GenX Question of the Day 4/12/26: The First Video Game You Ever Played

I had a rich aunt and uncle who bought us this for Christmas. It was my gateway between pong and NES, we never had an Atari system till way after it was cool.

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Same here basically, I had the Odyssey2 , and my friend had an Atari but I never had one. My next console was the NES. And then it was all Nintendo from then till now, I had the NES, then my friend had a Super NES, but I never had that one, I skipped the GameCube years, then I bought a Wii and then the Wii U, and now the Switch. But I don't have a Switch2. I've never played a PlayStation or an Xbox in my life, I'm strictly a Nintendo player.

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okidude1969@reddit

Pong

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RedDoggo2013@reddit

Pong

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Ok-Commercial-924@reddit

Pong

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CA2Kiwi@reddit

Another teacher at my Dad’s school got an Atari console with Pong, and after he found himself spending wasaaaayyyy too much time playing it, brought it in for his coworkers to have turns taking it home for a few days. Bro and i were immediately obsessed.

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notanyimbecile@reddit

P

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X-Bones_21@reddit

Pong.

The originals never die!

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StevieNickedMyself@reddit

Super Mario on the original NES.

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CarlatheDestructor@reddit

Pacman

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theoriginalb@reddit

Pong

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justmyusername2820@reddit

Came to say this

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canuckEnoch@reddit

Some Telstar knockoff that had internally programmed games rather than cartridges. Tennis, hockey and something else—all remarkably similar to each other.

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Sometimesunaware@reddit

Tank battle on the Combat Cartridge that came with the system.

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GooseySill@reddit

On an Atari 2600...most likely Combat. Really like it and Yars Revenge. But, I actually didn't have an Atari. My cousins had one. My family were the oddballs with the Magnavox Odyssey 2. Yay. K.C. Munchkin instead of Pac-Man. Ha ha!

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MuchGrape1428@reddit

Pong

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PeanutTimely6846@reddit

Pong or some analogous game on Colecovision.

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brandrikr@reddit

Asteroids. And I still hate that damn game to this day.

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Oily_Bee@reddit

Pong on some home system at a friends house. It had four games on the system.

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belligerent_tortoise@reddit

Asteroids on Atari 2600

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CrankyUrbanHermit@reddit

Pong.

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wasabinski@reddit

Breakout on Atari 2600!

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platypusandpibble@reddit

Pong, of course. Then Frogger on the Atari (can’t remember the model).

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brew1066@reddit

Pong was my first as well

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IncommunicadoVan@reddit

Pong

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Visible-Vermicelli-2@reddit

A Lunar Landing game. But it wasn't a consumer product. I went to visit my dad (electrical engineer) at his work in late 60's. Their in-house developers had created the game and I got to play it.

Cool story, bro.

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Relevant_Fuel_9905@reddit

Maybe Pong? Or some old Pc games you’d load off a cassette tape. I feel like I’ve played videogames since they were invented 🤣

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RemyJe@reddit

Which Atari?

My first video game was an Atari Pong console.

My first cabinet video game was Atari’s Asteroids.

I think my first game on an Atari 2600 was Pac-Man.

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Samwhys_gamgee@reddit

On Atari: Missle Comand. Any: Pong

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Little-Jelly-8789@reddit

Pong

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Ok-Till-5285@reddit

Pong of course

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TheJQN@reddit

Arkanoid

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NeverEverMaybe0_0@reddit

Pong.

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Routine_Guitar_5519@reddit

Pong. Pitfall.

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AngelHeart-@reddit

Pong

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CyberJaxWabbit-1312@reddit

i remember playing Zaxxon on a floor-model ColecoVision game system at Sears when i was 9 years old. at the time i had Pong at home, and this other portable game system called Vectrex. i loved the Vectrex cuz i could take it with me to a relative's and keep myself occupied all afternoon.

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TotalRecognition2191@reddit

Pong

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TheBohemian1@reddit

Pong, standing up with paddle controllers, on a black and white TV.

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Impressive-Safety191@reddit

Ditto

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SteelBox5@reddit

Combat?

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ms_directed@reddit

is that the one with the tanks?

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SteelBox5@reddit

And planes and stuff.

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ms_directed@reddit

that was my first too then, it cane with the system

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Significant_Tough490@reddit

Pong

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ChiliSama@reddit

Oregon Trail, Pong, Combat

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melissafromtherivah@reddit

Pong

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Dry_Chain_1083@reddit

Pitfall and Super Breakout!

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KimBrrr1975@reddit

Zork and Fort Apocalypse on our Commodore 64.
Atari, the burger one. BurgerTime? A friend had Atari and I stayed with them for a week in the summer.

