Background:

Back when you could still buy them new in stores, I was the owner of an Atari VCS (2600).   Technically, mine was a Sears Video Arcade, purchased from my local Sears store.   I owned many of the classic Atari games such as Asteroids, Combat, Missile Command, Space Invaders, many Activision games for Atari.   After three or four years, I bought a Commodore 64, then an IBM compatible, and the 2600 got put in a box.   During one of our moves, the Atari was given to a neighbor and I never really thought about it again.

The Hook:

My daughter had given me one of those 10 games in 1 systems as a gift.  It had some classic 2600 games and, after playing for a few minutes, I knew that I wanted to get a game system.   I don’t have the time to spend hours learning how to play today’s sophisticated games, so I looked into a ‘retro’ game system.   After a few hours of research, I settled on buying an Atari 7800.   Originally, I didn’t know much about the 7800 as it was released in 1986, after I had moved on from my 2600.    The 7800 plays most 2600 games as well as those specifically designed for it.

The Adventure Begins:

I found a long time Atari dealer that sells refurbished 7800’s and placed my order for a 7800 and a few games.   I also found a few games, very reasonably priced, at another on-line dealer and placed an order for a few more.   I figured that I would get the 7800 and 10-12 classic games and I would be all set.  Little did I know….