# What was your first computer/video game? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [August 13, 2018, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-computer-video-game/819544 "2018-08-13T19:58:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2018, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-computer-video-game/819544/21 "2018-08-13T22:08:51Z")
I’m pretty sure I got my Atari before I got access to my first computer at school, so it would be one of the games I got with it. But I got a lot, since I got it used. The games I remember include Tank, Basketball, Word Zapper (first game I ever beat), Pacman, Donkey Kong, and a forward moving shooter whose name escapes me, but I played a lot. But my favorite in that first bunch was Journey Escape. Before that I got a Vtech Whiz Kid, which had games on it. Also, some portable LCD and LED games–my favorite was a basketball game that was just some red blips. It’s the oldest game I own, but it wasn’t originally mine so I didn’t get it first. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2018, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-computer-video-game/819544/22 "2018-08-13T22:21:31Z")
Space Jockey was the name of that side scrolling space shooter. Also loved Video Pinball. Also, Tank was actually named Combat, and I may have owned Frogger at the beginning. ---
**Author:** ![Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiendish_astronaut/32/3295_2.png) [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiendish_Astronaut)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2018, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-computer-video-game/819544/23 "2018-08-13T22:31:10Z")
Daredevil Dennis on the Acorn Electron. Came out in 1984 when I was 7, but I’m guessing we would have bought it slightly after that. I found it online recently and tried to play it. It’s a platform game with four platforms on each screen which Dennis would ride across. On each platform would be one object (like a house) that Dennis had to jump over. It was very very very basic. ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2018, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-computer-video-game/819544/24 "2018-08-13T23:30:02Z")
Pong, which I played with a friend on the TV at her house. I thought it was so cool. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2018, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-computer-video-game/819544/25 "2018-08-13T23:46:22Z")
IIRC, the first electronic item I had that played games was an Apple IIe. For the life of me, I can’t remember what the game was called\*. The other game I remember playing, a lot, was Load Runner (also on that Apple). \*I’ve been trying to think of the name of this game for quite a while. I may have asked about it here years ago, and just as I went to try and look up that thread, I remembered it, Sneakers. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2018, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-computer-video-game/819544/26 "2018-08-14T00:14:36Z")
[Lode Runner](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lode_Runner), actually. ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2018, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-computer-video-game/819544/27 "2018-08-14T00:46:51Z")
First computerized game played somewhere other than in an arcade: Pong, at home, mid-70s. First computer game played: a version of Star Trek on the timeshare mainframe Univac at work at China Lake NWC during the late 70s. First computer game bought by me to play on a computer: TRACON, a wonderful game version of the simulation software put out by Wesson International. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2018, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-computer-video-game/819544/28 "2018-08-14T01:55:31Z")
My first computer was a Commodore VIC-20, c. 1985. Don’t know what my first video game would have been. Pole Position? Maybe something on my cousin’s Atari 2600? Oh, wait, no. It was almost certainly some TV home console variant of Pong that seemed to be ubiquitous in the early 80s (and probably before, but my memories start at around 1979). ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2018, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-computer-video-game/819544/29 "2018-08-14T02:03:09Z")
Berzerk for the Atari 2600 ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2018, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-computer-video-game/819544/30 "2018-08-14T02:09:09Z")
Looking online at the pictures, it looks like the Telstar Colortron is the Pong console I played. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2018, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-computer-video-game/819544/31 "2018-08-14T03:30:12Z")
Lemonade Stand for the Apple ][ is probably the first computer game I played. ---
**Author:** ![Lancia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lancia/32/17174_2.png) [@Lancia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lancia)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2018, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-computer-video-game/819544/32 "2018-08-14T03:42:14Z")
So I had this long response about a Commodore 64 game that I played in like 2nd grade that I could only remember bits of because it’s been 30+ years. But then my phone deleted ilthe post and instead of writing it out again I decided to see if I could actually figure out what game it was. And holy shit I found it! I was _Gyruss!_ > **[Gyruss](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gyruss)** > > Gyruss (ジャイラス, Jairasu) is an arcade shoot 'em up game designed by Yoshiki Okamoto and released by Konami in 1983. Gyruss was initially licensed to Centuri in the United States for dedicated machines, before Konami released their own self-distributed conversion kits for the game. Parker Brothers released contemporary ports for home systems. An enhanced version for the Family Computer Disk System was released in 1988, which was released to the North American Nintendo Entertainment System in ear Th... I played a lot of those old C64 games: _Heart of Africa, Montezuma’s Revenge, Save New York… Heart of Africa_ was my favorite and today I love adventure games like Tomb Raider. I wish I could play HoA again. ---
**Author:** ![Sloe\_Moe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8797f3/32.png) [@Sloe\_Moe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sloe_Moe)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2018, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-computer-video-game/819544/33 "2018-08-14T04:02:01Z")
Atari Pong, and I remember there were so many connections and fiddling to do it was hardly worth the trouble. Stick to pinball and foosball, I thought. ---
**Author:** ![Kron](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kron/32/12444_2.png) [@Kron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kron)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2018, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-computer-video-game/819544/34 "2018-08-14T06:52:14Z")
Night Stalker, on the Mattel Aquarius. But my favorite at the time was easily Utopia on the same system. ---
**Author:** ![Staggerlee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/staggerlee/32/3134_2.png) [@Staggerlee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Staggerlee)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2018, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-computer-video-game/819544/35 "2018-08-14T12:52:56Z")
The first (beyond Pong and it’s variants) that I remember playing is ‘Shamus’ in the early 80s. Or rather, my dad played it, as it was far too hard for me as a young child. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2018, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-computer-video-game/819544/36 "2018-08-14T12:55:37Z")
Pong, in the college game room, ca. 1974-75. ---
**Author:** ![BlueInfinity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9e8a1a/32.png) [@BlueInfinity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlueInfinity)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2018, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-computer-video-game/819544/37 "2018-08-14T12:57:25Z")
Putting aside the educational Apple IIe games at school, the first computer game that I can remember playing is _[Disney’s Matterhorn Screamer](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iwfn4AXhAhY)_. That was way, way back there! ---
**Author:** ![Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a183cd/32.png) [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barkis_is_Willin)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2018, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-computer-video-game/819544/38 "2018-08-14T13:13:28Z")
The first one I remember playing is The Oregon Trail in kindergarten. ---
**Author:** ![Edward\_The\_Head](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ce73a5/32.png) [@Edward\_The\_Head](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Edward_The_Head)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2018, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-computer-video-game/819544/39 "2018-08-14T13:31:19Z")
I think it was the original Kings Quest. But we also go Montezuma’s Revenge around the same time. I should find an emulator and play those games again. I’d need a joystick for Montezuma. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2018, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-computer-video-game/819544/40 "2018-08-14T13:47:57Z")
Now that people mentioned it, I do have a memory of playing Pong in my basement. I think my parents had friends over and they brought it to hook up to the downstairs television to keep us kids amused while they were drinking and telling bawdy limericks upstairs. I remember thinking it was pretty neat which means it had to be before we owned a video game system since I doubt I’d have been impressed with it after playing an Atari-era home gaming system. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-computer-video-game/819544.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-computer-video-game/819544.md?page=3)