First released in the UK in 1977, the Atari, with its woodgrain console, plastic paddles, and stubby rubber joysticks, had become a fixture in the living room of every middle class home by mid-1978.
The
range of games was a bit basic - Tennis, Outlaw, Breakout and Space
War - and they came on chunky cartridges as big as a modern Game
Boy. But they were hugely addictive, and mums and dads soon realised
they just had to get used to life without television as children
lay transfixed in front of a screen full of slow-moving blocks.
