Okay, that isn’t entirely true.  My sister was the Qbert expert.   I was more the pitfall girl.  But, I will say that everything I needed to know I learned playing Atari.

my sister's first love. Qbert.

This morning on the way to school I asked my son what he wanted for Christmas.  He quickly told me he wants the Xbox 360, a request shared by my husband.    I firmly replied that under no circumstances would there be another gaming system in our house until he can learn how to take care of the games he has for his PS2, Nintendo DS and Wii.

I can sympathize with his desire to get a new gaming system.  I played Atari games to the point that my dad had to replace the joysticks on a monthly basis.  The red button on the joystick would stick sometimes and the controller itself would stop going right, left, up or down.  My sister and I spent many a Friday or Saturday night with the Kochert boys eating chips, popcorn and Pepsi and playing the heck out of Atari till the wee hours in the morning.

The gaming system of my dreams.

My sister and I have carried the love of gaming into adulthood from computer games (Diablo, Lord of the Rings) to Playstation (Champions: Return to Arms).

My father recently comment that he has missed watching us play these games!  Hours strategizing about how to get to the next plane, kill the biggest demon, jump over the largest pit, find the hidden key to open the hidden door , run backward while shooting arrows has kept me sane (okay, questionable) and in love with technology.  It has in part, driven my love of computers, posting blogs, reading “likes”, getting  the smartest phone and in the past even had me taking vacation days.

All-so-sophisticated Haunted House Game

I don’t mind that he plays, in fact, he’s really good.  I have hopes he’ll be able to develop this skill into some sort of career.

That said, he absolutely shouldn’t expect the Xbox under the tree—at least not this year.