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jcb989123@reddit

Atari was Combat Intellivision was Utopia great game (friend's house) Apple IIE was Wizardry then Choplifter both great

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jrtski@reddit

Pong

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EducationalOutcome26@reddit

pong, tabletop version in a hotel in nashville, 1975-ish would guess

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ray76502@reddit

Atari 2600 Combat

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LanceJade@reddit

Pong. And I was enchanted by it. 🏓

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CuriousSpartan3@reddit

Pong

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LoreKeeper2001@reddit

Pong.

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Fitnesswaffles54@reddit

Pong

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OGAF_Gamer@reddit

Pong

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MysticKei@reddit

Pac-Man at Dairy Queen, it was like an in restaurant child sitter

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Reddisuspendmeagain@reddit

Pong

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Almofo@reddit

PAC man.
Asteroids.

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MissDisplaced@reddit

Pong

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ColdObiWan@reddit

Either Frogger or Pitfall on my cousin’s Atari.

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KelsoReaping@reddit

Frogger

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Weak_Ad6116@reddit

Same!

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Haunting-Ad-8029@reddit

We didn't have an Atari. But we had the pong game that hooked directly into the tv.

Several friends had Atari, and I was able to play plenty of games there. My family eventually got a Commodore 64, and we had some games for that.

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m149@reddit

Pong, and on Atari, it was Space Invaders

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Sheriff_Mills@reddit

OMG! Same! Did you ever try to get the paddles in the right place so the dot would go back and forth on its own?

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cre8majik@reddit

D&D on an Intelivision

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stuck_behind_a_truck@reddit

Pong for sure

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Twizt1Up@reddit

Yup. Pong. The OG Bell Labs game

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bemenaker@reddit

Pong

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HR-Puffenstuff@reddit

The only answer is pong. Come on.

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CoolandCommon@reddit

Atari 2600 combat. I still have the console and all my games and it still works.

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Fearless-Trifle-6374@reddit

Pong

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SecurePhotograph1791@reddit

Pong

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SidMarcus@reddit

Lunar Lander

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997Dan@reddit

https://i.redd.it/3pexdeibbuug1.gif

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kalelopaka@reddit

Pong

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bellePunk@reddit

We had a tabletop pong game from a bar in our bedroom in 1977 or 78. That was the first video game me and my brother played. I don't know how my dad got it, and I never asked.

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Inner_Speaker_335@reddit

The first game I played on the Atari 2600 was Pac-Man. (In fact, that's the only reason we GOT the 2600 in the first place--Mom wanted Pac-Man, and essentially strong-armed Dad into getting it for us for Christmas one year. (Pac-Man wasn't the only game we had--we had MASH, Starmaster, Space Invaders, and a couple of others--but that was the first game we opened and yes, Mom got the first turn.)

The first video game I ever played was a Lunar Lander simulation on a Commodore PET computer. It was similar in concept to the Lunar Lander video game--you used the left and right arrow keys to rotate rotate left and right, and the number keys to "throttle" your main engine. Your job was to land on certain targets to score points and get more fuel for more landings. If you ran out of fuel...well, gravity took over. If you landed too hard, a soft funeral dirge came out.

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esp735@reddit

The first arcade game I ever saw was Battlezone. They had one in the airport lounge.

1st console was the classic 2600 and the Combat cartridge.

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bluntpointsharpie@reddit

First game I played on Atari was Space Invaders. The first Computer game I played was either Lunar Command or Oregon trail in 1977. The first video Game I remember playing was a race car game at Shakey's Pizza. My favorite video game around that time was Asteroids at the mini mart.

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IDunnoReallyIDont@reddit

I think it was Number Crunchers or Pong! Probably Pong.

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AdditionalTip865@reddit

The first one I ever played was a standalone pong console called the Unisonic Olympian 2600, one of the last of those to come out. It had a collection of Pong-like games, color video output, and little chrome analog sticks instead of paddle dials, and you could move the paddles in two dimensions (this didn't add much to most of the games, but the box played it up).

We played it for about a week, and then it broke and we returned it to the store. Atari's console was already a thing and I coveted it. For Christmas 1980, we got one. The first game I played on it was probably Combat.

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Any_Doughnut4712@reddit

Pong...

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PrymTym66@reddit

☝️

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HavBoWilTrvl@reddit

On PC it was Oregon Trail but on console it was Pong.

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Arghtastic@reddit

Zork

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SecretMiddle1234@reddit

Pong

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Slpg719@reddit

Pong tennis.

