My First Gaming System - Colecovision

I remember the Christmas morning that I got my Colecovision very well. I ran down from my bedroom to find an up wrapped Coleco system sitting under the tree. It was a bigger box than any of the other gifts so I guess rather than waste a pile of wrapping paper on it my mother just stuck a bow and gift tag on it. The tag said, "To Family - From Santa." Family my ass, that was my system.

I had heard of video games from a friend who had an Atari. Keep in mind, most people didn't have video game systems back in the early 80's. You can't blame someone for not having a clue about them back in the day. I'm not sure why the old man never picked up an Atari as it was by far the more popular system. He has never been the most "in touch" kind of guy and really had no idea what was cool or en vogue. He is also cheap. Mega cheap. I'm guessing The Bay or Woolco had Colecovision systems and games on sale and not Atari. In the end, he made the right choice. I wasn't a fan of Atari and really still can't see what the attraction was/is.

Along with the basic system that year, I received a few games. Donkey Kong was obviously a pack in with the system. I also snagged Q-Bert, Pepper II, Zaxxon, and maybe one of Miner 49er, BC'sx Quest for Tires, or Montezuma Revenge. Really not sure which one I got that first Xmas.

I played the hell out of that thing. Even Mom got into it. She loved Q-Bert. As the year went on, I managed to pick up a few more games and accessory's for that system. My brother who was living on his own by now, would come home with a new game every couple of months or so. He added 2 Action controllers to the collection as well as Baseball, Football, Evolution and my favorite Coleco game of all -- Omega Race! My birthday that year brought be Turbo and the steering wheel. The following Xmas brought be Subrok, Congo Bongo, Carnival, 2 of the 3 mystery games mentioned in the previous paragraph along with the Roller Controller with the Slither pack in.

Also interesting, I picked up an Adam computer add on system that year. I really wasn't a fan of this. It was basically a bulky add on that never got used. I took a lot of heat that year for playing games on the Coleco (God forbid!) and not using the Adam word processor. I was like 7 years old, what the hell was I going to do with a word processor?

Anyway, the great fall of the video game industry soon came and Colecovision games were going on sale at our Woolco department store for 2.99$ each. I managed to snag games like Gorf, Smurfs and Cosmic Avenger among others. Sadly, that supply soon ran out.

I had a good run with the Coleco as a kid. It was one of the best gifts I had ever received in terms of how much use it got. Like all things these days, something bigger and better came along... the NES! But that is another blog post.

Here is where my story takes an ugly turn. After holding onto the Adam, Coleco, and 30ish games, and all the expansion modules for 20 years...after paying a moving company good money to lug it halfway across Canada, my father shot my Colecovision out. Not because it didn't work, because there suddenly was "no room"for it. Two years prior, I had bough a large Rubbermade tub to store everything. It was all in one clean, neat, tidy Rubbermade tub. He still threw it away. He kept 100+ worthless LPs (Dick Nolan, Kenny Rogers, Richard Smackers etc etc.) He kept furniture from the early 80's that was shunned away from the church flee market he tried to give it to. It was the most random and insane thing I have seen a so-called sane person do. To this day, I say that moment was the start of old age really affecting his mind. To make matters more irrational, he kept the game carts. He dug through that Rubbermade tub to salvage the game carts even though there would be no system to play them on. WTF? I think my father an I had the biggest argument we ever had that night when I found out. It just didn't make sense. It wasn't mentioned again after that night, not worth holding a grudge over silly video games, but I still can't figure it out.

In an equally stupid move, I listed the game carts on Ebay the next day. I scored almost 200$ from them but that still didn't make up for the loss. I should of just waited and calmed down. I would of still had the carts and could of picked up a new system.

He also randomly gave away an Apple Classic II computer. I wasn't pissed at that, but I wish I still had that also.

So there you have it, my late night Colecovision story. Odd that I remember it all so well. My memory is amazing, even though the vast amount of Diet Coke I drink has killed a few brain cells. I still haven't managed to pick up another Colecovision and only count two games in my collection. I think it might be time to welcome it back into the family.