HILARIOUS ADS for 1978 Video Games: It's ASTROCADE, the Home Arcade!

Things were simpler then. These prototype video games (which I was lousy at) seemed like some sort of miracle of technology. The bowling game is. . . not remotely similar to bowling, and even the "ball" is kind of diamond-shaped. And I can't see the pins. But this was sold as Fun for the Whole Family, even Grandpa, who sat there in astonishment as this marvel unfolded on the screen. Reminds me a bit of our first VCR (Beta, of course!), when I could not believe the thing would actually record when the TV WASN'T ON! Setting it up seemed to take forever - that timer, my God - and then there was "tracking". There would be this line of what we used to call "snow" along the bottom, and the picture would jump, so you had to wiggle around with the tracking, which sort of worked. Rewinding was a perpetual pain - and the tapes would stick, get caught in the cogs and gears of the machine and have to be pulled out like so much loose ribbon. Renting videos was another matter, and more than once I ended up with a bootleg which had porn recorded at the end. Video days are different now, it's all gone to streaming services (which I never use), though thank GOD we still have YouTube, the gold standard for mediocrity in entertainment.