I have the Atari system I fondly remember set up in the kitchen of my Dad’s house.  It is all packed up in a box in my closet.  I have not yet found the adapter that will make it work with my new flat-screen TV.

Why was it in the kitchen that seemed barley 8′ by 8′ from wall to wall?  Why was the TV it was connected to on top of the fridge? Us kids would stand in the middle of the room with the controllers (the few moments a day when it wasn’t being used for food preparation) looking up at the screen.  The ridiculousness of this set up makes me question my memory, but there you have it.

I do remember that I, being very young and destined to take very little interest in video games at all, had games that were mine and mine alone.  My favorite was Strawberry Shortcake.  It was reminiscent of those fashion plates where you changed the head, torso, and legs of a character to make something new.  I don’t think there was much else to the game.  Should I figure out how to play it again, I don’t have to wait to get my Atari hooked up again.  I can play on any computer nearby, because the The Console Living Room at the Internet Archive has made streaming versions of all those old Atari games (and more).