We got our Commodore 64 as soon as they came out in 1982. We had a Vic-20 before that, but it went "ka-blooie" on us. My dad worked in industrial robotics and was a bit of a computer enthusiast, so I usually got to play with some of the hottest technologies before or just after they were released.
Anyway, we got the C64 and hooked it up to our official Commodore color monitor so we could experience the full range of 16 colors. Of course, my chief interest in the system was what any normal 6-year old kid would think of - games! Yessiree - lots of games. The Commodore had a bigger selection of games available than any other system out at the time, including the popular Atari (which we didn't have). It also had tons of neat (well, for the time at least) accessories.
Now, we already had several accessories left over from our Vic, including a joystick and several game cartridges (that's right - game cartridges. The Vic didn't use diskettes, but had hard plastic cartridges that plugged into the back of the console [see picture gallery]). By the time we retired the C64 in the mid-80's, we had just about every accessory they made for it: joysticks, datacassette players, disk drives, printers, - even the elusive Koala Pad®!
Back to the games, though, I have no idea how many hours I spent in front of that system over the next few years, but between that and my huge toy collection, it's a wonder I ever saw daylight. Of course, I'm a redhead and tend to sunburn rather easily, so daylight is highly overrated as far as I'm concerned. But some of my fondest memories of those days is coming home from school to play an exciting round (or two or six) of Pac-Man or try to get past the lion and save Dr. Livingston or get past the second screen in Dragon's Lair. In fact, those games had such an impact on me, I've devoted an entire page to the games I played on our C64.
Even more important than the games, though, (and I did not realize this until years later) was that the C64 really gave me my first glance into the world of computers. In fact, it's probably because of my youth spent in front of that monitor that I have such an intense interest in computers now. I have always been the sort of person who would rather spend time with a good book or computer game than spend time around other people. It's a miracle that I found time to go on dates and find someone who would marry me, let alone raise five kids (okay - my wife gets most of the credit there). I couldn't say whether this outlook comes from my time with the C64, or if I spent my time with the C64 because of it. At any rate, it's obvious that the Commodore 64 had a profound impact on my life, as well as the lives of many who had them. If you want to find out more about what I spent my hours doing, take a look at the games page.
