Atari

Dear Atari 2600,
Computer technology began in 1980 (at least for me). That was the year you arrived: a black plastic wedge trimmed in stylish wood grain. You came with a game cartridge labeled Combat that slid home with a satisfying thunk. It sounded like the future. A flip of a switch revealed a pixilated battlefield on my small black-and-white TV. Suddenly I was an 11-year-old tank commander. My new joystick squeaked as I pushed a button to fire a test round and then rolled off for an afternoon of high-tech warfare.

That afternoon never really ended. Despite the many charms of Tank Pong, Combat eventually gave way to Pitfall! I controlled a character who ran through the jungle picking up treasures and using vines to swing over crocodile-stocked pools. The game called him Harry, but I knew he was Indiana Jones. Scratch that: I was Indiana Jones.

Every game advanced my education. My bumbling career as Officer Kelly in Keystone Kapers showed me that crime sometimes does pay. My high scores in Missile Command made me an early supporter of missile defense. And I aced driver’s ed thanks to hours of fevered practice in Night Driver.

Some of my friends took up with your rival, the Intellivision. Don’t take this personally, but there was a certain surface attraction: better graphics, better graphics, and spokesman George Plimpton’s arch putdowns of your clunky graphics. But for all its slickness, the Intellivision didn’t have Adventure.

The $25 I paid for the swords-and-sorcery game was the best investment I’ve ever made. True, my character—a lowly square—would make Plimpton snort in his scotch. But what I lacked in style I made up for in substance. Speeding through castles and mazes, I picked up swords and dispatched the dragon trio of Rhindle, Yorgle, and Grundle. I even collected the dot that revealed the video game world’s first-ever secret message: “Created by Warren Robinett.” I learned to live by wit, courage, and a dash of whimsy. I grew up on adventure.

After I left for college, you wound up in a storeroom for two decades. Then a few weeks ago, my mother brought you over in a box. Feeling a little like Indiana Jones again, I opened the lid and lifted you out. I toggled your familiar switches and wondered if I could hook you up to my TV. In the end I decided to let you stay retired. I was now the grown-up I had wanted to be.

Love,
Brad 

Pitfall! adventurer Brad Cope is the executive editor of Spirit.

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Know when the Atari was created? How about its six-letter original name? Or how much the console originally sold for? The Read up on trivia about the 2600, plus other game systems by Atari, here.

It inspired modern action games like Legend of Zelda and the Ultima series and had the first hidden surprise in a video game. Learn more about Adventure—and even tour the game world—at this site.

Brad Cope mastered crocodile-filled pools as Pitfall Harry in Pitfall! Click on this fan site to take a trivia quiz, see a hall of fame of Pitfall! high scores, and read articles on the game