Earliest computer/computer game memories

[sscotty727]

Hi All, In another post Xaphod was talking about being a fan of Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. This brought back memories of my college days and playing the text adventure game based on the book all hours of the night (probably blew off alot of study time too;). Anyway, I thought I would throw out to the group, what was the first computer you owned and what was the first game(s) you got "addicted" to. For me my first computer was a Timex Sinclair. I got it at a major discount as the Commodore 64s were coming out. As far as computer games, my first addiction arcade game was Gorf in the bar every Friday/Saturday night. On my own computer, I got addicted to all the text adventure games on my Atari (a present from my older brothers). Scotty

[shyguy]

My first computer game addiction was probably The Hobbit on the ZX Spectrum followed some years later by Sonic the Hedgehog and Alex Kidd on the Sega Master system

[Firefox]

Space Invaders in a pub C 1979. I remember thinking this game was pretty amazing at the time. It was certainly difficult to get near it, but within a year, it was Galaxians and Defender that everyone wanted to play.

[highheelfan]

My first game addiction was Elite on my old Amiga 500. Wasted many hours on that one

[Francis]

Centipede back in 1980 I still have an Apple ][e which plays an original Atari release of the game too Many retro gaming nights are played on this old and ancient machine

[azraelle]

I remember attempting to load Zaxxon onto an Atari 800XL but the tape drive kept crashing. I finally gave up and settled for Ms Pac Man, Qix, and Q-bert with cartridges. I wasn't addicted though--the only one that ever came close was solitaire on Win 3.1 running on a Korean-made 80286 clone with 1 MB of RAM!!!

[sscotty727]

Oh yes, the memory of the cassette tape drives. I lost so many programs and had hours of frustration using them. I was never so happy when the new high tech FLOPPY disk drive came out!

[JinxieKat]

Hmm.. first computer I worked with was an Apple ][ e. The first computer I owned was a Tandy something or another with just a floppy drive, no hard drive in that machine! My first computer game to play was the text based Hitchhikers Guide. The first one I owned was an Xmen game that I cannot remember the name to. Now the first console type game would be the classic, PONG! It was quite the treat when my parents allowed me to stay up and play with them. Fun! JinxieKat

[PJ]

My first computer at work was an Apple 2e. I used to come in 2 hours early just to play Pong, and to learn simple programming. My first computer at home was the Macintosh. The first game I recall was an adventure game called Transylvania. It was a relatively simple game to figure out (by today's standards). But back then, it took me about one month to solve it.

[Guest Allu]

first Elite: my skill rate was "competent". I had military laser in front and rear. I often used keyboard instead joystick cause it was faster. I never forget that monotony waltz while docking at spacestation. second Rews: Formula 3 race simulator. with paddle and joystick. Circuits were Silverstone and Brand Hatch.

[Anita C.]

Does anybody remember "PONG"? Or am I really gonna feel old? Namaste', Anita C.

[JeffM]

Anita Am I stating the obvious? JinxieKat, PJ and Anita C makes 3. Jeff

[Francis]

Elite only became easier when you obtained a docking computer. The amount of times I've crashed into the side of those Coriolis stations and then been shot to bits by Police Vipers is astounding I used the joystick for dogfights and keyboard for docking. Found it easier that way

[mk4625]

Computer: IBM 1130 on which I ran my first program, written in Fortran. Computer game: A Pong game in a department store that cost 25¢ to play.

[ShockQueen]

Earliest computer (owned): Mattel Electronics Aquarius...had an astounding 8K of RAM! What power! Earliest computer (operated): An Apple ][ playing Russki Duck and The Prisoner (based on the series) Earliest arcade game: Space Wars, Space Invaders, and Pac-Man (well....and of course the coin-op of PONG)

[asdf174]

getting my first Nintindo for xmas and play Super Mario Bros. for the first time.

[PJ]

Computer: IBM 1130 on which I ran my first program, written in Fortran.

Computer game: A Pong game in a department store that cost 25¢ to play.

Your post brought back some memories for me. I was a university student studying engineering 30 years ago. I was required to take an IBM 1620 main frame computer programming course in Fortran. Surprisingly, I did very well. In fact, it was the only university course I took where I was exempt from the final exam.

I considered changing my major from engineering to computer science. But since computers were not very widely used back then, I decided to play it safe and stay with engineering. I was not sure what kind of future a career in computers would bring. Little did I know ....... AAARRRRGGGGGHHHHH.

[Dr. Shoe]

First Video game: Pong. First Computer Used: Tandy TRS80, then Sharp MZ80. First Computer: ZX Spectrum then Amstrad CPC64 Then Amiga 500 Then Amiga 1500 Then Pcs Fortran programming experience. First Arcade game: Space invaders then Asteroids then Starcastle (my favourite all time game)

[Waisted_Giraffe]

First computer; Acorn Electron First game; chucky egg

[jagman]

I managed to find the whole suite of Infocom games (Zork, Hitch Hikers, etc) on the web for PC and Palm OS In the pub its got to be Missile Attack. Spinning that big fat ball with your pint and a bag of cheese and onion standing on the top Ahh that machine took alot of my money