Growing up in the 80’s, I could not help but be a little envious of some of my friends who had an Atari. You didn’t need to call it anything more than that (until the 400 and 800 computers were released around 1983) To be honest, I don’t remember the ‘2600’ designator even being a thing to concern ourseves aboutin the australian market, until the product was almost at end of its production run. It did take me a little while to come to realise that the 2600 I read about in American Computer Magazines of the era were referring to the same Atari VCS that we had in Australia.

And so we looked forward to weekends, or long, lazy summer holidays, staying with friends, and playing games on the Atari until a little later at night than we should. The Walnut finish on the plastic case would have matched perfectly with the cabinet of our late 70’s colour TV. If only we had one.

2022 marks the 50th Anniversary of the Atari brand, started in 1972 by Nolan Bushnell, and the release of the coin operated game Pong, or as we thought of it ‘TV-Tennis’. It was the Atari Video Computer System (as it was called on its release, rebranded as the 2600 in 1983).

Today, The LEGO Group announce the near imminent arrival of 10306 Atari 2600. Going alonside the Nintendo Entertainment system, released in 2020, this set is full of nostaligc hits for kids of the 80s.

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