Somewhere in this year I was introduced to my first ever TV Games Console called Atari 2600 with 3 standard cartridges, joysticks and paddles. I still own the Atari 2600, cartridges and paddles. The joysticks did not make it (they might exists in pieces since I probably open them up, I have found only the rubber for one of them, until now). It works well and I have in later years modified it to send out composite video and audio instead of going through the standard RF-signal. During the use of this machine, we also lend cartridges from a friend, where "Asteroids" stands out as a key memory. The original games that was shipped with the machine was "Combat", "Video Olympics" and "Breakout".


This part is extremely fuzzy as I only saw Arcade Machines in our place during 4 types of events - and I never took notes or gave it too much thought, so researching this is extremely hard and will only go with "hard fact memory" of which games I specifically remember along with its location below:

1: In 1981 a local fair show "Etnemarknaden" started, and I vividly remember they had a "amusement park / carnival / funfair" or as we say in Norwegian "tivoli" with a speciall trailer hall that contained a wealth of Arcade Machines in it. It was always packed and must have been at least 10-15 machines in it. Most likely the Arcade Machines was not there from 1981 and/or I would not know how to operate them (due to my height) and/or was afraid I would do something wrong. The games I do remember was "Operation Wolf" and "Star Wars" (the cockpit cabinet). I also went over "Marble Madness" sometimes, because that was just so cool with the special big ball in the middle as its "joystick controller". I would go to the Etnemarknaden every year until way into the 2010's and beyond. Sadly, the Arcade Machines disappeared probably during the rise of Playstation 1,2 +PC's and other consoles that kicked their butt anyway.

The name of the company that provided carousels and hosted the amusement park along with the Arcade Machine hall trailer was "Svends Tivoli". I have confirmed by a local newspaper archive online that the tivoli was present at the first instance of Etnemarknaden 1981. Years later "Lunds Tivoli" would take over.

2: During my father's countless truck driving trips (delivery of furniture back and fourth to sweden and within Norway) during the early 80's, I would sometimes join in the truck during holidays and summer holidays (as these trips would take 4-5 days). We stopped at local cafe's within Norway and Sweden to get our lunch and dinners (breakfast was useally in the truck after we woke up). During those lunches and dinners, I useally saw at least 1 type of Arcade Machine (cabinet type) and in one particular cafe (which I still remember where was and is until this date) was a table-top version with two chairs.

3: Probably more into 1987-1990 our local Video rental shops would sometimes feature 1 or 2 Arcade Machines that would sometimes be swapped around to get more machines cirulated in the shop. This was the closest to our house and was about 15 minutes drive. I remember in its last days my cousin ran that Video Rental and I would play only 1 game (which until 2025 I still remember) and that was "Empire City: 1931".

4: Another place I remember was in a local shopping mall at the nearest town which was called "Victoriahjørnet" where I do remember playing "Power Drift" quite alot. I remember I would take the bus to town, buy vodka smirnoff for the saturday's party with friends, shop around for Amiga magazines and take the bus back home (did not have a car yet, so I must have been 19 years old as I got my drivers license at 20 year of age). This puts me within 1992-1994 or so when I played this.

5: Last memory of playing Arcade Games where actually during 1990-1991 when I went to school and during lunch we snuck into the very small town-center (Centro Kiosk & Video) just 3 minutes away from school where I would play "Chase H.Q." which was awesome with all that sprite scaling effects. I can remember the game had a lot of speech samples and it was constantly voicing out!


Games I remember - and their details:

Black Tiger:
Was released in USA 1st of August 1987 and in Europe 1988. Most likely it was around my parts in 1988-1990. Saw it at a local cafe (which was actually where I celebrated my 51th birthday of all things this year!). Sadly the Arcade Machine has been long gone naturally.

Power Drift:
Was released in Europe in 1989, and I'm pretty sure I played on it during 1992-1994 or so a couple of times. In fact, I believe it was one of the very last Arcade Games I ever remember playing - as by that time the Amiga games where sure up to the same quality at this point in time.

Empire City 1931:
Was released in all the world during 1986. So, I would for sure play this several times during 1987-1990.

Operation Wolf:
Was released in Europe 1987. I would only play this at the local fair and its trailer hanger on "Etnemarknaden". It was scary to play this game as it had a proper gun and I really remember I wanted to play it, but I was too short to reach it properly, so I had to stay on my toes - but I did play it nevertheless!

Marble Madness:
Seems to have been released in Europe during 1986.

Chase H.Q.
Was released in Europe during 1988.

Star Wars (Cockpit version):
Was released in Europe during 1983.

