My entry for the Archdruid Gaming: Gaming Nostalgia Contest

I was in grade school in 1977 when the first Atari console was released. It was the Atari 2600 but it was not on the list of things my house hold could afford. Lucky for me Taito's Space Invaders was the first blockbuster arcade video game.

Space Invaders was released in 1978 and since it only took spare change to play, I could play the occasional game. I can not tell you what year I actually started to like playing Space Invaders but I can tell you that it was the first game to catch my attention.

Sometime in the early 80s, my mom was given a used Atari 2600 for me and my sister. It came with a few games but Space Invaders and Pac-Man are the two that stand out in my memory. We got many hours of fun out of that system and I am forever grateful to the family friend that was kind enough to give it to us.

I got married after High School and had my first child when I was twenty; I had my second child a couple of years later. My new responsibilities took me out of the gaming arena for a few years.

My Husband bought a Sega Genesis in the early 90’s and taught our oldest child how to play Sonic the Hedgehog. Console gaming turned out not to be my forte but I did enjoy watching my kids and husband play on that and other consoles over the years.

Sometime in the late 90’s I got my first computer and with that came the option to play some PC video games. The first one to grab my attention was Sim Tower. I was a stay at home mom at the time and I spent many hours building my empires while my kids were at school.

I naturally graduated to The Sims, The Sims 2 and The Sims 3; not to mention all of the Sim Cities over the coming years. My children and responsibilities always came first but when I had ‘me time’ they knew where to find me.

The Sims online community introduced me to a community of women who also played The Sims. It was so nice to have common ground with other women my age and we had fun sharing our gaming experiences on a forum.

It was these ladies who introduced me to Minecraft and I love them for it. I do still play and own The Sims 4 but Minecraft opened a whole new world to me. Minecraft lead me to YouTube and Twitch.

The communities on YouTube and Twitch have lead me to play games like 7 Days to Die, Killing Floor 1 & 2, GMod, Banished, Oxygen Not Included, Ark and a few more.

And there you have my nostalgic trip through memory lane. It has been a fantastic journey.