Paperboy
Atari Games (1985)
This is me in August seeing Paperboy for the first time at an arcade on the Wildwood boardwalk. The game was released earlier that Spring, but it didn't make its way to the arcades in my hometown until the winter. Wildwood arcades always got them right away.
The first few times, I thought that the object was to cause as much damage as possible, so I rode through throwing papers willy nilly at everything. Usually, I would accidentally deliver at least one paper to a subscriber's house, so I got through to Wednesday. My grandfather looked on and figured out that I should only wreck the dark houses and try to get it in the mailbox or on the porch of a subscriber. After that, I was able to get a bit further.
Paperboy was easily my favorite game of that summer. In the years that followed, we rented it for Nintendo and I was given the Gameboy version as a Christmas present the year that it came out. I enjoyed them both, but nothing can duplicate the arcade experience with the bicycle handlebar controller.
