Me an' my toys - Atari VCS

1979 - Atari VCS

1979 was one of the best years I’ve ever lived through - friends, family, music, school, and everything else just gelled that year in a way that hasn’t been again. Before it started, however, a new bug was planted around Christmas 1978 when a friend was talking about getting the Atari VCS (Video Computer System - before it was known as the 2600) that year. Christmas came, and I raced down to his apartment to see if he got it - he didn’t, but he did get some cool 8-track tapess that we listened to (Chic, Earth, Wind, and Fire, and Funkadelic). I was determined to get one in 1979, and again I started a new campaign, this time the focus was on my own home video game system.

There was a store near Hunter College High School called Blackner & Kooby (dig that name!) that was a stationary store primarily, but they sold toys as well. In one of their windows was displayed - the Atari VCS and the cartridge boxes in their multi-colored glory! I used to go there with a friend and I used to say I’d be getting it soon, to which he’d reply with his famous line “Yeah, right!” All through early ’79 I would read about it in the papers, go look at it in different stores, and just dream of the day when I had mine at home. I remember a guy I knew had one, and he used to tell me about this place in Queens that advertised in the Daily News that had good prices on cartridges – I used to drool over those little ads.

Friday, June 1st 1979 was when I decided to bite the bullet and buy my first cartridge, albeit with money Ma had given me to by food while she and my sister were down south. Me and a friend took a ride on the D train up to the last stop (205th street in Da Bronx), and went to a store we would frequent called Hoenig’s Parkway. We used to go there and play on the Atari for hours if we could – this time I’d be going in as a paying customer, for I was to purchase… Street Racer! I finally had my first cartridge – no VCS but a cartridge nonetheless, so now what? All I could do is read the manual over and over, look at the box again and again, and just feel the dark plastic rectangular shape in my hands.

Summer of ’79 found me down south at my aunt and uncle’s house in Atlanta, hanging out with my cousin Tim and telling him about my impending ownership. I was even able to convince my uncle Danny to take me to Service Merchandise and buy me another cartridge… Outlaw!
OK, I know this is nutty so far - two cartridges and no system to play them on? Hey, I was a forward thinking guy - this way I would have at least three cartridges by the time I got my system. When I got back from Atlanta, I asked my mom for $10 so I could put the Atari on layaway at Crazy Eddies on Fordham Road in the Bronx. She reluctantly agreed, but I was the happiest kid to throw down 10 bucks on his impending game system!

After the summer, a new school year (9th grade) was starting and again I was driving my friends nuts with my Atari talk. My ever-doubting friend kept asking me when I was gonna get my system and I told him that I would finally have it for my birthday. Almost every day I'd pass by that stationary store and dream about having that box and lining my shelves with box after box of games.

November 10th (two days before my birthday) took forever to come! What made it worse was that two friends of mine (one I met as I saw him rifling through an Atari catalog in French class!) already had theirs and would talk about their games! I fought the temptation of going over to their homes to check it out because I knew it wouldn't be much longer! I was going berzerk (no pun intended) the Friday before the 10th - I just couldn't wait!

On that Saturday, I asked my mother for the rest of the money I needed to get my system, but she had a stipulation - oh man! I had to go get my hair cut (this was back when I had a huge head of nappy hair) that morning BEFORE going up to the Bronx. I begrudgingly agreed - what could I do? Plus, if I came home with no haircut but the system, she would have taken me back to the store to return it!! I got the haircut (seemed to take hours) at 145th street, then hopped the D train up to Fordham Road) to go to Crazy Eddies.

When I actually got the box in my hands, I realized I had a dilemma - how was I gonna get this home without it getting stolen? I was heading back to the projects with one of the hotest toys out there, and the neighborhood was rife with those who would relieve me of it! I asked for a large paper bag with a handle that partially obscured the box and made my way home. I ended up taking a roundabout walking route to get to my building - the train station was 5 blocks away and you couldn't help but being seen. I breathed a sigh of relief when I got off the elevator and walked into the apartment with my Atari!

That afternoon was nothing but playing Street Racer, Outlaw, and Combat (my third free cartridge) in rotation, while listening to music in the living room. We had a Zenith 25-inch console TV that I hooked it up to, and seeing the games in glorious color was just fantastic! Getting to school Monday, all I could talk about was my Atari and all the fun I had that weekend! From late 1979 through 1983 I was buying a cart a month - Canyon Bomber, Space War, Indy 500, Circus Atari, and Dodge 'Em, to name a few.

1981 was really the best year for Atari cartridge releases. I hunted around on May 1st 1981 for a copy of Missile Command (I still play it via an emulator every once and awhile) and lucked out the next day. A brand-new Crazy Eddies was opening on 57th and 3rd, and I chanced that they would have a brand new inventory of them - and they did! I had to wait in line because they were having an opening day celebration - I got a tee shirt and my cartridge!That year also saw Warlords and Asteroids released - I had to get the Sears version of Asteroids at Sears in Paramus NJ 'cause I could not find it in Manhattan.

When ColecoVision came out (see a later Blog), I sold my original Atari console (a move I regretted later in life) because there was a module for ColecoVision that let it play all Atari cartridges (how's that for backwards compatability, and from another manufacturer to boot!), so I no longer needed my original. I also sold three cartridges with it to sweeten the deal - Outlaw, Home Run, and Combat (I would later re-buy these carts in 1998 in Atlanta from a store for $2 each), and that kind of wrapped the Atari VCS era - on to ColecoVision!