Final note to why Arcade Machines in Norway suddenly vanished overnight:
This was due to a pathetic politician (Trond Giske, culture minister) here in Norway passed a new law that removed and banned all jackpot and similar machines including Arcade Machines to be available to the public (due to addiction, haha, lame) in 2007. It removed over night ALL traces of Arcade Machines. About 10 years later he was involved in Sexual Harassment cases here in Norway, so it kind of gives off what kind of asshole that guy really was. I'm gloating over your freaking downfall, worthless piece of "human" wrapped into a human shape. Get lost and remove yourself from society please! The guy tried to get back into politics during 2021 - did not go well and since then is invisible. Please stay that way.


Now, the years are a bit fuzzy here, but footage from April/May 1983 reveals at least my cousin showing off "Snoopy Tennis" to the camera, and shortly grabs another LCD game on the table (Patrol) and shows that off to the camera as well, meaning that this was the years were new devices came into my hands to play with. I remember owing my own game, but also my brother and sisters also bought their own. During the years, a multitude of games where played and we would simply swap with friends during a couple of years, which meant we could play so much more, instead of buying all of these titles below. I specifically have fond memories that our local gas station (Shell) had a WALL! filled with these games for sale.

Bronza:
(Police) Patrol from 1982/1983. This was my own. Single LCD screen.

Nintendo - Game & Watch:
Mickey Mouse from 1981. Single LCD screen.
Egg from 1981. Single LCD screen.
Donkey Kong from 1982. Dual LCD screen.
Mickey and Donald from 1982. Dual LCD screen.
Snoopy Tennis from 1982. Single LCD screen.
Turtle Bridge from 1982. Single LCD screen.
Mario Bros from 1983. Dual LCD screen.

Tronica:
Treasure Island (Game & Watch branded) from 1983. Triple LCD screen.


During this year (maybe even 1982) we also lent TV Games Console from the local gas station (Shell) at least Mattel Intellivision and Coleco Colecovision. I remember at least two games I played alot from these machines, which was "Looping" and "Smurfs".


During 1984 I tried my cousin's father Amstrad CPC 464 where I specifically remember Kung-Fu Master, playing on a monochrome screen for days.


I briefly tried Nintendo NES at my cousin place ONCE during this year - for 5 minutes tops - and I felt it was a cheap toy that felt like duplo lego, and I still do till this day :-) I Specifically remember Mario Bros and that Duck Hunt game.


Got my first Commodore 64 most likely in between March - May 1988 (Judged from school notes found on 19 Mar 1988 indicated no C64 in the house, while 22 May 1988 indicated that I played with the "computer", which was then the C64) but its hard to tell if it was 1987 or 1988 at this point.The research is still ongoing :-)

Sold my Commdore 64 in first half of 1990 (I remember I was in 9th grade) with a large black trashcan bag filled with original games I purchased during the time I had it along with a multitude of Turbo Tapes which also included my own small programs and tests I had while learning programming.

Many years later (2015) I asked the person if he had some of it still left, but he could only manage to find the Commodore 64 machine + its dust cover (which I bought back in the late 80's from Data-Tronic). The rest of the Turbo Tapes and original tape games + books and paper material was not found.

The entire contents of the previously used Commodore 64 consisted of:
1 x Commodore 64 breadbin, Norwegian keyboard
1 x Datasette 1531 Cassette Player
1 x Wico The Boss Joystick
1 x TAC-2 Joystick
1 x International Soccer Cartridge
1 x Sorcery tape game
1 x Winter Games tape game
+ All manuals (datasette and C64 basic) + C64 main packaging and power supply.
+ A bunch of Turbo Tapes. I remember I had to call the seller because I didn't understand shit of how to load these and I got frustrated. I also remember during random times I woudl bicycle down to a friend 30 minutes away, borrowing and copying turbo tapes from him.

During the 1 or 2 years I had the C64 I bought a whole sleuth of original tape games from our local shop "Rulletrappene, Centro" in Haugesund or via mail catelogs. I specifically remember buying these games/tools:

- Professional Ski Simulator
- Grand Prix Simulator
- Mugsy's Revenge
- S.E.U.C.K (Shoot 'Em Up Construction Kit)
- Cobra
- Predator
- Micro Rhythm (drum machine)
- Rock'n Wrestle
- Firelord
- Desert Fox
- Short Circuit
- KikStart
- KikStart 2
- BMX Simulator
- Test Drive
- Wizball
- Platoon
- Super Sprint
- Yie Ar Kung-Fu
- Target Renegade
- Head Over Heels
- Robocop
- Last Ninja 1
- Last Ninja 2
- Thing on a Spring
- Thing bounces Back
- Frankie Goes to Hollywood
- Dragon Ninja

+ many 5 or 10 "in-a-box" collages. "They sold a million" rings a bell :-)

During the end of April 2025 - I got an very unexpected surprise when I was doing research on this very subject - I actually found code I had written on Commodore 64 way back in 1989. The most stupid thing is that this code was right under my nose all the way back since 2006 - in the form of "basic" programs on a clearly intended Turbo Tape cassette. Hiding in plain Commodore 64 basic sight!