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This_Fkn_Guy_@reddit

Pong

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Araneas@reddit

Sear's ripoff of Pong

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PeterPunksNip@reddit

Space invaders 🌌

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KrispyAvocado@reddit

This. Loved this game so much. We got Atari and Space Invaders for Christmas.

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Odd_Minimum_6683@reddit

Yar's Revenge!

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Dirty_Wookie1971@reddit

Pong

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tandem_kayak@reddit

Stand alone Pong console my brother bought. Mind blowing at the time.

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2014Subaru@reddit

Pong

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travelinmatt76@reddit

It would be either Moon Patrol or Battlezone. If I went with Dad to the hardware store he would leave me up front with a handful of quarters to play Battlezone. I had to stand on an apple box to play. Or if I went with mom to the grocery store she would leave me to play Moon Patrol.

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Purist1975@reddit

Pong, asteroids and combat are the ones that spring to mind.

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yayayagilliganhell@reddit

Pong at a friend's house. Astroids at the arcade.

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Glad-Pen5593@reddit

I was in middle school in Norway and my dad bought a Pong game for the house for some reason. That was the first. My fave was PacMan.

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Adventurous_Class_90@reddit

I want to say it was Ladybug

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bankrobberdub@reddit

Pong then Space Invaders with Atari!

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LordIommi68@reddit

Telestar Tenis/Hockey/Handball

after that Space Invaders arcade game

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ConsequenceNational4@reddit

Pong..Atari 2600 ..still have my games and system.

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KellyAnn3106@reddit

We never had an Atari but we had games for our Commodore 64. The first one I remember was called Kickman where you moved a character on a unicycle back and forth across the screen to catch balloons falling from the sky.

We eventually got a Nintendo and had the package that came with Super Mario Bros. and Duck Hunt (with the gray gun, not the orange one.)

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Trandoshan-Tickler@reddit

I'm pretty sure it was Space Race. There was a arcade machine in one of the stores of the campgrounds in Southern California, near where they filmed Black Sheep Squadron. The rest of the games were pinball machines. This was before I heard of PONG, Asteroids, and Space Invaders (I think, memory may be getting a bit hazy).

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ArcadiaKing@reddit

Pong. My folks got it at a garage sale. The first game I played obsessively was Frogger on the 2600.

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IntrovertIdentity@reddit

My family got the 2600 the Christmas it came out. I’m pretty sure my first game was Combat.

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jt2ou@reddit

First Atari game was Adventure. First video game was Pong.

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IAmDaBadMan@reddit

Pong on a Radioshack TV Scoreboard.

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Raynee_Haze@reddit

Wizards of Wor- Commodore 64

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CayseyBee@reddit

Omg I remember this game!

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CayseyBee@reddit

I think probably Duck Hunt

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MNSoaring@reddit

Zork

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Mouse-Direct@reddit

Pong at a friend’s house, then we got an Atari that Christmas. Frogger and Journey Escape were my jam.

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vitamin_sea1@reddit

Pong

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Overall_Negotiation7@reddit

Pong first at the neighbors house and then was gifted an Atari 2600 for Christmas and played the included tank game!

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PepsiOfWrath@reddit

Ping on my Coleco

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SnooDonuts8496@reddit

Pong or frogger…still got my original Atari 2600

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East_Membership606@reddit

Pong

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nwostar@reddit

Pong.

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booleanerror@reddit

Night Driver in an arcade in 1977. A game matching the graphics prowess of the time. Just a series of rectangular blocks to denote the "road".

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Proud-Style2961@reddit

PacMan

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Antique-Show-4459@reddit

Pong at the TwoGuys store!

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Stigger32@reddit

Samatha Fox Strip Poker - 1987.

Although I think school had an early Dos machine. And there was a worm….

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deadmonkeyboy87@reddit

Pong

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ptindaho@reddit

I think Pac-Man in the arcade and atari football/qbert were favorites at home. Super pitfall was a little later and fun, but I was mostly on my NES by then.

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PapaRich_1@reddit

Pong

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RandomObserver13@reddit

On Atari, no. Probably Pac-Man or maybe Pong, but not sure. Pac-Man on the one we got for Xmas for sue but had played on a friend’s before that.

First ”video game” I remember like yesterday. 2nd grade, \~1980, I was in the G&T group. Somebody had come in from somewhere (don’t remember that part) and had an IBM PC and it had the Tower of Hanoi (I had to look that up) game on it. First contact with a real computer. Seems silly now I suppose, but the wow factor was through the roof for me. Before I was out of elementary school I had taken summer computer classes at the local CC and done programming on a mainframe.

Just wish I’d been able to actually make it pay off…

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Mr_Writes@reddit

Pong. We were visiting my cousins in California in the 70s, and they had a huge console hooked up to their TV. I think Pong was all it could play.

