Play Anything
Growing Up As A Core Gamer in the 1980s
I often tell people that I’m about as old as you can be and still be a gaming “native.” I bought my first gaming platform at age 9. I would retire to the family room for hours at a time, and definitely heard a lot of “you’re wasting your life” from my parents.
While the dates may be slightly off, I’ve listed below my platform progression through the mid-1980s. In some cases, I didn’t own the platform directly but had constant access (for instance, my elementary school had a TRS-80 lab, and the IBM PC was owned by a close friend and neighbor).
Platform List, Year, Favorite Games:
Mattel Handheld Football (1977)
Home Pong (1977) Pong
Atari 2600 (1978) Adventure, Pitfall
TRS-80 (1979) Star Trek
Intellivision (1980) Baseball, NFL Football
Sinclair ZX-80 (1980) Not much of a gaming computer
IBM PC (1981) Zork, Deadline, Enchanter, Flight Simulator
Franklin Ace 1000 (1982) Bilestoad, Load Runner, Karateka, Ultima, One on One
IBM PS/2 (1987) Wayne Gretzky Hockey, Earl Weaver Baseball, TV Sports Football
These are the games and platforms that shaped me. My love for the Activision games on the Atari 2600 and the Infocom text adventures lead directly to my being hired at Activision in 1994.
If I had to choose a favorite, I’d be hard pressed to choose between those early IBM PC days, and the golden age of Apple 2 gaming that I enjoyed on my Franklin.
I’d love to hear from others who were gamers in the 1980s. What were some of your favorites?
