I’ve been a tech-geek for a very long time. Since 1981, actually. That’s when my dad bought us the Texas Instrument TI-99/4A computer console. Before you read any further, visit this Wikipedia page and relive a bit of my childhood vicariously through the main photo. This was exactly how ours looked, with the RF modulator, the speech synthesizer box, the solid state cartridge, and the cheesy brochure with Bill Cosby on the cover.

This was a HUGE deal back in 1981, especially for our little blue-collar family. This mediocre-by-today’s-quad-core-standards little console was quite an investment. But boy did it get a workout. We had educational game cartridges that I used to play all the time. We had the Touch Typing Tutor cartridge that I tried in vain to master, not realizing that the non-standard-sized keyboard was more suitable for the Oompa Loompa Secretarial Academy than for my ever-growing bear paws.

I did, however, master the keyboard enough to learn a bit of BASIC, my first programming language. I would tap away on that little keyboard for hours, entering hundreds and hundreds of lines of code just to bring up a green screen with a box in the middle that flashed primary colors in psychedelic patterns. Sometimes I would program it to activate the speech synthesizer and make it say profound things such as “I am a TI 99 4A computer.” This was, of course, before I reached the age of making Dr. SBAITSO say dirty words (but that’s for another Flashback Friday).

Then, of course, were the game cartridges. We didn’t have a lot of the games but we did have classics such as Parsec, Burgertime, Alpiner, Munchman. I was quite the Munchman whiz, actually. In fact, I was bloody ace at Munchman. I mastered all 20 levels, only to learn that after the final level, it just started over from the beginning – only at a faster speed. Keep in mind, though, that this was before the dawn of save points. So I would sit for butt-numbing marathons in which I wouldn’t stop until I either won or my red-haired temper would get the better of me and I’d just have to give up for the moment. I still remember the hand cramps from holding that tiny little joystick for hours.

Then there was Hunt the Wumpus. I HATED Hunt the Wumpus. Check out the link and you’ll see an animated segment from the game. You move your little hunter from pod to pod, looking for the Wumpus. If you hit on a green pod, get out fast! It’s a slime pit. If you hit on a pod with a funky looking “M” creature, get out! It’s a sleeping bat. If you disturb it too often, it will wake up, grab onto you, and transport you to another part of the maze…possibly right into the lair of the Wumpus (this happened to me more times than I care to admit). Flashing red pod? Means the Wumpus is near. If you have an inkling of logic, you can figure out how to dance around the Wumpus lair, pinpoint where he is, and choose wisely where to fire your arrow.

How many 7-year-olds do you know with impeccable logic? Exactly my point. I oozed major suckage at this game. I was always seeing the Wumpus teeth coming down on me, accompanied by the Wumpus death theme. Yet, I kept playing. By the time I began to move away from this little console and toward the bright shining light of my very first “big girl” computer, I was actually able to kill the Wumpus more times than he would inevitably kill me. Victory was indeed mine by the end.

I believe my dad still has this computer and all its accessories. In fact, I’m willing to bet he even still has the little 13-inch television that he hooked it to so that I could play in my room (which was his response to me overtaking the family television one too many times for my BASIC coding marathons). Maybe I’ll poke around the next time I visit my parents to see if I can find it. Maybe it’ll still work. Maybe I’ll be able to hunt the Wumpus one more time…

Oh, and props to the TI-99/4A Videogame House for being able to transport me back to my childhood with some great screen captures and animations from all the games I’ve mentioned here.