Atari Olympics - anyone else do this as a kid?

Kodos · 08-03-2010, 02:34 PM

The chess tournament thread reminded of when we used to have little multi-game "Olympic" competitions to see who could win the most titles across different games. We'd do Combat, Asteroids, Football, etc., assigning different points for the gold, silver, and bronze finishes in each game, and then tally points to determine an overall winner. Great fun.

FOFC could do something similar with Chess, Scrabble, Stratego (is that available online?), etc. It'd be pretty cool.

DataKing · 08-03-2010, 02:37 PM

When I was a kid our neighbors had an Atari 5200 (which was a big deal at the time), and they had a number of kids living there at any given time (foster-children as well as conventional). On top of the television sat a notebook that kept the top-10 all-time scores for each of the games they had. At first it was easy to get into the book, but it became a bigger and bigger deal as time went on. Good times.

Kodos · 08-03-2010, 02:38 PM

The Riveton car races down our driveway were fun too. As were the golf ball races to the bottom of the pool. Titleists were always a good option. I can't remember the brand name for the fastest-sinking balls anymore. Was "Tourney" a brand?

Fidatelo · 08-03-2010, 02:58 PM

My brother and I used to play best-of-7 series' for the Stanley Cup in NHL (starting with '92). We would write up a recap of every series in a notebook, and keep stats for every player. We played hundreds of these series over the years from '92 to somewhere in around '98. I think at some point we transcribed the notebook onto our old Apple Mac Classic but I have no idea what ever became of the stuff after that (my brother might still have the notebook (or books, not sure if we needed more than one). Would be super fun to re-read some of that stuff.

spleen1015 · 08-03-2010, 03:09 PM

Do you guys remember those little plastic football helmets you could get out of gumball machines? I managed to get all of the out of the machine when I was in elementary school. I used to have tournaments with them. I would roll them like dice and which ever one landed upright got a point. First team to 3 points won.

Kodos · 08-03-2010, 03:25 PM

Yep, I remember those. Had quite a few myself, although I never had tourneys with them.

jeff061 · 08-03-2010, 03:27 PM

I remember winning $5 in a Nintendo Kung Fu tournament. That's about it.

QuikSand · 08-03-2010, 03:33 PM

OT - Manufactured competitions (reflections on a youth without computers) - Front Office Football Central

jeff061 · 08-03-2010, 03:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by QuikSand

OT - Manufactured competitions (reflections on a youth without computers) - Front Office Football Central

I kept my own pretty detailed records on Front Page Sports. Had an Excel spreadsheet I'd keep up to date and print out to a binder on occasion. Highlights being when I could go in and update a record of some sort. That and reading the instruction book cover to cover several times is the earliest geeky sports sim behavior I can remember.

cougarfreak · 08-03-2010, 03:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kodos

The chess tournament thread reminded of when we used to have little multi-game "Olympic" competitions to see who could win the most titles across different games. We'd do Combat, Asteroids, Football, etc., assigning different points for the gold, silver, and bronze finishes in each game, and then tally points to determine an overall winner. Great fun.

FOFC could do something similar with Chess, Scrabble, Stratego (is that available online?), etc. It'd be pretty cool.

I'd be all over stratego.

Suburban Rhythm · 08-03-2010, 07:28 PM

First stats geek moment I can remember:

In the mid 80's, our grandparents bought us our first PC-- a Tandy, with 2, count 'em 2, 5.25" floppy drives, complete with dot matrix printer!! I would have been around 10-11 at this point.

I found this game at Electronics Boutique (remember that place) that had 4 sports games. 1 was a golf game, blanking on the other 2, and the last a "strategic football" game.

The game allowed you to choose from 9 selections on offense.
1) Plunge 2) Off Tackle 3) Sweep
4) Short Pass 5) Medium Pass 6) Long Pass
7) FG 8) Punt 9) Kneel down

On defense, pretty much the same, you choosing the defense to defend the same plays above.

The options were to play vs. the computer, vs. a friend, or computer vs. computer.

Next to the PC was a notebook of fictional teams I created (FOF premonition?) and I would run games computer vs computer matching up these fictional teams. I used cities that didn't have NFL teams, so I remember having a team in Hawaii, and also Hershey PA having a team.

