The games of our past

[One Tough Pressure 580]

Remember those simple games of the past? Pac Man, Tetris, Space Invaders, Asteroids. Well here they are and for free too. Call me crazy, but these are some of the best games of all time, and after all those quarters I spent as a kid, they are free now.

:bandplay: :wave: Have fun!!

http://www.neave.com/games/

[Jon 533]

Crazy nothing, regressing perhaps but then what about me, I like those games too!

So does the wife so now what does the board call us?

Come on baby let the good times roll!

Jon

[One Tough Pressure 580]

I am saving oh so many quarters! Where was this 20 years ago?

[Jon 533]

Alan years ago, back when I was in high school and we used to play pinball machines they cost a nickel a game and you could rack up more free games then ever.

Now I am not even sure if those machines give out free games.

Have given thought to buying one of those old machines if I can find the right one.

Wife would prefer a more modern day one, well not to current, she likes Space Invaders and Asteroids.

Question is how much do they cost and where to buy them?

[Mike Williamson 198]

Jon:

I've never heard of a pinball machine that wasn't electric...You say they had them back when you were in high school? :p

You could buy one, but anything THAT old just HAS to be an antique...you'd probably pay a lot for an antique THAT old....

[One Tough Pressure 580]

How much they cost depends on condition and who has it, but where to get them is a better question.

Start with the recycler, and video game vendors. Most kids today are bored with our simple games and they are not big money makers in the arcades. If you have an arcade near you that would also be a good start.

[mattia 14]

I played pac-man and centipede at a arcade this weekend, what a rush.

Games are now 50 cents, Good pinball is hard to find also.

Matt

[squirtgun 122]

I saw a plug and play system last week that has a lot of the old games on it.$19 or so at wally world.I know for sure it has the old pac man.You plug it into the audio/video jacks on your TV and play how easy is that.

[One Tough Pressure 580]

$.50 for a game, highway robbery has begun. That Wally setup sounds like a good deal, and the price is right because not to many people want to spend money on those games, with all the new technology that is out.

Arcade games have gone downhill over the years, not even Chuck E Cheese has a good selection anymore and the malls around here have taken the arcades out as it tends to attract the wrong crowd for their image.

[Jon 533]

I don't support Wally, sorry.

No I am not sorry, I wish they would disappear.

I found one place that sells them, going to see what they have and how much they charge tomorrow.

I will set a limit on the amount I would pay for one. I mean those old juke boxes go for $4000 up and would I love one but no way would I pay that kind of money. Heck it is ONLY music!

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

I used to enjoy pinball. The 7/11's here had one or two each and I would go in and play a game, get a comic book, and a slurpee with babysitting money.

I also remember slinkey, playdough, frisbee, hulahoops, that green slime stuff all mom's hated, those metal circles you used to go down a snow covered hill in, little golden books, and the little troll dolls with long hair.

Beth

[mattia 14]

I see the frisbee as the best invention of the 20 th century

I play alot in the summer and the dog likes to play to.

I left baseball after 20 years of play from bad wheels and fat, Frisbee is the only thing I can catch now with out hitting the ground on a fly.

Matt

[Celeste 341]

For those who are reminiscing about good old stuff, I got this email just the other day:

"Hey Dad," one of my kids asked the other day, "What was your favorite

fast food when you were growing up?"

"We didn't have fast food when I was growing up," I informed him. "All

the food was slow."

C'mon, seriously. Where did you eat?"

"It was a place called 'at home,'" I explained. "Grandma cooked every

day and when Grandpa got home from work, we sat down together at the

dining room table, and if I didn't like what she put on my plate I was

allowed to sit there until I did like it."

By this time, the kid was laughing so hard I was afraid he was going

to suffer serious internal damage, so I didn't tell him the part about

how I had to have permission to leave the table. But here are some other

things I would have told him about my childhood if I figured his system could have handled it:

Some parents NEVER owned their own house, wore Levis, set foot on a

golf course, traveled out of the country or had a credit card. In their

later years they had something called a revolving charge card. The card was

good only at Sears Roebuck. Or maybe it was Sears AND Roebuck. Either way, there is no Roebuck anymore. Maybe he died.

My parents never drove me to soccer practice. This was mostly because

we never had heard of soccer. I had a bicycle that weighed probably 50

pounds, and only had one speed, (slow). We didn't have a television in our

house until I was 11, but my grandparents had one before that. It was, of

course, black and white, but they bought a piece of colored plastic to cover

the screen. The top third was blue, like the sky, and the bottom third was

green, like grass. The middle third was red. It was perfect for programs

that had scenes of fire trucks riding across someone's lawn on a sunny

day. Some people had a lens taped to the front of the TV to make the

picture look larger.

I was 13 before I tasted my first pizza, it was called "pizza pie." When

I bit into it, I burned the roof of my mouth and the cheese slid off,

swung down, plastered itself against my chin and burned that, too. It's

still the best pizza I ever had.

We didn't have a car until I was 15. Before that, the only car in our

family was my grandfather's Ford. He called it a "machine."