I had a friend which visited England quite often and once a while he brought with him dirt cheap original C64 games on tape that he used to sell to me and other friends nearby. One day he showed his new computer which was Atari ST1040 and he showcased the only game I ever tried on that machine, which was StarGlider. Some of the C64 tapes I bought of him where at least "Micro Rhythm" (drum machine) and "Rock'n Wrestle".

Many, many years later (most likely in 2010) I bought an Atari 1040STFM from a norwegian online auction (at least I believe, lost all emails between 2007-2010 so unable to verify 100%). Both in 2011 and in 2025 I did some upgrades and modifications to it. It had a Swedish TOS 1.02 into two chips ROM.


During the start of my 9th grade in School (August 1989 to June 1990), we where also introduced and used a computer at school called TIKI-100, which was a fully Norwegian computer. I remember CPM, Basic and a horse betting program that we "ahem" modified to trickster the teacher and other kids that operated these machines. Since I already knew alot about Basic at that point, it means I either learned C64 basic from March/May 1988 or even from 1987 (unconfirmed) and through summer all the way into the computer use of TIKI-100 at school.


Got my first Amiga 500 v1.3, 512kb expansion, Green LED on 10th of June 1989 (I still got it!) along the "The Amiga Video" introduction video. I still have the box packaging for it.


Bought a used Commodore 64 (new breadbin) with Floppy Drive in 1991 (I still got it!), along with 30+ Floppy Discs, Epyx FastLoad cartridge and a Power Play (Rick Dangerous + Stunt Car Racer + International Soccer on same cartridge).


Bought my first A1200 most likely Q3 1993 (judging from a tool I downloaded via BBS "FixAGA", dated 15th of July 1993 and my own demo I released 1 Dec 1993, called FXCD#1). Amiga 1200 was launched early 1993 (February) in Norway.

However, since I had made a backup of my entire HDD on Amiga 1200 in 1998, I noticed that a lot of "C/" commands had the date of 30th of April 1993 @ 13:31. Could it mean that those dates represent the first-time installation of Workbench 3.0 onto my new A1200, and that was in fact the date I bought it?!

30-Apr-93  13:31 444 AddBuffers

30-Apr-93  13:31 736 Avail

30-Apr-93  13:31  1,420 BindDrivers

30-Apr-93  13:31 432 Break

30-Apr-93  13:31 460 ChangeTaskPri

30-Apr-93  13:31  1,092 Date

30-Apr-93  13:31  1,972 Delete

30-Apr-93  13:31 312 DiskChange

30-Apr-93  13:31  2,084 Eval

30-Apr-93  13:31 896 Filenote

30-Apr-93  13:31  1,452 IconX

30-Apr-93  13:31  1,980 Info

30-Apr-93  13:31  1,712 Install

30-Apr-93  13:31  1,200 Join

30-Apr-93  13:31  3,972 LoadResource

30-Apr-93  13:31  1,136 loadwb

30-Apr-93  13:31 536 Lock

30-Apr-93  13:31  1,768 MagTape

30-Apr-93  13:31 464 MakeDir

30-Apr-93  13:31 584 Relabel

30-Apr-93  13:31  1,128 RemRAD

30-Apr-93  13:31  1,140 Rename

30-Apr-93  13:31  1,120 RequestChoice

30-Apr-93  13:31  1,520 RequestFile

30-Apr-93  13:31 668 SetClock

30-Apr-93  13:31 688 SetDate

30-Apr-93  13:31  1,092 SetFont

30-Apr-93  13:31  1,412 SetKeyboard

30-Apr-93  13:31  1,980 Sort

30-Apr-93  13:31 828 Status

30-Apr-93  13:31  1,496 Type

30-Apr-93  13:31 852 Wait

30-Apr-93  13:31  1,068 Which

In addition these files:

