HDN

Yes! We need an M&Ms emoji 

6pm has turned into dinner time here, so I will probably be late. 
 

I'm sorry to hear about your mom.  Perhaps there's something else going on.  It's such a difficult time for many with the pandemic causing so much change and havoc.  I wish you both the best. 
YOU must decide how to spend that discount!  Namco Museum is good in any format, but it's up to you! 
 

Happy birthday to @atarianx, too! I may have never met you, but still, best wishes.

Farewell, best handheld. You will be missed. So many memories.

I did some research. That's an early example of a kart racing game loosely based on the album of the same name. 

George's game was called "Here Comes the Fun".  But there was legal trouble -- supposedly he stole it from Eric Clapton. 
 

"Flaming Pie", which either describes the game or the 5200 controller. 

I didn't know Paul made a Supersystem game! I have played Ringo's Channel F game "Richard Starkey's Dunk Tank Mania" before, and I think "John Lennon's Professional Raquetball" appeared posthumously on the Vectrex. I think George may have made a Casio Loopy game at some point in his career, though the title escapes me at the moment. Might have been a JRPG, I forget.
What's the name of this game, Rick? 

I want to like this 100x.

That's awesome. 
In our house, it usually goes like this:  if the game uses one button, Dad dominates.  If 2 buttons, it's close.  If more than 2, the kids dominate. 
My kids are no longer kids, but we'll probably settle on multi-player Mario Party DS later today. 
We play a lot of Super Smash Bros three player, and I almost always lose first.  My only winning strategy is to avoid trouble, stay out of the way, let them duke it out, then try to take on a weakened survivor at the end. 
 

We play a lot of Atari together as it's quick and not too complex. Some favorites are One-on-One, Video Olympics, Outlaw, and Miniature Golf. We emulate a lot of games that I don't have physical carts for. Artillery Duel, Flag Capture, Home Run, Maze Craze, and Sky Diver are all great games we like to play on compilations and emulators.

"You break it, you buy it". 
 

Do a 360 dunk on him! 
 

Guys, a good update.  Things are turning positive today.   The wind has died down, and the temperature is lower.  They are now saying the fires won't spread any further.  We'll have plenty of smoke still, but that's OK by me. 

THANKS for the well wishes.  It does help!

Almost all of my retro consoles have some family history. My dad's SNES he got in college. My NES was my uncle's from college. The 64 was a present from my mom to my dad when they were first married. The XBOX was won in a raffle in 2001 or 2002. Atari 2600 as previously mentioned from his cousin. 7800 and GBA are exceptions. My dad had an OG Game Boy before I was born but my mom apparently threw it out. Game Boy of some kind and 2600 from a-tar-i were my two dream retro systems, and I'm happy to have them both now. Especially these specific 2600 consoles with all that history. I was going to give the Woody back to my dad's cousin someday, but COVID happened so it's chilling at my grandparents for now. I'm trying to think of a good starter set for him. I don't want to part with any of these sweet games, though, so I was thinking of buying some cheap duplicates sometime later when the virus is over and I have some more money from Christmas and Birthday and hopefully from a job sometime soon when it's safe.
 
I'm not sure if Crazy Climber was in there or not, but my dad swore by it even before I got the system or knew the game was rare. My dad's cousin kept a lot of his boxes but not all. If there's another box of boxes someplace and Crazy Climber just happened to be CIB (if it was there), I would lose it. When I was fixing his systems (he had two), the manufacture date on the Woody was June 27th 1981. That's after his birthday, so he may have gotten the system in Christmas of 81 or the first half of 1982, unless he got it earlier than Christmas of 81. That one appeared to have had soda or something spilled on it. The Vader model I think came out in late 1982 or 83. I don't know when that one was made as it didn't have a date in it. He might have gotten it secondhand later in life for all I know. Neither of them remember the Vader even existing. Anyway that would have put it at the right time for Crazy Climber. That was an '83 game I think. 
He kept the manuals almost all of the games, boxes for some as well, but not all. Like I said there is plenty of evidence that there are more games somewhere, but there is no evidence I could find of him being in the Atari club. Unless Crazy Climber went to stores somehow for a limited time, but that's highly unlikely, especially in our area. 
TL;DR: Lots of system memories. There has got to be some games somewhere. No concrete evidence that CC is among them, but no evidence that it's not there either.

My dad had an Odyssey 2 growing up. Some of his favorites were Football! Computer Golf! Crypto-Logic! Quest for the Rings! And Attack of the Timelord! Until I told him about it a few years ago, he didn't even know that Odyssey 2 had a voice module. He had some other games I can't remember at the moment. It's a shame he got rid of it, but at least his cousin and best friend kept his 2600 collection. It's really trippy that I'm playing on the same console he played on when he was younger than I am.
Here's the thing: my dad remembers some games his cousin had for his 2600 collection but I don't have. Games like Pitfall, Frogger, Adventure, and, get this, Crazy Climber. He thinks there might be another box somewhere in his cousin's house. He may just be misremembering, but his theory holds water; I own the boxes for Star Trek SOS, Spider-Man, and Super Challenge Football. Not sure if Crazy Climber is in there, but I'm pretty sure he has another box somewhere. I will have to ask him sometime.

How cool if you could get the games with the family history!  Do it!  Be a pest! 

As a wise man named Phil once said in his podcasts, "games are fun, but always keep first things first". If the worst happens and the fire reaches you, I will do as much as I can to help rebuild your collection. I can't do much, but I'll try my best to help you. But don't worry about the stuff. Try to save the more important things like family heirlooms and pictures first. Not that those are as important as your safety; worry about you and your loved ones first. You're right about things being unimportant, and I hope the fire doesn't reach you at all.
I told my family about your predicament. We are a spiritual lot and we are all praying for you and your family.

You are too kind, thank you.  My collection is nice, but it is just stuff.  I was just thinking that when this ordeal is over, I should probably get rid of a lot of this stuff so I don't feel so anchored or attached.  I have two backup drives with all our pictures and taxes and files.  They are packed and ready by the door. 
Thanks very much.  I'm a "spiritual lot" too, so I believe it helps.  THANKS!

As a wise man named Phil once said in his podcasts, "games are fun, but always keep first things first". If the worst happens and the fire reaches you, I will do as much as I can to help rebuild your collection. I can't do much, but I'll try my best to help you. But don't worry about the stuff. Try to save the more important things like family heirlooms and pictures first. Not that those are as important as your safety; worry about you and your loved ones first. You're right about things being unimportant, and I hope the fire doesn't reach you at all.
I told my family about your predicament. We are a spiritual lot and we are all praying for you and your family.

The winds have died down a bit, which is good.  The worst part of this is the lack of information.  We just have no idea how much danger there really is.  That map doesn't update very often.  The local news is saying that the fires in the area have joined together into a larger fire.  But again, no real info.  I know it's because it's such an unprecedented event, and nobody really knows and that things can change quickly.  From our own observations, all we see is smoke everywhere.  You can actually look at the sun -- it's just a dim pink circle in the sky.  And masks are needed not just for covid, but to breathe outside.  Inside, I have have two HEPA filters going, but it still smells like a campfire.

Thanks everyone for the thoughts.  It's been stressful, but my family and neighbors are all ok. 
 

How terrible. Stay safe, Rick. Hopefully it will be OK. What a horrible year.

I hope you're doing okay Rick. Please update us when you're able to.

Happy birthday to @atarianx, too! I may have never met you, but still, best wishes.