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Atari Party is a free annual event in Davis that brings together fans of classic Atari video game and computer systems (from the late 1970s through the mid-1990s). It's open to the public, and all ages are welcome. Volunteers bring systems and games from their personal collection, and set them up for attendees to play.
This year's Atari Party was on Saturday, June 11th!
Systems that have shown up include:
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Home game systems:
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Atari 2600 (and the recent re-make, the Atari Flashback 2)
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Atari 7800
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Atari Jaguar
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Sony PlayStation (running Atari arcade games and Atari 2600 games)
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Handheld game systems:
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Atari Lynx
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Nintendo Gameboy Advance (running Atari arcade games)
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Computer systems:
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Atari 8-bit
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Atari ST/TT
Notable games you might have heard of: Pitfall!, Pac-Man, Space Invaders, Tempest 2000, Star Raiders, Pong, Combat, Asteroids, Centipede, Breakout, Galaxian, Missile Command and Warlords.
History
In late 2008 BillKendrick, local Atari nerd and recent ex-mobile-video-game developer, decided to invite friends over to enjoy some of his various Atari video game systems. Interest among his friends and acquaintances was high, and what was to be a small event in his living-room turned into a full-fledged public event.
Past Events
The first event was held in March 2009 (around the time of the Game Developers Conference in the SF Bay Area). He and a handful of friends brought a dozen games systems and computers and set them up for 3 hours at the Public Library in Davis. About 80-100 people showed up, and that week's Enterprise newspaper had an article and some photos. Photos from 2009
The second event took place again in March 2010 at the Redwood Park Community Building on Anderson Road. It ran 8 hours, and over 30 game systems were set up, with over 500 games. It also included two film screenings (the documentary film Once Upon Atari and Disney's classic part-computer-generated, part-live-action, part-animated film Tron) and a free prize give-away. Prior to the event, SNR mentioned event and said "Don't Miss It!" Photos from 2010
The third event took place in June 2011, again at the Public Library. Two movies were screened ("Once Upon Atari" and "Cloak and Dagger"), and more prizes were given away in a drawing. Details are at Photos from 2011
Future Events
To be determined!