HDToolBox  104540 ----rwed 30-Apr-93 13:31:42 

CrossDOS 8996 ----rwed 30-Apr-93 13:31:42 

Blanker 10220 ----rwed 30-Apr-93 13:31:42 

tapedeck.gadget  5396 ----rwed 30-Apr-93 13:31:42 

gradientslider.gadget 5216 ----rwed 30-Apr-93 13:31:42 

colorwheel.gadget  12740 ----rwed 30-Apr-93 13:31:42 

postscript_init.ps  7062 ----rwed 30-Apr-93 13:31:42 

mfm.device 6804 ----rwed 30-Apr-93 13:31:42 

clipboard.device 6944 ----rwed 30-Apr-93 13:31:42 

Generic  1084 ----rwed 30-Apr-93 13:31:42 

PIPE  104 ----rwed 30-Apr-93 13:31:42 

queue-handler 2664 ----rwed 30-Apr-93 13:31:42 

CrossDOSFileSystem  26420 ----rwed 30-Apr-93 13:31:42 

aux-handler  2392 ----rwed 30-Apr-93 13:31:42 

MAC.crossdos  512 ----rwed 30-Apr-93 13:31:42

INTL.crossdos 512 ----rwed 30-Apr-93 13:31:42

DANSK.crossdos 512 ----rwed 30-Apr-93 13:31:42 

68040.library 43888 ----rwed 30-Apr-93 13:31:42 

realtime.library 3980 ----rwed 30-Apr-93 13:31:42 

united_kingdom.country 538 ----rwed 30-Apr-93 13:31:42

norge.country 538 ----rwed 30-Apr-93 13:31:42

great_britain.country 538 ----rwed 30-Apr-93 13:31:42 

PC1 689 ----rwed 30-Apr-93 13:31:42 

PC0 683 ----rwed 30-Apr-93 13:31:42 

AUX1 86 ----rwed 30-Apr-93 13:31:42 

SPat  314 ----rwed 30-Apr-93 13:31:42 

PCD 246 ----rwed 30-Apr-93 13:31:42 

DPat  873 ----rwed 30-Apr-93 13:31:42

To be honest the "norge.country" is consistent with what I would have chosen for my keyboard with ÆØÅ and with English language otherwise.


Bought my first Amiga CD32 most likely during Q1/Q2 1994, as I created some software script to be used with Communicator earliest at least in May of 1994. This is somewhat further proven by actually finding my own Warranty Certificate issued by MASTERS. They however forgot to add the purchase date, but do check the screenshot below and I also added the entire PDF for download (+bonus information about the Philippines Commodore factory!). The address on the certificate was actually where I used to work at the time, as the postal office was next door to us, it was easy to pickup during lunch!

Unsure where and how the Amiga CD32 got sold (still investigating if it really was), but evidence points to I had it in my possession to at least entire 1995, potentionally gone during 1996. Last traces of involvment with Amiga CD32 was found in my own source codes 1 Nov 1995. Further, I located the Amiga CD32 on some random footage from my room probably in summer of 1996. After 13 June 1996 I had a new CD-ROM solution for the A1200 with SquirrelSCSI / Surf Squirrel (which has been confirmed to be in June 1996) and thus the CD32 had to become "obsolete" for me as I really bought the CD32 to primarly be a easy way to get CD-ROM access from my A1200 through Serial/Parnet. I am still investigating clues on the entire CD32 story and its wherabouts!

Anyway, during the past 1-2 years of research the above I really wanted to play with the Amiga CD32 again, so on my 50th birthday in June 2024, I ordered one expensive one on EBAY. Best self-birthday-gift ever!


On Google, it says that PlayStation 1 was launched on 29th of September 1995. Shortly thereafter Video Rental shops started renting these out to customers. My brother managed to rent one which we both played to death. After a while, we had to return it, wait a couple of weeks for the next turn and rent it again with either the same games or new other games.

I specifically remember these games:
Doom (Awesome technical and graphics but seriously a shitty game and story, really. )
WipeOut (the god of all games)
Ridge Racer (Don't care much for car games, but this one was cool!)
Tekken 1 (Awesome fighting game)
Destruction Derby (Just awesome)
Battle Arena Toshinden (Clone of Tekken, but still very playable)
PlayStation 1 demo disc with at least the Dinosaur sequence!

I don't really remember much more than these games and after some years, the video rental shop closed and my brother bought out one of the PS1 suitcases targeted for renting out. It ended up in a cabinet back home over a decade, until I discovered it during the early 2010's. Some time in the 90's we had it even modified with a ModChip, but since downloading games from internet that time, there where not many games I remember that got copied in any way shape or form that was played.


Bought my first WindowsPC - June 1996 (verified by earliest downloads I still have!) running Windows 1995 at first, then later Windows NT in 1997 and so on. By the looks of it I mentioned in an email to Matrox that I had "80mb RAM/100mhz Pentium" during October 1997. Allthough I do remember I had lower the year before, and that must have been 90Mhz (possibly 75Mhz).

The PC was bought after I had tested "Star Wars: Dark Forces" at a friend's house and/or read about it in a magazine, along with the fact I had read about "FastTracker V2.08" which became the tool I used for years afterwards creating music. I specifically remember buying the crazy game called Redneck Rampage and Unreal (which I still have).

