Have you ever been surfing the web, on You Tube or just cleaning out an attic or Garage and ran across something from your childhood that gave you goosebumps? Not because of anything frightening, but because once you see the image you are immediately taken back to the great times when you were younger.
Sometimes at night when I have nothing else going on after the kids are long in bed and my wife can’t stay up anymore, I like to just mess around on You Tube and watch random videos. Top 10 lists (Watch Mojo), any current events, best fails of 2016, you get the idea. The other night for some reason the following video/commercial popped up and of course I had to click on it:
Instant Goosebumps! I had a couple of the non-motorized ones (the cheapos), but would take them to a friend’s house who had pretty much the entire collection. I always wanted the T-Rex and dreamed of having it, but it never came true unfortunately. A 3 minute long commercial is all it took for me to close my eyes and think about how life was as a child in the 80s and early 90s. It’s amazing how an image, or even a simple little video can bring all the nostalgic memories back.
For some maybe it’s not a video, but perhaps a picture or an image? Could be one you come across online or something you see flipping through old pictures. I did an article awhile ago about LEGO and the different sets I used to have (my daughters play with them now). That goosebumps moment? When I found a bunch of old LEGO catalogs like the one below. I was a giddy 33 year old man and looking through 25 year old LEGO catalogs that came with my old sets, no wonder my wife made fun of me! Also, back then LEGO was so much less confusing, you had Town, Space, Pirates and Castle…that’s it! But all awesome.
What about a certain sound or maybe a familiar theme song that gives you the goosebumps moment? I didn’t play a ton of video games back in my childhood days, that didn’t really start until I reached 8th grade and freshman year of high school. I subscribe to Sirius/XM and listen to the 80s on 8 100% of the time when I am in the car. From time to time between songs they play sound bites of 80s TV shows, movies, video games, etc…One day I heard a very short sound bite from Donkey Kong and immediately my mind went racing back in time!
It was Christmas of 1982, granted I was 3 months old, but the story needs to start somewhere. My dad was about the age I am now and he bought himself a ColecoVision, wrapped it and put it under the tree to open. I only know about this from pictures and stories. Of course he bought it for himself, I do the same thing now!
Donkey Kong of course was the pack in game so once I was old enough most of the time spent on the ColecoVision was playing Donkey Kong. It was always a big deal when dad let my brother and I play, we had to plant the seeds earlier in the day hoping he would let us fire it up later on before bed. We collected a pretty big library of games after a while. My dad’s favorite was Venture.
I remember a couple times my brother and me sneaking out of our room late at night and my dad would be up playing this game. The music and the sounds I vividly remember when watching, I can still hum them to this day.
I liked Dr. Seuss Fix up the Mixed up Puzzler. I was young and liked this kind of stuff, my brother and dad hated it and couldn’t wait until I had my time and was done. My mom and sister would play Brain Strainers as they liked Music. Back in the 80s videogames were a time for us to come together as a family and just enjoy each other’s company. You don’t really find that these days anymore.
Of course later on when we got older we were allowed to play this whenever we wanted to. On top of Donkey Kong, Defender and Carnival were mainstays on our television screen.
It wasn’t until I was much older that I realized just how awesome the ColecoVision was compared to the Atari 2600. I always heard about the Atari because it was the system to have back in the early 80s. But when you compare ColecoVision ports to the Atari 2600, there really is no contest. ColecoVision was as close to the arcade experience as you were going to get.
So when is that goosebumps moment for you? A video you came across, an image/picture, or possibly a sound bite of part of a song, maybe a certain smell? Whatever it is, there is something special about reminiscing about how things used to be. And even for a minute travelling back in time to the joys of being a child in the 80s and early 90s.