I never had a telephone in my room. The only phone in the house was in

the living room and it was on a party line. Before you could dial, you

had to listen and make sure some people you didn't know weren't already

using the line.

Pizzas were not delivered to our home. But milk was.

All newspapers were delivered by boys and all boys delivered

newspapers. I delivered a newspaper, six days a week. It cost 7 cents a paper, of which I got to keep 2 cents. I had to get up at 4 AM every morning. On Saturday, I had to collect the 42 cents from my customers. My favorite customers were the ones who gave me 50 cents and told me to keep the change. My least favorite customers were the ones who seemed to never be home on collection day.

Movie stars kissed with their mouths shut. At least, they did in the

movies. Touching someone else's tongue with yours was called French

kissing and they didn't do that in movies. I don't know what they did

in French movies. French movies were dirty and we weren't allowed to see

them.

If you grew up in a generation before there was fast food, you may

want to share some of these memories with your children or grandchildren.

Just don't blame me if they bust a gut laughing.

Growing up isn't what it used to be, is it?>

MEMORIES from a friend:

My Dad is cleaning out my grandmother's house (she died in December)

and he brought me an old Royal Crown Cola bottle. In the bottle top was a

stopper with a bunch of holes in it. I knew immediately what it was,

but my daughter had no idea. She thought they had tried to make it a salt

shaker or something. I knew it as the bottle that sat on the end of the

ironing board to "sprinkle" clothes with because we didn't have steam irons.

Man, I am old.

How many do you remember?

Head lights dimmer switches on the floor.

Ignition switches on the dashboard.

Heaters mounted on the inside of the fire wall.

Real ice boxes.

Pant leg clips for bicycles without chain guards.

Soldering irons you heat on a gas burner.

Using hand signals for cars without turn signals.

Older Than Dirt Quiz: Count all the ones that you remember not the

ones you were told about! Ratings at the bottom.

1. Blackjack chewing gum

2. Wax Coke-shaped bottles with colored sugar water

3. Candy cigarettes

4. Soda pop machines that dispensed bottles

5. Coffee shops with tableside jukeboxes

6. Home milk delivery in glass bottles with cardboard stoppers

7. Party lines

8. Newsreels before the movie

9. P.F. Flyers

10. Butch wax

11. Telephone numbers with a word prefix (Olive-6933)

12. Peashooters

13. Howdy Doody

14. 45 RPM records

15. S&H Green Stamps

16. Hi-fi's

17. Metal ice trays with lever

18. Mimeograph paper

19. Blue flashbulb

20. Packards

21. Roller skate keys

22. Cork popguns

23. Drive-ins

24. Studebakers

25. Wash tub wringers

If you remembered 0-5 = You're still young

If you remembered 6-10 = You are getting older

If you remembered 11-15 = Don't tell your age,

If you remembered 16-25 = You're older than dirt!

I might be older than dirt but those memories are the best part of my

life.

Don't forget to pass this along!!

Especially to all your really OLD friends....

[Jon 533]

ROFLMAO,

I guess I am still a kid as I am laffin my guts off here.

How many of the 25 do I recall, 24 of them, the one I don't remember is Black Jack Chewing Gum, must have been in the East only.

As with you, there was no such thing as Fast Food, or should I say that is when Mom would slap some peanut butter and jelly between two pieces of bread and say Lunch is ready and with the Milk in a bottle it got poured into a GLASS, real glass, not plastic like today.

Frozen food, what in heck was that, bad enough to keep ice from melting let alone all the food cold inside the ice box. Want ICE water, hold the glass under the drain and let it fill up with that ICE COLD water.

We did have a private phone line, heck I can tell you today the number we had and our car license number too.

EXbrook 64671 was the phone

7M29290 was the car license plate and it was on an 49 Dodge 4 door.

Remember the starter on the floorboard next to the clutch?

chickens in the back yard, Sunday dinner was always the same thing, yup you guessed it, Chicken and I would go count them on Monday and see one was missing so knew we ate it, however we had eggs by the dozen.

Ok so I grew up on a Chicken farm my dad owned, go to your local meat store and buy a chicken it came from my dad's farm.

Ever eat a nice dinner with that smell hanging around?

Used to drink goat milk, was warm but heck it came from the goat though a sieve to my glass. If I was really good Dad would chip off a piece if ice and put it in the milk glass.

We could talk about the good old days forever, ask yourself this question, could you live today as you did then? no AC, color TV, computers, automatic trans in car and the list goes on and on?

Well could you?

Jon

[Jon 533]

I am sure Dave Olson will post and he is good for several dozen oldies but goodies too!

[Cleveland Mobile 14]

Now that you have made me feel like a really old fart......Since I can remember all of that stuff. But it does bring back some good memories.

Andy

[mattia 14]

Fifteen is what I had right. My Grandmother worked in a drug store and her top pay was 4.25 and she retired in 1985 from health problems, she raised four kids on that pay and bought two houses that were in the family for years.

