It’s thanksgiving weekend, here in Canada. Today I didn’t have much planned, other than doing a bit of tidying up, getting ready for wood stove season. While I was moving some things around, I happened across the old Intellivision and just couldn’t pass up the chance to give it a test drive.
This particular Intellivision game console is the INTV System III, produced in 1985. I found it back in 2000, to replace my original Mattel Intellivision (given to me in 1981), which died on me back in the late 90s. The controllers on this model, however, are the controllers from my original Intellivision. When I found the INTV, it’s controllers weren’t working all that well, so I switched them out. Ever since then, the console has been working perfectly fine, but you know, I miss the fake wood grain that was pasted on the sides of the original console.
It’s a very good thing that Mattel put a metal plate on that disc controller. Even though the thin plastic membrane is almost completely rubbed off, the metal is still intact and the controller works perfectly fine. Although this console, itself, is only 37 years old, the controllers are 41 and still seem to have many more good years to go! They’ve seen a lot of action and it’s really great to still have them with me, after all of these years.
It’s a wonderful feeling when you see a photo of something from your personal past that you haven’t thought of in a long time; or hearing an old tune playing on the radio from your youth. Being able to relive some of the memories that are attached to those things can be a gift. But for me, still having the actual thing that you can hold in your hand, which helped form those memories, is a real blessing. Be it a game controller or one of my dad’s carpentry tools that I’ve seen him using all through my childhood, which I now use myself; these little things are worth more to me than anyone could pay me for them.
Speaking of Dad, he and I used to enjoy playing Major League Baseball and Sea Battle together, on the Intellivision. When playing Sea Battle, I remember always getting in close to Dad’s harbor and lay a bunch of mines right near the entrance. This would always sink a few of his ships, but then I’d get myself too, as I approached for a take over. Good times. 
So, on this thanksgiving, I was playing a little bit of Dragonfire, on my Intellivision, thanking the Lord for all of these wonderful blessings He’s given to me all these 54 years of my life.
After supper tonight, maybe I’ll spend a little bit of time playing a couple of more games from the collection.
[tag]intellivision, gaming[/tag]