08-03-2010, 02:37 PM	#2
DataKing Pro Rookie Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Chicago	When I was a kid our neighbors had an Atari 5200 (which was a big deal at the time), and they had a number of kids living there at any given time (foster-children as well as conventional). On top of the television sat a notebook that kept the top-10 all-time scores for each of the games they had. At first it was easy to get into the book, but it became a bigger and bigger deal as time went on. Good times. __________________ Current Games Diablo III (BattleTag: DataKing#1685) Allegiances: Chicago Bears - Detroit Red Wings - Kansas Jayhawks Awards: 2011 Golden Scribe - Other Sports Category (The Straight(away) and Narrow - A Forza Motorsport 3 Dynasty)

08-03-2010, 02:38 PM	#3
Kodos Resident Alien Join Date: Jun 2001	The Riveton car races down our driveway were fun too. As were the golf ball races to the bottom of the pool. Titleists were always a good option. I can't remember the brand name for the fastest-sinking balls anymore. Was "Tourney" a brand? __________________ Author of The Bill Gates Challenge, as well as other groundbreaking dynasties. Last edited by Kodos : 08-03-2010 at 02:39 PM.

08-03-2010, 02:58 PM	#4
Fidatelo Pro Starter Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Winnipeg, MB	My brother and I used to play best-of-7 series' for the Stanley Cup in NHL (starting with '92). We would write up a recap of every series in a notebook, and keep stats for every player. We played hundreds of these series over the years from '92 to somewhere in around '98. I think at some point we transcribed the notebook onto our old Apple Mac Classic but I have no idea what ever became of the stuff after that (my brother might still have the notebook (or books, not sure if we needed more than one). Would be super fun to re-read some of that stuff. __________________ "Breakfast? Breakfast schmekfast, look at the score for God's sake. It's only the second period and I'm winning 12-2. Breakfasts come and go, Rene, but Hartford, the Whale, they only beat Vancouver maybe once or twice in a lifetime."

08-03-2010, 03:09 PM	#5
spleen1015 Coordinator Join Date: Sep 2003	Do you guys remember those little plastic football helmets you could get out of gumball machines? I managed to get all of the out of the machine when I was in elementary school. I used to have tournaments with them. I would roll them like dice and which ever one landed upright got a point. First team to 3 points won. __________________ Why choose failure when success is an option?

08-03-2010, 03:25 PM	#6
Kodos Resident Alien Join Date: Jun 2001	Yep, I remember those. Had quite a few myself, although I never had tourneys with them. __________________ Author of The Bill Gates Challenge, as well as other groundbreaking dynasties.

08-03-2010, 03:27 PM	#7
jeff061 Grizzled Veteran Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: MA	I remember winning $5 in a Nintendo Kung Fu tournament. That's about it. __________________

08-03-2010, 03:33 PM	#8
QuikSand lolzcat Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: Annapolis, Md	OT - Manufactured competitions (reflections on a youth without computers) - Front Office Football Central

08-03-2010, 07:28 PM	#11
Suburban Rhythm Pro Starter Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Pittsburgh	First stats geek moment I can remember: In the mid 80's, our grandparents bought us our first PC-- a Tandy, with 2, count 'em 2, 5.25" floppy drives, complete with dot matrix printer!! I would have been around 10-11 at this point. I found this game at Electronics Boutique (remember that place) that had 4 sports games. 1 was a golf game, blanking on the other 2, and the last a "strategic football" game. The game allowed you to choose from 9 selections on offense. 1) Plunge 2) Off Tackle 3) Sweep 4) Short Pass 5) Medium Pass 6) Long Pass 7) FG 8) Punt 9) Kneel down On defense, pretty much the same, you choosing the defense to defend the same plays above. The options were to play vs. the computer, vs. a friend, or computer vs. computer. Next to the PC was a notebook of fictional teams I created (FOF premonition?) and I would run games computer vs computer matching up these fictional teams. I used cities that didn't have NFL teams, so I remember having a team in Hawaii, and also Hershey PA having a team. __________________ "Do you guys play fast tempos with odd time signatures?" "Yeah" "Cool!!"

Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)