Intellivision, part one: Taking the leap

You always remember your first.

This was the original Intellivision console, with the controller
attached to the chord and the cartridge plugged in the right side.
Source: www.outsports.com
(May be subject to copyright)

The graphics may have been simple, and playing it even simpler, but it was still the video game I played first and loved the best.

It was Intellivision, which stood for “Intelligent television” and I have nothing but fond memories of the games and the times I had playing them.

Saw it on TV
Mattel heavily marketed Intellivision, using George Plimpton as their pitch man in television commercials. He was a writer and journalist who had gained some notoriety for participatory journalism. That is, he actually participated in a Detroit Lions football training camp, a Boston Bruins hockey practice, and got in the ring with, I think, boxer Archie Moore.

He used that sports experience in a series of commercials where he compared various sports on Intellivision versus their chief competition Atari. I recall football and baseball in particular, which highlighted how much better Intellivision sports looked than Atari. He would also later branch out with Intellivision’s space games, “Star Strike” and “Space Battle” in particular.

It was effective, because I did favour Intellivision, although I had not played either game system.

That soon changed on a Sunday visit to Brooks.

Proof is in the play
My cousin Ursula married when I was quite young, and her husband Richard was the kind of guy who bought toys like Intellivision. They lived in Brooks, as did a lot of cousins my own age.

One of my cousins, who lived in Brooks too, actually was over at Ursula and Richard’s house a lot, and had played Intellivision. While we were visiting one Sunday, they suggested we go over, and we all went to Ursula and Richard’s where he showed us the Intellivision.

The game he played for us was “Space Armada”, the classic shoot ‘em up, that was really a knock off of “Space Invaders”, where rows of aliens slowly descend as we try to shoot them all out of the sky before they touch ground.

The first time I played “Space Armada”, I had never heard of either it or “Space Invaders”, but I took a turn.

I ended up playing maybe three times, before we had to go home, but I was immediately hooked.

Trading spaces – or cartridges
At the same time, there were some guys at school who had Intellivision, named Clint and Kevin. They both liked it, and had a fair number of games. Back then, each game was in a cartridge, and people traded them, so they could try out different games.

I asked both these guys about Intellivision, and they loved it. Moreover, they would both happily trade games.

Taking the leap
I was the kind of kid who would mull things over for a long time, then just decide. In this case, I had been saving money since Grade 2, when I started a bank account at the Lethbridge Bank of Nova Scotia with money I received for my First Holy Communion. There was well over a $1,000 in my account, and Intellivision was about $400. That was a lot of money in like 1981 or 1982.

My mom was hesitant. When I told her Richard had one, she said he had a full-time job and could afford it. I was just a kid.

I countered that not only was it my money, but it was for things like this. Mom did not disagree.

So, the next time we went to Lethbridge, we went to Eaton’s where they sold Intellivision in their electronic section.

I still remember, it was at the bottom of the stairs on the bottom floor. Coming down the stairs, if you looked to your left, there was a glass counter with the Intellivision unit and games on shelves on the wall.

My parents spotted me the money because banks were not open on Saturdays, and this was long before bank machines. Because Mom had signing authority, she later did withdraw the money from my account. It was the only withdrawal I made in years and years.

When we bought the console, the salesman asked if I wanted any games. The only game that came with the Intellivision was poker and blackjack. I had also determined I would buy “Space Armada”, which I could see on the wall. So we bought all that, for a total of about $500.

I had taken the leap.

And it was money well spent.

At home, we had to figure out where to plug it in. After all, it needed a monitor, and back then televisions were the only choice.

Mom offered her TV, one she had bought, because we only had one, and she got tired of watching what everyone else wanted to watch.

So, I hooked it all up, and started playing Intellivision and “Space Armada”.

It was something I would do for close to the next 10 years.

Parting thoughts
It was a big leap to buy an Intellivision game system with my own money, but it was something I would use a lot right through until I left home for university in 1987, and right through university on my visits home.

I have a lot of stories to tell, about games, the people I played with and so much more.

Stay tuned.