My first port of call was always the Video Games section which I looked at on a daily basis leading up to Christmas and Birthdays. My sister and I would play the Argos catalogue game where you would have to choose one item to buy from EVERY page and then initial it. I'd often end up having to circle and initial a duvet set that I didn't want to be followed by a Corby trouser press.
When we got to the Video Games section though the choice would be impossible to make as I was presented with all the latest video games related accessories and consoles!
My love for the Argos catalogue has carried on to this day and I still pick up a copy to circle items while playing the catalogue game.
Then something special happened recently when I stumbled across the Argos Book Of Dreams website which Argos have pulled together to make every Argos catalogue available online in a digital format! argosbookofdreams.co.uk
When I heard about this I spent 3 hours going through the catalogues and tracking down the video games items from the era.
What I found very interesting was that my perception of the 80s era of video games and the Argos catalogue was much different from the reality of it.
I've taken screenshots for you all to peruse from 1977 onwards until the year 2000 that will hopefully give you a flavour of gaming retail culture from the '70s onwards and how it has changed in terms of prominence within the retail space.
I found this trawl through memory lane absolutely fascinating and nostalgic, hopefully, you do too!
1977
"Pong Clones Ahoy"
1979
"Enter The Atari"
1980
"Say Hello To The Light Gun"
1981
"Time For Intellivision"
1982
"The Boom Begins"
1983
"Voluptuous Vectrex"
1984
"Special Speccy"
1985
"Where's Everything Gone?"
How odd it is to see just one page of video games goodies after the bonanza of the last few years. I can only assume this was linked to the Computer Games Crash of 1983.
1986
"Double Joystick"
1986 sees just one page and 2 joysticks for sale. What had happened to the Atari? Where's the ZX Spectrum?
1987
"Grandstand & Game N Watch"
Handheld LCD games were the only reps from this era of the Argos catalogue alongside those migraine-inducing Tomy Tronic Games!
1988
"Video Games MIA"
1989
"The Drought Continues"
1990
"I Spy a NES"
1991
"SEGA Joins The Party"
In my mind, this was a great year for Video Games and yet the video games representation the Argos catalogue is still relatively low key.
1992/93
"BACK WITH A BANG!"
This is how I remember the Argos catalogue, chock full of video games goodness, surely this was the greatest time be a kid!?
1994
"Say Hi To CD-i
1995
"Gear Up For The Game Gear"
1996
"Power Up With The PS1"
1997
"SEGA Saturn vs NINTENDO 64"
1998
"THE PC HAS ARRIVED!"
1999
"I Dream Of Dreamcast"
2000
"Gotta Catch 'Em All"
That trip through video games history via the Argos catalogue has brought back so many memories for me.
Let me know if you have any favourite pages from the Argos Book Of Dreams...
Rich
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