We Got An Atari, Ya'll!

My in-laws came through town the other night on their way from Ohio to Florida, and they arrived bearing a box of SWAG. If you aren’t aware, SWAG is an acronym for “Stuff We All Get,” which in this case is an accurate description since the majority of items in the box are fabulous and hugely appreciated hand-me-down books and toys from our niece and nephew to our kids.

There was one special item in the box, however, that my husband immediately adopted as his very own: his old Atari 2600. He’s been cunning (sneaky?) about it, too. That thing did not see the light of day until the kids’ naptime today, so he could reacquaint himself with it and adore it without tiny person intervention.



This photo only includes my husband's hand and not the full glory of all of him enjoying his new/old toy because he threatened to sue me if I post his image without his written consent, which he refused to give. Darn laws.

As I type this, my husband is in the process of playing every single game that came with the Atari, which is a pretty good handful. He’s quite entertained, though not as amused as I am listening to his running commentary. A few nuggets:  

·         No, wait, stop! How many lives do I get?

·         How did I ever make sense of this game before?

·         There’s, like, this difficulty button at the top of the box, labeled A and B. What did that do exactly? Make the controller not work very well?

·         I think I’m going to have some difficulty getting replacement parts for this.

·         I thought this would be more fun.

·         This one [controller] still has the scars of our rabbits trying to eat them. [I refuse to even ask…]

Some things get old after a while. Not this.

UPDATE: Both kids love the Atari. Noah refers to it as "Daddy's Wii," which really doesn't sound great if you don't know to what he's referring. Zoe, on the other hand, had to be taught how to use the joystick. Thanks to the Wii controller, she thought she could just swing the Atari controller around in the air to manipulate the Atari characters. I love this thing.