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2 Warps to Neptune’s Atari 7800 Relay: Play an Old School Classic!

Published November 26, 2012 Atari 5 Comments

Here’s the deal. About a year ago I bought an Atari 7800 on eBay. I played it. It was awesome. Now it has to go.

Instead of selling it, I want to give some other nerds a chance to play it. First up is Lefty Limbo. He already has the package, in fact, and confirms that it’s in fine fighting form.

If you want a crack at this thing too, here are the Relay Eligibility Requirements:

You must live in the Continental U.S.
You must provide your full name and mailing address.
When it’s time to ‘relay’ the Atari, you must agree to (a) pack the system, games, and accessories very securely, and (b) pay postage. (You do not have to pay postage until it’s your turn to relay the Atari.)
You must maintain a public forum of some sort (blog, website, etc.) at which you’re willing to share your experience in the relay. After all, it’s something of a social experiment as well as a chance to play some of the greatest games ever designed. (If you don’t have a blog, etc., we probably can arrange something in the way of a guest post.)
Don’t be a jerk. We’re on the honor system here, and if I’m willing to share this Atari, you should be willing to (a) treat it with respect, (b) not jack it, and (c) be extremely cool with all the other relay participants. Please don’t give me another reason to be cynical about the human species.
You must email me at 2warpstoneptune@gmail.com and tell me who you are and why you want a crack at a video game system that is nearly 30 years old.

That’s it. I’ll decide in what order the relay participants get the system, and we’ll all determine how long each person gets to keep it depending on how many nerds are interested.

As I said, this thing is old. It works fine now, but I understand it could crap out at any time. If it happens, it happens. I don’t expect to play it again, and there’s a chance you won’t get to play it at all.

What You Get

The Atari 7800 ProSystem was originally released in 1984, shelved when the company was sold, then re-released in 1986. The 7800 didn’t have a very large game catalog, but the cool thing is that it plays all Atari 2600 games.

Here’s a complete list of what relay participants will receive, barring breakdowns/mishaps:

Atari 7800 ProSystem with original power supply and instructions
Connector cable with HDMI adapter (very easily hooks up to your HDTV)
2 original 7800 controllers
1 Quick Shot controller
Centipede for the 7800 (loose)
Dark Chambers (Gauntlet prototype) for the 7800 with original box and instructions
Dig Dug for the 7800 (loose)
Donkey Kong Jr. for the 7800 with original box and instructions
Galaga for the 7800 (loose)
Joust for the 7800 (loose)
Ms. Pac-Man for the 7800 with original box and instructions
Pole Position II for the 7800 (loose)
Robotron: 2084 for the 7800 (loose)
Xevious for the 7800 (loose)
Burger Time for the 2600 (loose)
Tron Deadly Discs (rare) for the 2600 (loose)

Spread the word.

Boy’s Room, Circa 1982

Via Sam Howzit/Flickr. There’s an awful lot of awesome here. Let’s make a list.

1. Donkey Kong on the Atari 2600

2. Righteous Empire Strikes Back wallpaper

3. Snowspeeder and Slave I under the bookshelf

4. Lego Space on the table, and Lego Space (one box and a bowl of loose bricks) under the TV

5. I think that’s a picture of Catherine Bach (Daisy Duke) next to the Legos under the TV

5. Hand embroidered Pittsburgh Steelers pillow on the bed

Do yourself a favor and click pic to enlarge.

Atari Computer Camp Ads, 1983

Published October 23, 2012 Atari , Computer Camp , D&D , Personal Computers 3 Comments

Classic 1983 ads via Laura Moncur’s Flickr. Laura also found an article in Atari’s Antic magazine called “Computer Camp: Report from the Old West” that describes the camps in detail.

Campers paid $890 for a two-week session and $425 for each additional week, up to a total of 8 weeks. But if you stayed the whole 8 weeks you got a tuition break and paid the one time, low, low price of $2999. Don’t forget to bring your transportable cellular phone system, kids! You’ll need to call mom if you lose your Snoopy doll.

The daily schedule looked like this:

9:00-10:25 – Computer Instruction
10:30-11:10 – Drama
11:15-12:00 – Tennis
12:00-1:55 – Lunch (Rest Hour)
2:00-2:55 – Computer Workshop
3:00-3:35 – Free Swim
4:00-5:25 – Softball

7:00-8:30 – Free Time

I imagine 5:30-7:00 was dinner. “During free time… at least two of the three computer rooms are open for students either to play games or practice programming.”

My favorite part is a quote from the camp’s co-director, Marlene Applebaum:

We also had a whole group playing Dungeons and Dragons… Not on the computer, but the original game. One of the counselors really knows that game and played Dungeon-master. I think that goes along with the kind of child who comes here.

I think you’re right, Marlene.

Kids Playing Atari in Living Room, Circa 1981

Published October 17, 2012 Atari , ON-TV , Star Wars (Original Trilogy) , What Our Rooms Looked Like 5 Comments

Fascinating. The year is my best guess. Defender came out for the 2600 in 1981, and the 2600 here looks like the four-switch “woody” model, first produced in 1980. We had ON TV for a short time, a subscription service that would unscramble participating UHF channels. In September of 1982, ON TV aired Star Wars for the first time ever on national TV on a pay-per-views basis, despite very few households being wired for the service.

Big Kids Playing Atari and Smoking Cigarettes, Circa 1980

Published October 8, 2012 '70s Decor/Design/Fashion , Atari 1 Comment

Excuse me, but where is the six pack of Pabst Blue Ribbon?

And You Shall Know the Atari 400 by the Awkwardness of Its Keyboard

Published October 4, 2012 Atari , Personal Computers Leave a Comment

June 18, 1980. (Don Casper/Chicago Tribune)

“Listen up, geezers. Forget about buying this thing to help us with our homework. We don’t do homework. We’ll never do homework. Homework is totally lame. We just want to play games. Oh, and learn how to gamble.”

(Image source: Tribune Photo Archives)

Atari’s C-380 Video Pinball (1977)

Published July 6, 2012 Atari , Home Consoles , Video Games 1 Comment

Speaking of Atari, this is the first console I ever had, the C-380. My dad found it in the garage when we moved into our new house and dropped it in my lap—my eyes might have actually boggled. This is the second version of the C-380; the first had a tacky wood finish, like most everything else in the ’70s.

There were 7 games total: 6 variations on Breakout and Pinball, and 1 basketball game. (Screenshots via www.old-computers.com.)

It’s hard to believe I squeezed so much fun out of this thing. I never had a 2600, so it held me over until I scored my Atari 800. I salute you this day, Video Pinball! Gaming Gods willing, we shall meet again.

1980 J.C. Penney Christmas Catalog: Atari 800

Published July 5, 2012 Atari , Catalogs , Personal Computers 3 Comments

Oh my holy grail. This is the best gift I ever got, although it was between $200 and $300 when my dad told me, out of the blue, to grab one off the shelves—was it ’82, ’83? That was a lot of money then, and here it’s bloody $1,080! Mine came with Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, and the Basic cartridge. I didn’t have any of the peripherals, and at some point after War Games came out I started to long for a more sophisticated system: the IBM PC XT. That never happened, but I did get to borrow one from my dad’s friend, who went out of town for a weekend. I was on that thing all night, man, just sitting in the dark, my face lit up by the glare of that beautiful green text.

The 800 was my first love, though. And you never forget your first love.

(Image via WishbookWeb. Click to enlarge.)