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Clay's
big adventure at Atari...
Long ago, in a state far, far
away...
I was about 13 years old or so when my parents decided
we'd take a trip to California for Spring Break and visit
my grandmother and relatives in the bay area (must have
been Spring of 1982-1983?). At the time my sole interests
included: Atari, video games, Atari, home computers,
Atari, electronics, and Atari. Oh, and lest I forget,
anything from/by/related to Atari.
| The highlight of that particular trek was
going "sight-seeing" in Silicon Valley
(yeah, it was my idea). We stopped at the
Visitor's Bureau and got directions to Atari
headquarters. The woman at the visitor's center
suggested we ask to be let in to the "game
room". Sounded good to me. Twenty minutes
later we were outside Atari on Borregas Avenue. I
recall a big black building with a small white
Atari logo and sign on the door. Cool.
My Dad and I went in and talked to the
receptionist/security guard. She was a bit
sceptical but after my Dad delivered an amazingly
good "we drove all the way down here
from Oregon just to see Atari" sob-story she
agreed to let us into the "Game Room".
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Hindsight being 20/20, I wish now that I had
made my Dad take a picture of everything in
there. Most every Atari game ever produced up to that
time-- in "new" condition-- and on free
play. It was there I met my first dedicated Major
Havoc, and played a strange new game called
"Fire Fox". Turns out Fire Fox wasn't
actually out yet. So there I am, in some sort of
teen-age video-nerd heaven playing this game when
a small cadre of Atari-officials came into the
room with a TV crew. (I think it was the guy that
used to head Phillip Morris) They seemed to think
that my playing the game was part of the plan (I
was wearing an Atari-polo shirt) so they just set
up the camera's and filmed me playing the game
while doing a mini-press event for the release of
this "amazing new technology". My Dad
did a good job of looking invisible in a sort-of
"not my kid, never seen him before in my
life" way...
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| Later that evening I got to watch the segment
on the news (Channel 2 in the Bay Area?)-- and
there I was-- playing a prototype video game
inside Atari. Pretty much my life was been
downhill ever since then. ;-) So these
pictures are all that I could find that recorded
that event. The big neon sign is pretty cool
though. I made a little bitmap out of it:
Feel free to use it on a webpage or something.
I'd appreciate credit for the photo, but that's
not required. (And yes, that's me in all the
pictures, so just stop laughing. I know, nice
hair...)
Hmmmm... I wonder where that sign is now...
That would look pretty cool on my wall... :-)
Ohhh, I vaguely remember going to Disney Land
too, but that was kinda anti-climactic by
comparison...
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Updated: 6/28/99
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