I don't know about the rest of you, but I love hearing "childhood stories" involving video games. I guess if you picked up "classic gaming" as an adult then that would apply too, but since I'm a nostalgic and was born in 1977, I tend to focus on things from ~1984-1994 the most (but for others the time frame may vary). So I thought I'd share one to start the thread off + give people an idea of what I mean. Because "I went to a video arcade when I was 7 and it was totally awesome. The end!" doesn't count. ;-) They can be as short or long as you want. Bonus points to those who have actual pictures from the era (of themselves or general areas/whatever).
I have *lots* of stories like this.
I was in junior high at the time, I think age 13, so it would have been 1990. I was completely enthralled by the NES (ex. I did a short report on Howard Phillips), and by that point had been exposed to the Famicom as well (through Chinese and Japanese friends I had in grade school). I can't remember a single day going by where I couldn't wait for school to end and the school bus to get me home, just so I could rush down our gravel road to my home and play whatever game I'd been thinking about all day. The NES was an integral part of my life.
Brief data point: the junior high I went to had a very strange programme which lasted only 2 years: once a week, for 45 minutes, students who had basically never seen or rarely interacted with other students were put into a room together and "forced" to interact. It must have taken the school some effort to take every student's schedule, analyse all the data, and figure out who had never (or least) interacted with who. And as anyone could have told you, the students who knew one another split up into little "cliques" (3-4 people), and grudgingly accepted whoever they didn't know.
Only one of my friends (American) was in that "class" with me. But he was friends with two other students (one Taiwanese, one Chinese), also with us. We all clicked, especially when it came to talking about video games. The two Asians were shocked that I knew of the Famicom. Eventually we all hung out (for the next 5-6 years nonetheless!), but I was quickly introduced to two Famicom games that still to this day remain my top favourites: Wai Wai World and Getsufuu Maden.
Anyway, one day the class teacher informed us that she wanted all the "groups" to do a "presentation project" of some sort and only had a week to do it. My American friend came up with the idea of bringing the Famicom to school just so we could play it during that period. But a conundrum: schools then didn't have televisions in classrooms (there were a couple, but strictly for-teachers-only). But little did they know...
About 6 months prior, I had spent nearly 3 months off and on cutting and hauling wood for my mum's co-worker. I was to get US$75 for my labour (I was getting ripped off -- this woman had an INSANE amount of wood she wanted chopped and hauled across her property, and I was a very thin/lightweight kid). I did about half the work, eventually rescinding on my obligation because it was ridiculously exhausting. But on the last day I saw a box on a shelf in her woodshed -- a box depicting a portable 5" B&W Bentley television. The possibilities here were endless: I used to go camping, on road trips, gold panning, etc. with my step-dad -- but I also didn't have a TV of my own... I could play my NES in my bedroom! I asked if I could see it and sure enough it had RF screw terminals on it. I had to have it. Of course it had no AC adapter (and used a proprietary AC adapter connector so you couldn't buy a generic one), but it did work with nine (9) D batteries (Americans will realise just how ridiculous that is, and was even for the time...)
But I was rejected -- I hadn't completed the job I promised, plus the TV cost her about $150. After a lot of begging, offering her $50 that I'd saved up for getting a better NES (one with R.O.B., etc.), plus some pressure from my mum, she grudgingly agreed that she'd give me the TV for the labour I did + the $50 I had. I went home ecstatic, but then devastated that we didn't have any D-size batteries, but thankfully my grandmother did.
I informed my comrades that I had a portable TV (my American friend was like "WHAT? When did you plan on telling me this?!") and the plan was set in motion. Our Taiwanese friend would bring his Famicom and I'd bring the TV a week from now. But unlike a Famicom, the TV couldn't fit into a backpack. But I had a small duffel bag which barely worked (and I do mean barely: the zipper wouldn't close all the way. To keep it closed, I had to wrap some twine around the thing). Oh, and it wouldn't fit in my locker, so I had to carry it around to all my classes (in addition to my books), so I had to take great care to keep kids from accidentally kicking the bag with their feet.
Finally lunch ended, the silly class started, with our "presentation" going last -- but we didn't really care. Within seconds of the class starting, we had the thing hooked up. I forgot to bring a screwdriver, so the Chinese kid used some tightly-folded paper to get the terminals on as best as possible, then used scotch tape to hold them in place.
We didn't pay any attention to any of the other presentations -- because the instant we had that thing hooked up, the entire room lit up. Every single kid came over and wanted to see what in hell we were doing, and were blown out of the water (most had never seen a Famicom). The reactions were all over, and everyone wanted to play. The teacher, of course, was livid: VIDEO GAMES? IN SCHOOL? AND HOW DID YOU GET A TV IN HERE?!?!?! But once she realised that literally every single student in that room wanted to watch this little small 5" black-and-white TV playing "Nintendo games they'd never seen before", she gave up. I expected to get reprimanded or suspended or something, but nothing.
When I finished junior high, during the last day at school, that teacher came up to me and told me that what we did that day, "bringing those video games in", was something that she would remember the rest of her life. I think she said something like "I didn't agree with it then and I don't agree with it now, but there was something ingenious and clever about what all of you did, making all of that happen. I won't forget that."
I have *lots* of stories like this.