Forgotten fun: Texas Instruments TI-99/4A computer

Nice to see some of those old systems running. I have a Ti-99/4A thrift store find stashed in a closet with a bunch of accessories. It's pretty fun to play with from time to time. I wish I had the time to sit down and come up with some basic programs or type some in from a book. BTW, Amazon has lots of Ti-99/4A books available used.

TI-99 is one of those "that got away" for me. I saw one in minty box at Salvation Army for $10 about a year ago. I initially thought, "What do I need that thing for?" and went on my way. Next day, I had one of those "What did I just do?" moments. Went back to the thrift and it was gone.

I hate that feeling. We just moved back from Florida where the thrift stores were teeming with old game consoles. Here in Atlanta they seem far more rare.

I have always been curious about this computer. I really do not know enough about them. It always looked kinda neat in a fringe sorta way.

There's only one game I keep plugged in to mine, and that's Hunt The Wumpus. The computer itself has always been more of a novelty to me.

I never had one of these. It still does have an active homebrew scene.

In terms of being an oddball 16-bit system ahead of its time, the TI-99/4(A) has more in common with the Intellivision than what one at first would think. How was it, did Milton Bradley develop it together with Texas Instruments and got ousted from the project at one point? In theory it could've been MB vs Mattel (before MB later on took up on the Vectrex).

When I was a young lad, my father picked one of these up on clearance from a Sears store. I had a tape recorder to save my TI basic programs that I'd type in from Compute! magazine... and had Hunt the Wumpus. Hearing that dude click the keyboard key down brought back a lot of memories...