Kaboom!

Tim gave Walt an Atari Emulator for his birthday this spring and this brought back memories from 1981 .........
I haven’t always been a big fan of spending time playing computer games. As a “Type A” personality, I usually don’t give myself permission for this kind of activity. BUT in 1981 I became addicted to the Atari game, Kaboom! If you earned a score of 3,000 points or more, you could send your score to Activision and they would enroll you in the "elite" Bucket Brigade. With the technology available at the time -- you were required to take a picture of yourself with your TV screen displaying your score. The reward was a Bucket Brigade patch (ooooohhhhh!)
As soon as the guys went down for an afternoon nap I would pull out the paddles, insert the cassette and try to beat the 3,000 point goal. It took awhile but one afternoon I exceeded the score … but a new dilemma … how would I capture this event on film?!?!? The solution … I called my friend and neighbor, Barb over to help me out. She had to bring 3 pre-schoolers along and I’m sure once Bob learned of this crazy scheme, he would only shake his head in disbelief : ) Anyway, I did get my patch (wow!) but 25 years later I can't seem to find it. You’d think with everything I’ve saved in the attic I would have come across it by now. Nancy, a fellow Kaboom! addict, also earned a patch. I wonder if she still has hers?!?!?
Oh well, I’m off to a new game now .... Bejeweled 2. I’m addicted and thanks to a Mother’s Day gift from Brian, Michelle & Colin, I no longer have to play it online. I doubt that there’s a patch or any reward for the highest score but I can’t stop playing it.

The older I get the more I believe there needs to be more “play” in my day.