. Since Star Wars had just burst onto the scene, everything cool
> was given a sci-fi twist, including Santa (for some bizarre reason). So
> on our way to see the jolly old interstellar elf, we walked through a
> space-age room full of blacklights, oscilloscopes doing that warbling
> test pattern thing, and hidden amoung them was the strangest machine I
> had ever seen.
> You put a quarter in it and you could actually CONTROL something on the
> screen! This was amazing! Of course, my wonder quickly switched to
> intense concentration as wave upon wave of alien invaders slowly crept
> down the screen toward me. I was hooked!
>
> In time these machines would become more commonplace, and of course I
> would eventually get a home version (my beautiful Atari 2600) but that
> day lined up to see Santa will always be a strong memory for me, and
> those evil Space Invaders.
>
 
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Archived from groups: rec.games.video.arcade.collecting (More info?)

Boot Hill
Two Guys, East Brunswick, NJ.
1977
 
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night driver upright
south ozone park queens. '76.


"John Dondzila" <pc.john@*verizon.net> wrote in message
news:Xns967ECD90BD2C2pcjohnclassicgamecre@216.196.97.131...
>
> Boot Hill
> Two Guys, East Brunswick, NJ.
> 1977
>
>
 
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Not really a video game, but my first arcade game experience was a
Namco F-1 sitdown sometime in the late 70s. I learned much later that
the whole thing was a big mechanical contraption. :)
Then came Asteroids.... woohooooo

Marcel
 
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almost the same thing... except that I actually played space invaders while
waiting in line to actually see Star Wars (my grandparents were taking
us)... it was a rather long line as this was in a super duper 70mm screen
(In the Blue Star Shopping Center in NJ!)

steve

<computerspacefan@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:1119562017.471261.71320@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com...
> So since there haven't been too many discussions lately, here's one:
>
> What was the first arcade video game you ever played? Where was it and
> was your first experience behind the controls indicative of the
> life-long obsession it would later become?
>
> For myself, I was about 11 years old and the game was Space Invaders.
> I was lined up with a bunch of other kids in a mall about to meet
> Santa. Since Star Wars had just burst onto the scene, everything cool
> was given a sci-fi twist, including Santa (for some bizarre reason). So
> on our way to see the jolly old interstellar elf, we walked through a
> space-age room full of blacklights, oscilloscopes doing that warbling
> test pattern thing, and hidden amoung them was the strangest machine I
> had ever seen.
> You put a quarter in it and you could actually CONTROL something on the
> screen! This was amazing! Of course, my wonder quickly switched to
> intense concentration as wave upon wave of alien invaders slowly crept
> down the screen toward me. I was hooked!
>
> In time these machines would become more commonplace, and of course I
> would eventually get a home version (my beautiful Atari 2600) but that
> day lined up to see Santa will always be a strong memory for me, and
> those evil Space Invaders.
>
 
G

Guest

Guest
Archived from groups: rec.games.video.arcade.collecting (More info?)

Frogger in a dept. store (since closed). That store had Space Invaders and
Stunt Cycle, as well as a few others. But Frogger was first and best when I
was growing up.
 
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I'll say it was _Boot Hill_ or _Gun Fight_; it's the one where the images on
the screen were yellow, on a black background. This was in the lobby of
Pancho's Mexican Buffet on the southwest side of Fort Worth, Texas, around
1975, '76, or '77. I forget which. There's a chance I could have
seen/played an arcade version of _Pong_ there before, but the cowboy
shoot-'em-up is the one that stands out. I was only about six or seven
years old.

Not too long after that my big sister would let me tag along with her and
her friends to Rollerland, a roller-skating rink in our neighborhood. (It's
now gone.) They always had some kick-butt video games there, including
_Space Race_, _Star Fire_, _Night Driver_, and possibly X's and O's
_Football_.
 
S

steve

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Compared to most of you, I was a late bloomer.

The first arcade video game I ever played was one I bought
at a flea market. It was an Atari Space Duel, and it was dead.
After a little head scratching, and a bunch of caps and transitors
(color vector monitor), it was alive. Still have it, and still play
it regularly. BTW: I was 35 when I bought it.

Steve
 
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Rip Off for sure. A friend and me would always ride our bikes about 30 mins
to the party store, I think we were like 12ish and one day this thing is
sitting near the exit door and we were like wow, tried it got hooked and
became the best duo team ever. We would play on one quarter for like maybe
30 mins, usually one game later and sweating like pigs and hyper we would
ride back drinking our Yoohoo and talk about beating our score the next day.
It was only there for the one summer and then others came along but that is
the game that got us started and I have been playing fixing and buying games
ever since I was able too.

Trin
<dragonbreed@aol.com> wrote in message
news:1119585435.327465.168500@g43g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> Not really a video game, but my first arcade game experience was a
> Namco F-1 sitdown sometime in the late 70s. I learned much later that
> the whole thing was a big mechanical contraption. :)
> Then came Asteroids.... woohooooo
>
> Marcel
>
 
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Archived from groups: rec.games.video.arcade.collecting (More info?)