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Ahkhira@reddit

I honestly don't remember.

I know that it's was on a Commodore 64 though.

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Pristine_Poetry1340@reddit

Donkey Kong at my local pizza place

first game on Atari was Pac Man

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vandervee@reddit

Pong

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tanukis_parachute@reddit

pong. i remember my dad and mom picking it up from the back area of sears. Layaway? special order? don't know what it was called. I wasn't allowed to peak at the box or bag. they took it home and it appeared on christmas morning. learned about channel 3 that day!

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Zapper13263952@reddit

Pong.

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0_IceQueen_0@reddit

Atari Asteroids then Combat!

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Late_Homework_2705@reddit

Oh actually, now that I see your post, my first game might’ve been Asteroids and not space invaders. I used to keep my asteroids score in my diary. 🤓

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0_IceQueen_0@reddit

I played Space Invaders at the arcade. My parents eventually bought one to keep us home. 😁

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OkConsideration8964@reddit

Space Invaders on Atari.

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lumberjackname@reddit

Astrosmash on Intellivision.

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Late_Homework_2705@reddit

Space invaders on Atari

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Exciting_Pass_6344@reddit

Pretty sure this was mine too. Or possibly Missile Command

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Late_Homework_2705@reddit

Yeah, on second thought it might actually have been asteroids but either way I wish I could play today lol walk in the park

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sqrt_of_pi@reddit

Pong!

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Hey-buuuddy@reddit

Smurfs on Colecovision.

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Princessferfs@reddit

Pong

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brianmenn@reddit

Pong

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Hifi-Cat@reddit

Pong.

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NaitiveTexan1270@reddit

Pong.

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Seven_bushes@reddit

Pong. Had to go to the bowling alley to play it.

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Dogzillas_Mom@reddit

Pong, at a slumber party.

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old_motters@reddit

Jet set willy

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asoupo77@reddit

Kaboom!

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TooDogMom@reddit

Space Invaders

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Equivalent-Speed-631@reddit

Pong

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_frank_tank@reddit

Pong

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gcawad@reddit

Space Invaders

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Acceptable_Stop2361@reddit

Pong First arcade game was probably Asteroids

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FrustratedPassenger@reddit

Pong

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mhiaa173@reddit

The first one I ever played was a knock-off version of Pong that I got for Christmas--so cool!

My first Atari experience was as the house of friends of my parents. They had a tabletop Space Invaders--I got to see how the other half lived.

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Woodstock815@reddit

pong!

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rmhoman@reddit

Donkey Kong in Godfathers Pizza. On a console at friend's house Pitfall. I hated that game lol

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mickthomas68@reddit

Definitely Pong. Anyone remember Apple Panic?

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Admirable-Currency89@reddit

Combat was my first on Atari

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Grafakos@reddit

Same, because Combat came with the console, and Space Invaders was sold out when my parents made the purchase.

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Admirable-Currency89@reddit

Yup. Space Invaders was elusive at first, like that shit version of PacMan later LOLOLOL. I also have a bone to pick with Asteroids. Why did they need to color them?

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Grafakos@reddit

Yep, both of those adaptations were disappointing as hell.

Adventure was pretty cool though (iirc, we got that on the same day as the console). Getting eaten by one of the bastard dragons, then the asshole bat comes along and picks up the dragon (with me in its stomach) and flies randomly around the map... that's some fairly clever shit given the constraints the programmers had to work under. It even had an easter egg "secret room" with developer credits.

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Admirable-Currency89@reddit

Yes, Adventure was not bad. Superman wasn't terrible. We played a helluva lot of Pitfall and anything that was 1v1 that ended with me and my brothers throwing fists.

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Winter-eyed@reddit

Pretty sure it was pong

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CatRiot2020@reddit

Ping. Quickly followed by a game my dad programmed on our old TI system (he was a programmer). It was basically a keyboard that used a tv as a monitor and a cassette deck to store memory.

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Pattycakes1966@reddit

I think it was Pong.

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Mushy-sweetroll@reddit

First I ever played was Pong. I also played some language based computer games in the early ‘80s. Still playing video games. My current fave is Stardew Valley.

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No-Perspective872@reddit

Pong, but it was a neighbors. I didn’t own it.

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elgrandefrijole@reddit

First ever was Pong, but I didn’t play much, thought it was boring. Now, the first game I was obsessed with? Frogger for the pc.

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Mindless-Baker-7757@reddit

Must have been pong.

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Foamfollower_65@reddit

Pong on the Magavoox Odyssey 3000.

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Express_Towel47@reddit

Super Breakout!!!!

