In 1972, a giant was born. It was named Atari. In 1977 the giant introduced the Atari VCS (Video Computer System), soon renamed the 2600. Over 30 million Atari 2600 consoles were sold, and hundreds of millions of game cartridges. To a generation, Atari was more familiar than Ford or Velveeta.

In its first year, Atari jetted to the top of a list of of decade memorables that included the Bee Gees, Disco, Love Canal, Jonestown, Susan B Anthony dollars, John Wayne Gacy, Jimmy Carter's administration, Donna Summer, Bart Simpson, the Iran Hostage Crisis, Roots, etc. A 10 year old in 1978 learned about Love Canal at school, but flew home to play Atari Star Ship, Combat or, by 1980, Space Invaders. My son was one of those 10 year olds. Thanks, Atari.

The Atari name today is far from a distant memory. It represents one of the three largest publishers of video games in the United States.

Featured on this set of magnets are six of the nine games Atari introduced in 1977.

Each magnet is 2-1/8" x 2-3/4"