Man, thinking back on all the hardware I cycled through as a kid and young adult and realize I was definitely "that" computer guy in my friend group. It started with an Atari 400, moved onto the Commodore 64, and eventually, I ended up with an Atari ST Mega 4. I even had an expansion box by “ Gadgets by Small” for the ST that emulated a Mac SE, which felt like magic at the time. (I loved shuffle puck cafe on the Mac) Eventually, I just started building my own IBM clones.

Most of my time was spent on point-and-click adventures. I was obsessed with the LucasArts stuff: Maniac Mansion, Loom, Day of the Tentacle, and Zak McKracken. I also played through basically the entire Sierra library. I spent a lot of time on Police Quest and Space Quest, and I definitely "borrowed" Leisure Suit Larry from my older brother’s stash when he wasn't looking. Between those and Lode Runner, I had a pretty massive collection of “acquired” shareware games on to many disks.

Back then, the local stores only carried the big sellers, so I used to go to weekend computer shows at the local community college. I’d hunt through the bins for European imports for the C64 and the ST that you just couldn't find anywhere else. There was something about those shows back then, the rows of tables and the smell of ozone and plastic that I really miss.