I just looked this up to see what we actually had because I had no idea what it was and who made it.

I remember my parents got us 3 boys an 'Atari clone'. Turns out it was a National Semiconductor "Adversary" with genuine fake wood trim. Mom and Dad made it a group gift for the family and boy did we wear that thing out between watching football and basketball on holidays. It had color and everything.


These are not my pics, I found them trying to remember what we actually had. The TV looks like every single other TV at the time including ours.
*Edited to add: I just realized I didn't play another video game until 1997 - F-22 Lightning II

This message has been edited. Last edited by: 83v45magna,

I can’t remember if it was Combat or Pong on my friend’s Atari 2600. Next would’ve been games on an Odyssey system.

The first system my parents bought was an Atari 5200.

Definitely Atari 2600 Combat. Loved "Tank Pong" and "Biplane" on that. Also a huge fan of Adventure and thought it was hilarious that it popped up in Ready Player One.

Combat on the Atari 2600.

At my own home, atari 2600 combat.
At my buddy's home which I played first (not arcade or public), I want to say it was Intellevision w/ pong and such.

Black and white Pong.

Later moved up to the Atari 2600 and Radio Shack TRS 80

Pong.

I don’t recall but I remember it was on a cassette tape. Maybe a Commodore 64?

Pong at the neighbors house.

Pong on the small kitchen b&w t.v.

 
Pong, then moved up to Donkey Kong and River Raid.

Pong, like that posted in OP, but with round knobs attached to the console. Meaning, one of us had to play left-handed (a significant handicap). It was on a black and white tv, which was fine, since Pong was itself black and white.

We had tennis (pictured in OP), hockey, and one other mode, I think.

When the Atari 2600 came along, we thought it was the greatest thing ever created. . .

Pong at my cousins house. Space Invaders or Asteroids on our home Atari system.

For game with graphics, probably Star Raiders on Atari. We also played a lot of text adventures, such as Scott Adams Adventures and the Zork series.

Yeah, Star Raiders was fun because you had do use two controllers. Indy 500 was another game that had a game specific controller. We have the Sears 2600 and almost every 2600 game that was made.

my younger brother got an Atari for christmas

we played pong , and IIRC some type of tank battle game

The first computer game that I played was “Star Trek”, on a mainframe computer. If your spaceship (the Enterprise) was destroyed you could continue on with the less-capable “Fairy Queen”. Commands were text entered via keyboard. Can’t find a web description of “Star Trek”, but here’s a description of the generally similar “Advanced Star Trek”:

“Advanced Star Trek is a Star Trek variant written for the IBM 370/158 in PL/I. The player controls the enterprise and will encounter Klingons, Romulans and Tholians. Klingons have two different ship types, Romulans are invisible and can follow the player unnoticed. Tholians attack in groups of three and have a web-like tractor beam. Another ship, the Fairy Queen is also available in emergencies.

The player goes hunting for enemies in a galaxy made up out of 10x10 quadrants which are again divided up into 10x10 sectors. The player can also travel through time, but this can have some serious consequences.”

Atari

Pong
It had B&W racquet ball, tennis, etc.

Asteroids, Space Invaders, Atari football.

Atari 2600 Pac Man

Pong and PacMan

I was the only kid who didn't have an Atari. We later got a Commodore 64 but, my parents insisted that was for my book reports only