My sister came down to visit last month. Six months ago, she moved across the country, and she found things when she was unpacking she’d forgotten about–most items were from the clean-out of our late father’s house.

Imagine how awesome it was when she pulled this out of her bag?

As kids in the 1980s, we played a lot of games. It took our minds off the things that were going on around us, and it was far more entertaining than the TV–even if many times we cheated or got into your typical sibling spats. Racko, Uno, Cosmic Encounter, Battleship, and Connect Four were common, but our favorites always revolved around current movies: Battlestar Galactica and The Rescuers (board games based on the films) were first choices, as were the Atari versions of Raiders of the Lost Ark and E.T.

And, of course, there was this E.T. card game. We opened it to check it out, and it was in near mint condition (despite how much we played with it).

What really cracks me up  is the highlighter. It’s probably been in there for thirty years. What the hell was I marking, anyway? My sister says it’s just because I loved office products (I still do) and found every excuse to have them around. Even though a form of highlighter existed in the first half of the century, the product as we know it today in all of its fluorescent glory started in the 1980s. I remember it was the most exciting thing to hit middle school (get a brief history of the highlighter here: http://www.historyofpencils.com/writing-instruments-history/history-of-highlighters/).

If you’ve a love for that old E.T. Atari 2600 game I mentioned (it was actually one of the few games at which I kicked ass!) then you’ll be pleased to learn that, as of this posting (meaning it could go away if you’re reading this years from now), there’s an online version available! You can play it here: http://www.retrogames.cz/play_083-Atari2600.php?language=EN