Other games that stood out of my memory and logs during 1996-1998 was:
Blood, Diablo, Duke Nukem 3D, Heretic, Hexen, Hexen2, Monster Truck Madness, Quake, Screamer and Silent Hunter.

Side note, I actually found a receipt from 10 June 1998 where I upgraded my pc to the following:

1 x "HX 08" ATX BIG TOWER Cabinet

1 x "AX6B" HK PENTIUM 1I,440BX CHIP Mainboard

Motherboard had support from 233Mhz and up to 850Mhz. Most likely my 2nd or 3rd processer after my 90Mhz and/or 100Mhz was then 233Mhz from this date.

During May 2025 I will rebuild a similar PC to be consistent with that 1996-1998 era, where I have located a "Acer MB11E" motherboard that will hold 384MB of RAM, along with a 233Mhz Pentium II Slot 1 CPU. This was in my private collection :-)


Moved into my own small apartment, probably during summer 1997. In September 1997, I bought myself a Roland TB-303 and the Amiga/Commodore days was starting to become less and less. Also bought my first ever CD-ROM with Burning capabilites (Phillips CDD 3610 R/RW) December 1997.


Sold the A1200 during February 1998 along with any Accellerator boards and perheripals. I took a backup of my entire 420MB Connor HDD and the internal 120MB HDD prior to sale (DH0, DH1 and DH2). I still got that archive in my possession and its still bootable! It has helped me piece together my computer history in some very hectic years of using, selling, buying, coding and ordinary life in-between during my research for this particular post you are reading :-)

Searching through notes, it was revealed that my last setup for the Amiga 1200 that lasted from at least June 1996 all the way until the end: "A1200 50mhz/40mhz/10mb ram, 420mb HD, SurfSquirrel, CD-Rom"

50 Mhz = CPU, 40 Mhz = FPU. SurfSquirrel with SCSI CD-ROM was the setup that replaced my CD32 during 1996 - in which I lost completely track of it!


Purchased this during July 2007 from a member from Denmark that used to chat with us in our PhPBB forum site we had running during the first version of SOASC= (Stone Oakvalley's Authentic SID Collection) recording project. Along with a very nice price, this was the entire lot I purchased below (thanks Brian).

I had until Aug 2007 never seen or touched a real Commodore 128 in my life, as none of my friends ever talked about it or had it. So, this was really a nice addition to my groving collection and today it is truly a stand-alone gem to have. I didn't get it powered on for years, as I had no power supply for it nor had the time to investigate and test it. I eventually got it powered on and everything worked perfectly. It even works perfectly together with a IBM 5151 (9-pin DUSB) monochrome amber CRT screen from 1983 :-)

1988 BB - 8580R5 (Commodore 64 BreadBin with 8580R5 SID Chip)

1983 BB - 6581R2 (Commodore 64 BreadBin with 6581R2 SID Chip)

1989 WB - 8580R5 (Commodore 64 WhiteBin with 8580R5 SID Chip)

Commodore 128 (Just machine, nothing else)

Final Cartridge III (For Commodore 64)

Random Commodore 64 turbo tapes

Phase5 1230 Blizzard Accellerator Card + 8MB Memory, no FPU (For Amiga 1200)

Bunch of random Commodore 64 cartridges

1541 Commodore 64 Floppy Drive

Bought this on EBAY, because the price was right and I was really looking forward to get hold of "Kung-Fu Master" to just get a feeling of playing the game that I remember playing on my cousin's father's Amstrad CPC-464 way back in the mid 80's. Since I also during the same auction period really wanted to purchase Asteroids for the Atari 2600, I ended up with a mixed auction that contained all of these 3 things, along with two bonus games; "Karateka" and "Pole Position II" cartridges for the Atari 7800. All the cartridges and machine worked great, I even got two original joysticks (pads) along with it.


This was once-in-a-lifetime lucky gift from my brother. He had some local jobs in my area, where he and others help older people who needed to clean our their garden, basement, attics and garages and basically just recycle whatever they wanted to get rid of. One day he called me to say he found a "black Commodore". I said, that can't be, I have never heard or seen any black Commodore 64 in my life, so I thought it was somebody just paint jobbed the machine.

When he arrived I was shocked to see and feel this very heavy machine that looked like a modern version of Commodore 64. It was black with white and red details with a big logo of "Memotech" and "MTX500" logo slapped on the casing. When I received the box, the machine, the power supply, a regular tape player and some joysticks and cables where present. - but no games, paperwork, cables or books. It would take years before I eventually managed to modify the internal power section from AC/DC to just go on DC with some heavy modifications. The machine did work, but keyboard was all but shit, so I had to replace the entire keyboard with my own DIY solution so at least I could type on it. I managed to connect audio playback to it and load games. The machine works great and is truly another gem to have in my collection.


