The nice thing about owning old stuff is finding it still works when new stuff no longer does. Case in point, my Vectrex console. I’ve had three of them over time and own one now, but not because I had to replace them at all. The first one I gave to some guy who was going through some hard times and needed something to do while recuperating from an operation. The second I sold off to someone who wanted it and paid me well for it and a bunch of boxed games. The third one (pictured) I bought about 14 years back and it gets some use every now and then, but not as much as I have time for. It’s heavy and built like a tank, unlike most of today’s consoles that break down from all sorts of stupid internal and external issues…

How tough is this beast? I was doing some light cleaning about two weeks ago and put it on my bed on its side. I put a heavy bin of press materials next to it and turned around to lift a box of demo discs and as I was turning, I saw the Vectrex slip (eek!) and fall off the bed almost two feet to the carpet below (eek). I guess it was good that I didn’t wasn’t holding that box of discs of I’d probably had dropped in diving for that old console or worse, tried to stop the fall with a well-placed (but bone-filled) foot, which probably would have resulted in a busted toe or worse. Anyway, once my heart restarted, I righted the Vectrex, plugged it in and war greeted with a start-up screen followed by the dulcet tones of the nine-note Mine Storm theme playing. Yep, the controller was fine, thanks for asking.

Amusingly enough (or not so amusingly enough), I have some busted Xbox 360’s nearby (the system that’s given me the most trouble, by the way) and know folks who’ve gone through a bunch of those plus a few other more modern consoles. I think only Nintendo has gotten away with making a console that can take a punishment, but I tend to treat my GameCube through Wii U extremely well. I’d say my WIi U goes through the most hell from me because I need to take it outside in a bag to a wi-fi spot in order to update it when required. Granted, I carry it in a nicely padded bag, but it’s a bulky thing with those dual AC adapters and that sensitive (and expensive) GamePad. It’s gotten banged a little from careless pedestrians stumbling around and some kid almost knocked it off a table when he was playing somewhere he shouldn’t and dove under the table I was at to get a ball. Thankfully, I never let the system out of my sight and grabbed the base unit as it was about to tip off the table.

Anyway, I keep hearing about people griping about whatever new phone or device they’ve bought failing royally at basic stuff, falling prey to hacks or other info-grabbing nonsense and so forth and so on and I just chuckle because you’d figure the better tech gets, the more durable and reliable it becomes. I guess not, huh? Granted, if your phone or tablet was made like a Vectrex or NES, you’d need a REALLY large pocket to tote it around in. Then again, with phones getting BIGGER and not smaller these days, you’d figure that they’d at least be clumsy-proof (or bounce instead of fall apart when they hit a hard surface)…