At the start of the 1980's, there were a few choices of video game machines on the market that could be purchased for the household. Atari was one, Colecovision was another. My family chose the Vectrex. With a built in screen, which freed up the television for other activities and a fairly simple to use control system, this was what we got.
One of the games that had been acquired was Star Trek The Motion Picture, which bore little in relation to the movie of the same name. In modern terms, it was a first person shooter against opponents who were vectored ships made out of sticks of light.
It was a very simple operation to get started with. Roll out the built in control panel, place the cartridge into the side, reach around back, turn the knob to power things up....
....pop in the plastic color screen to cut the intense screen brightness down and blast away enemies, dock with wormholes and dodge incoming fire.
Okay, there was some creative license used for the game content and ship depictions, but for the time and technology, it worked. I can remember playing for hours and hours, trying to beat my previous high score. The odd time I had a friend come over and managed to talk them into playing, we would challenge each other against our lined foes.
One drawback I can still remember to this day, the sore eyes. Even with the colored plastic screen in place, staring and tracking at those lines of light wore down my eyes, might like looking at freshly fallen snow on a bright day. Worse, driving, at night, into the snow.
Ah, the memories looking back. I suppose, as good as any place to start, huh?
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