Atari Turned 40 Today!

Atari is now officially over the hill.  It seems hard to believe but Atari is 40 years old today.  It's amazing how far technology has come in 40 years.  In honor of their 40th birthday, the Atari's Greatest Hits app is free for iPhone today (6/27) only.  Here's my list of my 5 favorite Atari games that I played when I was a kid.

Ok...first and foremost, to kids that have never played Atari, these games will probably seem VERY boring to you.  But you have to remember that when we were kids, this was the height of technology.  We didn't have the incredible graphics in games like you did.  We kind of had to use our imaginations a bit.  But it still kept us busy for hours on end.

1.  Combat

A classic game of strategy.  You would shoot at your opponent and still try to find a way to keep yourself protected by hiding behind bunkers.

2.  Space Invaders

Another game of strategy.  You have to protect earth from an alien invasion.  All that you have are a couple of safe places to hide.  But once you or the aliens have destroyed them, it's you vs. them.  If they get to earth before you kill them, your game is over. 

3. Kaboom

You start out with three buckets of water and your job is to catch the bombs before they hit the ground.  If one happens to hit before you catch it, you lose a bucket.  If you run out of buckets, your game is over.

4.  Pac-Man

How could you have a list without this game on it?  I mean, pacman was as much the face for Atari as Mario is for Nintendo.

5.  Breakout

This was kind of like a 1 player version of Pong.  It was Pong for people who didn't have friends (or for people who hated playing games with their little brother).  It looks boring but it was ridiculously addicting.