This was a unexpected trash found object (during 2012) that happens to unfold right in front of me as I was leaving the "free recycle" section where people could place working trash for others to may use. It so happens that a few years past collague from work was throwing his son's Playstation2 in a plastic bag, I found it and he said "you like it? take it!". I did not think twice, and when I turned around he also gave me a huge box filled with original PS2 games with cover, all in great condition. So, my Playstation2 was literally free.

During the years to come, I came by random very cheap PS2 locally in thrift shop and picked them all with me everytime. I have 2-3 of the regular FAT one and 1 Slim PS2 in my collection. I never ever thought of buying one back in the days when it was released either. I'm just glad that today I have several of them, fully working.


When me, my wife and our daughter visited Philippines we went to several thrift stores and came over this PSP which had a very nice price tag on it. Some days later I bought some memorystick or card (don't remember) and I downloaded some hacks from Internet and during some hours at the hotel I managed to hack it and play some ISO games. Pretty cool.

When we got home, I decided to refurbish the rubber buttons and other key buttons as these where completely worn out. During the repair and refitting, the display started flickering and I decided to order also a replacement TFT from EBAY and some weeks later replaced it. However, after 2-3 years something must have happen as now I would get green scanlines all over the screen and after numerous attempts fixing the issue, it just never recovered from this state.

So, in 2024 I decided once again to dig into the matter, but after some Googling it became clear that most likely the entire mainboard was crapped out. So, I took out the new rubber/key parts that I bought in 2013 and threw the entire PSP straight into the trash bin. One day, I'll probably get another one, but I've never been any fan of handheld games (apart from those LCD Game&Watch) during the early 80's. To be honest, Gameboy and Nintendo Switch isn't devices I would ever pay even a dollar for, as I'm never gonna use them. To me, these devices are completely useless and unappealing to be honest!


Some tme during 2015 I came over a random item in a cool Norwegian O'Briens Retro & Vintage online store that deals with retro stuff. From what I remember the guy had collected random stray objects that seemingly was not sales objects on their own, but gobbled up as a "mystery gift" I became very interrested. So, in that mystery bag, I do remember some homemade printed computer papers (keycodes, Turbo Tapes listing), some turbo tapes for C64, some books and manuals and probably some other Commodore 64 related objects. The center and main piece of this was a broken plastic Commodore Plus/4 without everything, it was even missing some keys.

My problem was that it would take years before I had time to investigate it, find a power supply that would fit, not to mention that I found several dead chips and a whole lot of other stuff that needed to be fixed. Eventually, I managed to boot it up, replace some keys and was tested fully 100% with a diagnostic kernal amongst loading games into it. Today, its almost fully restored (only some keycaps missing).

I'm very happy to have this piece of authentic Commodore machine in my possession.


I was lucky to get two FAT Playstation 3 from my very good friend Waxhead which had found them in the trash. They where from a defunct company and apparently these where scheduled to be returned somewhere but ended up on somebody's shelf until the company shut down. Both of them worked great, and some time later I swapped it with one of two Playstation 3 where I work as they used them to test LCD displays.

I ended up at the end with one slim Playstation3 and one fat Playstation3. These are machines I would not pay much for, but would never let it be left alone in a thrift store if I ever saw one. My first experience with PlayStation3 really happened in 2015 and it has been used well for years to come. The graphics and games on this console are just fantastic! During the years ahead I bought some new parts for it on EBAY, but also picked up related accessories and original games every time I came across any for the lowest dirt cheap prices possible.


This original XBOX was found randomly in a local thrift store and I did not pay much for it. The unit worked great, but only power supply was present. During the years ahead I bought some new parts for it on EBAY, but also picked up related accessories and original games every time I came across any for the lowest dirt cheap prices possible. It's really a cool machine, but I have yet to really sit down and play games on it. The ones I had tried, were awesome!


This item was found in a local thrift store for a very low price. Everything was included, even the packaging. I ended up buying a hack for it on EBAY and showed it full of games - never to be played by me. As you already know, I'm not a big fan of handheld games - but I would never walk away from such devices if they are available in thrift store at very very low prices. The unit works and plays great though.


This was also an item I found in thrift store locally, and during the years to come I picked up many more of them incuding accessories and original games. I also bought accessories for it from EBAY as the years progressed. In fact, this is still my go-to machine every night to watch either Netflix or Youtube - as of 2025. This is also a great games machine which I love to play games on (just like Playstation3). All my units are working great. There was even a RED RING version in my collection, but that was thrown in the trash as they are worthless pieces of shit and is just a waste of time to repair or mess around with!


