Reliving the past can be a powerful draw to gamers who started out on the original Atari or Nintendo games. Thus, it's no surprise that these same gamers want to play some of the old games again. For that person that remembers fondly playing asteroids or pac man late into the night.

And it is also safe to say that most of these young gamers were not far sighted enough to keep their old games in perfect condition.

No one can deny the lure of video games. It is a completely safe environment with no demands or consequences. Aside from the onscreen perils depicted there are truly no consequences. Movies or books about video games aside. Half the fun of video games or gaming are the bragging rights that come with making it to the next level of game play. There's also eye hand coordination and isolation.

Vintage video games are more than dusty relics of yesteryear, they are truly classics.

There are new versions of classic games available. I'm not talking about a wimpy CD for a computer, I'm talking about a full blown big wooden cabinet for a game console.

I had to include this, these prices bring back memories:

By now, the quirks of the old game consoles are well known, 'easter eggs' as they are called.

Back in the arcade console's glory days, from roughly from 1976 to 1983, these games were played a quarter at a time. For those lucky enough to have a home version, now at the bottom of one of grandma's closets, the quarter drudgery was skipped.

There are certainly many vintage machines to choose from. While the more popular games are available at 2000 to 50000 dollars, the less wildly popular titles are in the 500 to 2000 range.

There is no shortage of replacement parts for an ailing vintage arcade video game.

And here's a tip for restoring old equipment. Often, there would be a battery on the computer board somewhere. Well, after many years, batteries have a nasty habit of leaking. The electronics everywhere near the battery can get all funky as a result. Turn the thing off, unplug it and do some LIGHT scrubbing with a toothbrush dipped in white (clear) vinegar. Don't power it up for several hours, to allow the vinegar to dry. That's right, ordinary, from-the-grocery-store vinegar. Don't worry, the vinegar smell will disappear after it dries. Vinegar will also disolve water mineral stains on glass.
Handy stuff, vinegar.

Vintage video games are far more public to everyone than (say) vintage computers. Of the two, vintage video games are a much easier to pursue as a hobby. In general, they were far simpler machines. Arcade games had no significant storeage, certainly no hard drives or floppy drives, and did only one thing. True, it did that one thing a lot of times, but there was generally only one path to follow.

The buttons got a lot of punishment but not the circuit boards. Really, they were usually in an ideal environment. They were on most of the time, so the board did little thermal flexing as the device
went on and off. They were left on the entire day, so the cabinets where the chips were got to be very dry inside.

The CRT display was on a lot of time, but since the screen scene for an idle game changed a lot, in hopes of luring someone nearby to play, there was not a great deal of redundant display material to 'burn' into a display. Since the science of building a CRT was constantly improving, displays were consistently getting better.

Whether arcade games or home TV video games, many appear old and clunky by comparison with today's video games.

While it is true that excellent graphics are not required for a good video game, detailed, nuanced, fluid graphics sure do help. Newer video games with very good graphics allow a much more complex
immersive experience. You feel like you are in the game.

A drawback for life-like graphics has always been the human face. It is only a matter of time before movie animation innovations make their way onto a gaming console screen.

For the home video game addict, complete game 'walkthroughs' are available that document all the hidden nooks and crannys of a game. These are widely available on the internet. While some might think of these as the pursuit of a spoiled sport, others would say that they are merely helpers along a long passage.

There are so many places online to check out classic arcade games.   There are several places on this site that connect to websites, just look around.   Also a lot of places that include the computers that the games played on.

Like the tv ad above for the Atari, I like looking at the video game magazine ads also.  Really brings back the memories.   It's cool reading interviews with game authors, which again are several around the net.

So hopefully you find something on my site that will interest you concerning classic video games, come back often or leave comments if you want.

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