T.vs. I still tell the kids how we only had one t.v. and no remote, heck I thought my name was "channel six boy" for years, I knew I was in trouble when I told my kids to turn off the t.v. and they said we dont have the remote.

I grew up with a hispanic father in a white neighbor hood and let me tell you, I knew what work was since my Father had less then what was mentioned, Saturday was not a day off, it was work day and I mean work for a eight year old boy, I remember Moving cedar blocks all day one day and that was two to your hands we were about done so I lifted one block, I thought he would have came unglued to this day, He told me that I have two hands and you use both hands, wow, how true that spoke to this day

Matt

[Jon 533]

Now Matt your not that old and I know it!

See how you have spoiled your kids!

Just think if we all turned the clock back as far as what we require our kids and/or grandkids to do today.

Teach them to take responsibility for their own room and toys etc.

Heck we had a housecleaner but she was told to just shove whatever my sister and I left around the floors in our rooms under the bed and then clean the floor.

Life sure has changed in the years gone by.

[mattia 14]

It was the drug store where I have learned all of what was mentioned, It was sold to hy-vee about 1985.

It had a soda fountain (until it had a grease fire), a post office, it sold sneakers in a bin, It was a true dime shop.

It had a candy isle about a mile long.

Matt

[RyanH 14]

How is this??? I remember 13 of them, yet I am (only) 24. Is 24 really THAT old :confused: ????

Onto the point of video games (one of my favorite pasttimes, then and now). You can now download the Nintendo NES games from the internet and play them on an emulator on your computer. I got about 600 of these games a few months back and my wife and I played Super Mario Brothers and Mike Tyson's Punch Out for about six hours before the novelty wore off. I still have one of the older Atari 2400 (I think that's the number, it was one of the first television-based systems) and some games from it. Now I get immersed in the PS2 games, which are as good as movies.

IMO, best games ever are Frogger, Asteroids, Defender, and Battle Tanks (this was my favorite). All from my atari.

My wife's a NASCAR fan, so any racing game is her favorite.

Ryan H.

[One Tough Pressure 580]

Frogger and Defender would be a great addition to the site I mentioned. I am sure it is just a matter of time.

[The Rob 14]

I remembered 17 of them! Remember the old general mechandise stores with wooden floors in them? I can remember going with my grandma on saturday morning to deliver eggs, and then going to the old store for a coke. Getting a coke or pepsi back then was a treat of a lifetime for us, since it really was a rare thing to get. Remember the old wooden ice cream makers that you had to crank the handle on. I was very happy when we got an electric ice cream makers, but you know what, the ice cream just didn't taste as good. My first video game was an Atari Pong game, remember them? Oh, Well!

Robert

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

What about those wooden paddles with the little thin piece of rubber string and the super ball stapled to it? They never lasted. What about play dough? How about silly puddy? Green slime?

Riding down the driveway on your 3 wheeler/2 wheeler/ in your red wagon? Roller skates with 4 wheels and keys?

;)

[One Tough Pressure 580]

Originally posted by Beth n Rod

What about those wooden paddles with the little thin piece of rubber string and the super ball stapled to it? They never lasted. What about play dough? How about silly puddy? Green slime?

;)

What about them? Those are still around. I don't recall skates with keys, I must have been deprived. I haven't seen a big wheel or the 4 wheel "Mean Green Machine" with laterals for controls in years though.

[mattia 14]

I feel like Archie Bunker and Edith singing, "Those were the days".

Beth, Skakes with keys. wow forgot about those. Skateboards with the wheels that were 1inch thick and 2 inches diameter, Lets see Tony Hawk do a trick with that board.

Good Thread,

Matt

[ron p 500]

blackjack gum can still be had. The flash bulb's i can remember in the ash try because if you stepped on on one it would burn your foot on x-mas morning. We went to the flash STICK'S that had 10 flash's per stick.[very modern]. The high beam switch was on the footwell up on the left. The key switch was on the dash. Credit card's were going to destroy the USA and ive seen the inside of a family BOMB SHELTER. Later to become the best makeout spot in town. I remember my fisrt bike with a BANNANA SEAT and a shifter. SCHWINN was THE BIKE. cANDY WAS GETTING NAMED BY BASEBALL PLAYER'S. If you blew out on the candy cig's the powdered sugar would get pushed out and look like smoke. Filtered cig's were for women. Beer could be bought at the bar and was poured from the tap into paper container's.

The local hub was the barber and the ice cream stand.

Newspaper's were delivered on bicycle and you had this huge set of bag's that you swung over the handle bar's.

I went to church. I had to be home 5 min after the street light's came on. My first skateboard had clay wheel's. My rollerskate's had metal wheel's. The only sled we had was a FLEXIABLE FLAYER. The drug store was also a place to get food and ice cream [that was fast food]. A SODA JERK was a proud job because you did'nt have to del. newspaper's in the rain.

I caught the tail end of the good ol day's.

Going to ringling bros and barnem and baily circus was the highlight of my year. Also the first time i was the AIR SHOW.

Idid learn to swim in a pool not a creek. lol.