This was a very lucky find that was sold complete with everything needed for it. I have only seen this once in any local thrift store ever in my life, and I remember the day I found it. It was on a saturday and it was about 25 minutes to closing time. Some of the employees starting placing new items from the stock onto the shelves to prepare for Monday's customers, but I barely noticed that the person put something "white" on the shelf that looked like a CD-ROM player. So, I went over there (not knowing anything about Nintendo WII) and was shocked to see what it was. I grabbed and payed 200,- NOK for everything just minutes before they closed!

I went home, mailbombed it and started copying games to it. But, as always with me and Nintendo's they always appear child-like duplo-lego feeling which are really just too childish for me. The games are awful and clearly made for toddlers. Its kind of the same story for me when it comes to the original Nintendo NES. I just don't know why it is, but Nintendo has never been of my favourite machines ever. I just don't get it, they feel like toys for toddlers and/or max 5 year old's. I just cannot understand the facinations for its design, menu's and overall the games library for these machines.


This item I found at a thrift store, tucked away into a dusty and dirty plastic bag showed together with old clothes, rusty parts and wet cardboard paper. As nobody seems to have dug into it, I noticed the edge of the console and was hoping it was a Amiga CD32. I was kinda shocked to see it was a complete kit of Sega Saturn with everything you need to get going, including some cartridge games and other stuff. I payed probably just 50,- NOK for it. It worked perfectly, and since it had a limited set of available games on CD released, I once burnt all 360 games onto CD's!

I have gone through all 360 cd's and even bought an Action Replay so that I could play copied games. It's really a neat machine and was right there up with Amiga CD32 as it was released in the same year (1994) as I got my first Amiga CD32. I love this machine, it feels like what could have been on Amiga CD32 which naturally ended its run too early and with Commodore folding as a company. The SEGA Saturn could back in those years be a pretty good replacement for that lost time :-)




Here ends my story of collecting TV Games, Computers and everything related to every piece of electronics I had ever been in contact with. It's pretty clear during the past 10 years (2015-2025), I believe I only found PlayStation2, XBOX360 and Nintendo NES during our weekly visits to thrift store and trash places. I have not seen any Commodore related machines in the past 8 or 10 years, so its very clear that the chances of finding my favourite items are getting slimmer by every year.

It's like my generation had really cleaned house and got rid of everything by their own age of 50+. Well, every generation seems to trash their childhood and teen machines eventually - and I will be right there, picking up PlayStation4, XBOX One, XBOX Series X, PlayStation5 when the decade was upon me. This is how I have been collecting, waiting on the fence for the lowest trash price possible - as afterall this is just a hobby!



During the research in 2023, I suddenly discovered that one of my 5 pcs Amiga 500, where actually my very first Amiga 500 (which I thought I previously sold, but was left to a cousin for almost 10 years, before I got it back in 2008!).

Anyway, for the Commodore 64 I had to really think hard and remember key objects that were there with me back in 1987-1989 in order to try an place if I got the Commodore 64 in summer on 1987 or was it actually 1988. So, by writing down stuff I remember and then find the release dates online - here was my list:

International Soccer on Cartridge for C64: 1983

= Came with my first C64 machine.





Decathlon on turbo tape for C64: 1983

= Played from turbo tape, copied from friends _OR_ it was on turbo tapes when I bought the C64.





Spy Hunter on turbo tape for C64: 1983.

= Played from turbo tape, copied from friends _OR_ it was on turbo tapes when I bought the C64.





Spike's Peak on turbo tape for C64: 1983.

= Played from turbo tape, copied from friends _OR_ it was on turbo tapes when I bought the C64.





Kung-Fu Master on turbo tape for C64: 1985.

= Played from turbo tape, copied from friends _OR_ it was on turbo tapes when I bought the C64.





International Karate (IK+) on turbo tape for C64: 1987.

= Played from turbo tape, copied from friends _OR_ it was on turbo tapes when I bought the C64.





Oslo Børs on turbo tape for C64: 1983.

= Played from turbo tape, copied from friends _OR_ it was on turbo tapes when I bought the C64.





Dave's Midnight Magic on turbo tape for C64: 1983

= Played from turbo tape, copied from friends _OR_ it was on turbo tapes when I bought the C64.





Sorcery on Tape for C64: 1984

= Came with my first C64 machine.





TAC-2 Joystick: 1984

= Came with my first C64 machine.





Winter Games on Tape for C64: 1985

= Came with my first C64 machine.





The Boss by Wico Joystick: 1985

= Came with my first C64 machine.





Mugsy's Revenge on tape for C64: 1986

= Bought new on local shop by myself.





Rock'n Wrestle on tape for C64: 1986

= Bought from a friend which had been in UK.





StarGlider I on Atari 520ST or 1040ST: 1986

= Saw this at the same friend which had been in UK.