For me, I think it was Breakout. I was in a bowling league when I was
9, and I saw the machine on my way out one day. Played it and loved it!
It was such a new experience! They also had Pong at that bowling alley.
I had been an arcade junkie since I was seven and played my first
pinball machine, but video games fueled my quarter-dropping habit. I
was hooked for life.

After that, it's kind of a blur. Some of the early black and white
games I remember playing around the same time were Space Race (in the
cool fiberglass cabinet). Starship 1, Boot Hill, and Seawolf.

-Dave Ellis
http://www.davesclassicarcade.com
 
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My first was Space Race (Atari 1973) in a hotel while on family
vacation. I was probably 8 or 9. It was the smaller wood cabinet.
After that it was the usual...Gunfight, Space Invaders, Space wars and
so on. Bought my first video game (Stunt Cycle) as a junior in
highschool (1982) from a local arcade for I think $150. Put it out on
a location and paid for it in 2 months......
 
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when my grandmother's 1979 cutlass supreme's waterpump broke (it was
virtually a new car!) on the way to florida in 1980, we ended up
stranded at a Howard Johnson's outside of Pittsburgh. that was the
first time i ever saw a Pac Man, in the hotel's arcade. i was so
amazed.

also: Stunt Cycle - West Palm Beach Florida Airport (early)

3 cocktail arcade machines (Galaga, Ms Pac, Donkey Kong) at a resto/bar
called The Greenhouse in Riviera Beach, FL. my parents would let me
drink some of their alcohol there when the waitresses were out of
sight.

My mom taught me to swim one summer by throwing quarters into the pool
with the promise that i could play them at the arcades that afternoon.
Nice memories

Harry
 
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Every kid growing up in Harvard, Illinois (about an hour outside of
Chicago) in the late-70's/early 80's proabably has the same first-time
video-game experience that I do - The News Depot.

The news depot was a coffee shop in the downtown area that had just about
every newspaper and magazine you could imagine and there were always "old"
people sitting around drinking coffee and eating pastries. I never noticed
any of that as I always went straight to the back where they had about 6
or 8 video games.

Whoever operated that place did a great job as they would always have the
newest games. The first game I can ever remember actually playing was
probably Phoenix, but over a 5 year span, the best of the best could
always be found at The News Depot:

Donkey Kong, Asteroids, Pac-man, Ms. Pac-man, Stargate, Berzerk, Frenzy,
Frogger, Star Castle, Asteroids, Tempest, Pole Position

There was a "real" arcade in town as well, but I got in trouble every time
I got within 5 blocks of it. :-(

Steve
 
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computerspacefan@hotmail.com wrote:
> So since there haven't been too many discussions lately, here's one:
>
> What was the first arcade video game you ever played? Where was it and
> was your first experience behind the controls indicative of the
> life-long obsession it would later become?
>

1. Pac-Man & Rally-X & Atari Basketball "The Machine Shop" South of
Pittsburgh, PA 1980

2. Pac-Man (A Laundromat at Ocean City, MD) 1980
3. Scramble at a high rise hotel, Ocean City MD 1980 (81?)

Yes, after these experiences, I dumped a lot of quarters into machines.

Other games I liked through the years:

Galaga, Galaga 3, Punch Out, 720, Gauntlet, Super Sprint, NARC, Smash TV

Matt
 
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Yeah...a lot of my early (and later) video game experiences were in
Ocean City, MD as well. My family went there every year on vacation. I
used to get so excited to get up to the boardwalk and see all of the
newest games. OC was the first place I played Space Invaders, Galaga,
Ms. Pac-Man, Tapper, Spy Hunter...geez, a lot of the classics!

I remember playing a bunch of EM games in OC as well. I clearly recall
playing Sega's Periscope (the behemoth EM predecessor to Seawolf) with
my Dad in Marty's Playland Arcade on the boardwalk at Worcester Street.

-Dave Ellis
http://www.davesclassicarcade.com
 
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Its hard to me to answer this question because I use to go to arcades all
the times during the 70s, a lot of the machines back then were EMs mixed in
with video games. For some reason my first memory of video games are games
like Gunfight/Boot hill (a lot of cowboy type games) and Submarine type
games. Space Invaders came later ...

jon
http://www.arcade-classics.com
 
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While not in an arcade, I was at the University of Minnesota in the summer
of 1970. In one of their labs a few programmers had a huge kind of black and
white osciliscope screen and had made a kind of primitive star trek game.
Very basic, fly around and shoot. I looked at that and wondered how hard it
would be to put a coin chute on it and operate it. Who knew what would be
going on in the industry in the coming years. LTG :)

<computerspacefan@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:1119562017.471261.71320@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com...
> So since there haven't been too many discussions lately, here's one:
>
> What was the first arcade video game you ever played? Where was it and
> was your first experience behind the controls indicative of the
> life-long obsession it would later become?
 
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