November 22nd, 2010 by Benj Edwards
“And you say this is some sort of football simulator?”
[ From Apple Logo II Reference Manual, circa 1984, cover ]
Discussion Topic of the Week: Does your family play video or computer games around the holidays as part of a tradition? Please discuss.
Tags: 1984, Apple, Apple II, family, Logo, manual, Retro Scan, Thanksgiving
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“And you say this is some sort of football simulator?”
November 23rd, 2010 at 12:50 am
This is, once again, a bit off-center of your question, but my family has made an unofficial tradition of watching movies while otherwise preoccupied with our individual laptops. I don’t know if that renders us dysfunctional or functional; while it’s an ostensibly pathetic display of geekdom, we are all doing something together and enjoying the time involved.
November 23rd, 2010 at 11:55 am
For the last few years, while visiting my parents, my brother and I usually end up setting up an NES in the den and tag-teaming the Mega Man series. We have 1 through 6, and it usually takes a couple of days. Not only does it kill time between shopping sprees and family dinners, it relieves a lot of stress after said shopping sprees and family dinners. It gives us something to take out our agression on instead of focusing on each other. 😉
Occasionally, we’ll change up to some Double Dragon, Super Mario Bros. 3 or even Super Mario World on the SNES, but we usually just end up playing through the Mega Man games.
November 23rd, 2010 at 2:03 pm
Ah, times that were… I remember fondly sitting in front of the TV, next to the Christmas tree, playing whatever new 2600 game or games were in the offing that year. The one that stands out most vividly is Raiders of the Lost Ark, which was such a great puzzle to figure out, and so dynamic with its many screens and different challenges.
Even now in these enlightened times, if there’s a video game under the tree for somebody, we will all play it together at some point on Christmas Day.
November 23rd, 2010 at 4:47 pm
My dad was (and maybe still is) addicted to the game JezzBall. It was like Prozac, whenever he got stressed about work he would play JezzBall in the evenings to relax.
One Thanksgiving my dad was way overstressed and was taking it out on the family in the form of negative remarks about the food. My mother, after one to many comments, told my dad, “Damn it Stephen, why don’t you go downstairs and play with your JizzBall.”
Not knowing what she said, my mom got up from the table and went to the kitchen. Meanwhile my dad, brother and I looked at eachother and started screaming with laughter. I mean there were tears coming down our faces we were laughing so hard.
To this day my mom refuses to admit that she anything more than JezzBall.
November 26th, 2010 at 8:54 pm
Every Thanksgiving is a family reunion at my aunt’s house and for the past several years my cousins and I go down to the basement and play party video games while we wait for dinner. For two years, Mario Kart Wii has been the game of choice, and our ages range from early teens to early 30’s.
November 28th, 2010 at 10:49 am
I had a friend in high school whose C-64 was the “family” PC. and it was set up in the living/ family room. His father worked down the road from a place that rented C-64 and sold software, and would bring home games he felt the family would like, and if they liked them, they’d buy them. They reminded me of pictures like this, where the computer was a family experience.
December 2nd, 2010 at 5:23 pm
Wow, I bought that Apple 2 LOGO version. Expensive, but rad. 😀
February 8th, 2011 at 2:28 am
No. All of my growing up in my teenage years was done on computer, and my family couldn’t have been more loathe about it (and yet unwilling to otherwise spend time with me or take an interest in any of my other interests).