Shoot 'Em Up Construction Kit on tape for C64: 1987

= Bought new from a DataTronic magazine and shipped in post.





Advanced Ski Simulator on tape for C64: 1987

= Bought new on local shop by myself.





Combat School on turbo tape for C64: 1987

= Played from turbo tape, copied from friends _OR_ it was on turbo tapes when I bought the C64.





Test Drive I on tape for C64: 1987

= Have problems remembering if this was a Turbo tape loaded game, or if we actually bought this originally.

Now looking over this scrap-book-from-my-memory, I still could have bought the C64 in 1987, then maybe 1 year later, or at the end of 1987, actually managed to get hold of those 1987 titles. Its really hard to pin-point, as the only reference I have in time period for when I got the C64 was due to the fact it was a pre-early-gift for my "confirmation" or Konfirmasjon in Norwegian, a church tradition here in Norway.

I also can't really pinpoint and remember, if I really bought the Amiga 500 (whch I know 100%, since I have the date) one year, or maybe two years after I got the Commodore 64. Time flies differently back then, when you're 13-14 years old than today!

In the 80's we'd normally do confirmation the year we became 15 years old, which for me, was really 18 June of 1989, which means 8th grade was over during summer, and the 9th grade was from 1989-1990. Then 1990-1991 was High-School 1 year (vidergående). The dates and times since 1989 I have pretty much control of, but it bugs me so much, if I got the Commodore 64 in April 1987 or 1988. I wonder if I will really ever find some kind of proof or some thought process with visual evidence that could prove this nagging thing eventually.

From what I remember, I begged my parents, as they were discussing what to give me as a expensive special gift for my confirmation. But, I do remember my mother said "well, its next year, or 6 months, so yes, maybe you can get that", or something similar of those lines. I have also faint memories that my father had to drive us to Haugesund and that the weather was kind of after-snow, as it was not strong winter or hot summer, but either Spring or Fall. So, if it was spring that was almost 1 year before my confirmation. Other memories I have from my father is that he most likely cut out that ad from newspaper to save the telephone number, in case we needed to call after we bought it (which I really did). I hope that paper still exists somewhere in his old stash, as finding that would be 100% proof of which ad below it was, or even if it was 1987 or really 1988.

The only potentional proof I have visually, is from local newspaper ad's (Haugesund's Avis) from the March-May 1988 period, as I do remember we bought the C64 after I found an ad. Naturally I can't remember the price, but its was most like 1300,- or 1500,- NOK. The machine was advertised with 2 joysticks, some tape games and potentionally a mention of several hundred games (which was turbo-tapes, which took me 2-3 weeks to figure out of. I remember I had to call either the seller or some of my friends to get help). I did an research into the newspaper through a digital archive and snipped out the most likely ad that caused me to buy it. That in itself is just epic, as it started a life-long journey I have never regretted and it bears some much fun!

Now, about the turbo tapes, that was really confusing to me. I could not understand that I had to load some called "PIL L", or ARROW L, which was the name of the turbo tape software. I remember I loaded it as per instructions, but then what?? What should I do.

I also have faint memories that another friend from children school got Commodore 64, when we left the children school in 1986, just the summer where we would part ways (as I would start in 7th grade in different school and he'd would have to stay one year longer, as he was 1 year younger than me). So, I know I contacted him at some point after I got the Commodore 64 to copy games which where only turbo tapes ones. I find it hard, that it took me almost 2 years before I contacted him about that. As if I also have a feeling I actually bought the Commodore 64 in 1987, when I was starting in 7th grade, but maybe someday I'll have a chat with him and see if he remembers my timeline.

For now, all points leads me to really around March-May 1988.


Just for my own clarification, this was the entire school period that is used to pinpoint my computer history.

Aug 1981 > Jun 1982 = Grade 1 (Children School) - Age 7 to 8
Aug 1982 > Jun 1983 = Grade 2 (Children School) - Age 8 to 9
Aug 1983 > Jun 1984 = Grade 3 (Children School) - Age 9 to 10
Aug 1984 > Jun 1985 = Grade 4 (Children School) - Age 10 to 11
Aug 1985 > Jun 1986 = Grade 5 (Children School) - Age 11 to 12
Aug 1986 > Jun 1987 = Grade 6 (Children School) - Age 12 to 13

Aug 1987 > Jun 1988 = Grade 7 (Youth School) - Age 13 to 14
Aug 1988 > Jun 1989 = Grade 8 (Youth School) - Age 14 to 15
Aug 1989 > Jun 1990 = Grade 9 (Youth School) - Age 15 to 16

Aug 1990 > Jun 1991 = Grade 10 (High School) - Age 16 to 17
Sep 1991 > Regular daytime work - Age 17 to current age.