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Mistervimes65@reddit

Pong

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zcubed@reddit

Same for me. Dad brought home an Atari 2600 and I was hooked! Asteroids and joust next.

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Admirable-Currency89@reddit

Ohhhh....Joust. I love you Joust.

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Mistervimes65@reddit

This was just Pong. No other games. Just pong hooked up to a tv in the guest bedroom.

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boybrian@reddit

Yep same. It was just Pong.

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Mistervimes65@reddit

Sorry. Misunderstood. This was in the early 80s. My next console was a Sega Genesis I bought in 1992 (age 27).

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hippiechick725@reddit

Pong

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666ForMySorrow@reddit

Yup.

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arkham1010@reddit

Asteroids on a 2600 in J.C.Penny. They had a booth where people could play games and all the kids would hang out there for hours playing games.

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LadyNorbert@reddit

First game ever was Pong. My grandparents had the console that was Pong and only Pong. I was four.

First Atari game was Pac-Man, as far as I can remember.

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JJQuantum@reddit

Space Invaders.

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Princess_Jade1974@reddit

On the Atari? Idk what it was called but it was a cat and dog version of Packman

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LuckyAd2714@reddit

Pong

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Chibi-Skyler@reddit

Pac-Man, Atari 2600, at a neighbor's house.

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MattDinOC@reddit

Pac Man on the 2600 cracked me up as a kid because of the way it looked like he was riding an elevator up and down since they didn’t draw vertical orientations for the dude.

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samebatchannel@reddit

Breakout/pong

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CJK_Murph@reddit

Pong. But my absolute favorite was QIX

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beccabebe@reddit

Pong

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Agent7619@reddit

Pong

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dogownedhoomun@reddit

Same

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Pleasant_Block5539@reddit

Pong with my younger brother when he got the Atari system for Christmas.

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blkwidow76@reddit

I was little but I remember playing E.T

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Serious-Mongoose-387@reddit

the earliest i can remember is Gorf on the commodore vic-20

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Apprehensive-Call568@reddit

Pong

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JoshuaAncaster@reddit

Pong, then Space Invaders

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DPax_23@reddit

Combat.

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Back_Alley420@reddit

No wait, frogger

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Back_Alley420@reddit

Doom

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Anonymo123@reddit

probably joust or missile command? we didnt have one, a family we knew did and we would play on it and watch HBO when we went over.

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1plus1equalsfun@reddit

On the Atari 2600? Combat, since that's the game which came bundled with the console.

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aretmis_Smoke2144@reddit

Adventure on the Atari

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Komaisnotsalty@reddit

First video game I ever played was Tank Wars. We got it in 1977.

The first Atari game would have likely been Adventure in 1980. My cousins had an Atari and I remember playing that game at their house when we visited.

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Randeth@reddit

Probably Pong. We had an early console called a Coleco Telstar Arcade that had triangular cartridges and a 3 sided design. Had pong paddles on one side, light gun on one, and steering wheel on the third. It was fantastic. 🙂

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Majestic_Neck6624@reddit

Hungry Horace. ZX spectrum

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johnntcatsmom@reddit

Pong

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DevolvingSpud@reddit

Combat!

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gurl_incognito79@reddit

Bubble bobble!

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GenerAsianX1992@reddit

Atari - Asteroids

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MalkyC72@reddit

Atari 2600 - Joust.

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kam49ers4ever@reddit

Pong, but at the neighbors.

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Teacherforlife21@reddit

Home system: Atari Combat; Arcade: Space Invaders

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TheeTwang77@reddit

The Pong console (which was an Atari product) but in terms of the Atari 2600... We didn't have one, Dad got us Intellivision instead. Remember when George Plimpton was the face of a video game console?

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Madrona88@reddit

Pong.

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Relative_Ad9477@reddit

Yep! On Atari!

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ElJefe0218@reddit

At home, Pong. In an arcade, Asteroids.

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Beginning_Key2167@reddit

Asteroids as far as I can recall?

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NoIamthatotherguy@reddit

Space Invaders and Missile Command on the Atari 2600, Christmas morning

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Lobster70@reddit

Combat. I think it came in the box with the 2600.

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Melodic_Caramel1777@reddit

First video game ever played - pong

First Atari video game ever played - combat

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wrenchedups@reddit

Pong

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No_Builder7010@reddit

Duh, Pong.

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Soledaddy873@reddit

Pong

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Kamimitsu@reddit

Sears Tele-games Pong Sports IV, then Hunt the Wumpus on TI-99, then Atari (but we didn't have one, so we played the neighbors) probably Pac-Man or Pitfall.

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