How excited I was when we went to pick up our Commodore64! A real computer, heavy as lead, to be connected to a TV, without harddisk, but with a cassette-recorder!

At the front of every button on the keyboard specials signs were listed with which you can make drawings in all kinds of colors. I must have built mountains of houses! It didn't take long before I started with basic:

10 print hello
20 goto 10

Everything you coded could be saved on the cassette and be recovered endlessly. The memories on that special slurping sound immediately return to me :)

Not long after we got our C64 a new radio programme aired on Dutch stations. When you listened, you didn't hear anything but squeaking you expect from a fax machine. However, when your recorded this, you were actually recording a game.
At least, that was the idea. The radio didn't go through cable but antenna and you would often have disturbances so wouldn't be capable of playing that game.

With a book on Basic next to me I spend tons of time trying to repair the code and finally I had my very first game. I can't remember the name of it, but looking back I'm guessing it must have been some sort of RPG. Not the easiest type of game and without a manual it didn't get any better. That's one tape that quickly got erased.

Also books appeared on store shelves with basic code for games. Just typing over a couple of pages, looking for typing errors for a day or two, and off you were. Both graphically as well as qua gameplay you don't have to expect much, but they were simple addictive games that could keep you busy for hours.

The Commodore 64 may not have been a true gaming machine, but I did have tons of fun with it. I believe this computer (or should we call it a console now?) is still somewhere in the attic but I'm afraid it will never be as much fun again as it was back in the days so let's just leave the machine up there.