Many people didn’t have their first gaming experience in front of a game console or arcade machine. We were first introduced to video games through classic home computers. Sure, our parents and/or middle schools bought them because of their supposed educational value. But everyone just used them to play games anyway, whether it was Oregon Trail, a really bad version of Pac-Man, or who knows.

In this chapter, we’ll cover all the bases. If you want to get an original classic computer, like the Apple ][ or Commodore 64, set up again in your living room, we’ll help you out (although you’re on your own if you want a lava lamp or green shag carpet). But if you’d rather emulate those old systems, running the old programs you remember on your current PC, we can help with that too.