How My PC Gaming Started

The first pc and games I ever owned dates back to 1986. I went with my parents to pick up the Leading Edge IBM Compatible Model D. The first games that we had for it were simple forms of Tetris, Magic Johnson's Fast Break and Shinobi. The first games I ever bought with my own money for pc were Spirit of Excalibur and Rescue Rangers in 1990. Strange combination there! I played a ton of other games on different rigs at friends and cousins houses when I was little but this was the way it started for me at home. Those were the days…

How did it start for you?

Don't remember the model, but it was my dad's IBM when I was a little kid in the 80's. Playing educational games like Reader Rabbit, Stickybear Math, etc. Also the old Sierra adventure games like Kings Quest and Space Quest.

I distinctly remember that it was a REALLY big deal when a new Sierra adventure game came out. My dad would show up with it, in its giant box with a million floppy discs, and I would be entranced going through the manual and looking at the catalog that came in the box.

My parents have had computers since the 80's and my Dad played games regularly when I was very young. I honestly can't recall the names of any of the ones he played in the early 90's (I was born in 88). First PC gaming memory would have to be watching him play Ultima Underworld in I believe 1993 or 1994. First game I bought was the original Heroes of Might and Magic which was again in the early/mid 90's. My parents had an IBM running DOS when I was very young and at some point we switched to Windows. This was around 1995 but I think we had earlier versions of Windows. We were also early Internet adopters. We got a connection around 1997 or so. We used IBM's until maybe 2000 or so when we got an HP. We stuck with those until my parents got an iMac. By then I was getting gaming PC's and upgrading parts as needed. Pretty much the whole story there.

My earliest pc gaming memory is courtesy of my father with a commodore 64. I played Spy vs. Spy, Ghostbusters, Space Invaders, Zaxxon and tried playing Zork III. After that I have a bunch of 486 memories running DOS and eventually windows 3.1.

PC is where I first started playing games. Genesis was my first console.

At some point my family got a 486. Incredible Machine was awesome. A few years later, I discovered TIE Fighter at a store somewhere, or maybe even at a used book sale. And then the descent into madness began.