Take a trip back in time to 1986
 

Back then, I was 10 years old and Nintendo hadn't happened yet. There was no internet, no walkthroughs or hint books. Nor was there any such thing as Windows, everything was on MS-DOS.

What we had instead was Software Etc. and Babbages in the mall. I went there to read Computer Gaming World(which was the only magazine about computer games) and find out about all the games, which were usually either flight simulators, wargames or adventure games.

Does anyone remember Babbages and Software Etc.? Or are you all too young to remember them?

Yeah i remember them, they pretty much morphed into gamestops/EB games. Theyr pretty much still the same stores as i remember them, except with alot less focus on pc gaming.
Theres one store nearby thats been around for 20ish years and its had just about every electronic boutique name you can think of, at one point or another.

Sadly, I was BORN in 1986, so don't remember any of it.

The earliest memories I have of going to a store to buy PC games was going to a shop near our house when I was in primary school and buying games on floppies in plastic sleeves, which were actually shareware I'm pretty sure but they were quite cheap so i wasn't that upset about it. It was in like a general PC store, they seemed to mainly sell hardware.

The first adventure game i remember having .... was probably Grim Fandango! I got that for my birthday a year after it came out. I remember playing the demo off one of my imported PC gamer magazines from the UK. Those coverdiscs used to be the best time of the month for me.

Talk about a great way to start my adventure gaming habit!

I remember three chains: Babbages, Software Etc. (spent every Friday eve there reading magazines, talking with the sales staff, and wishing the release dates on the board behind the counter would come faster) and Softwarehouse -- which became CompUSA, in the end. And I definitely read CGW religiously.

I was born in '83, but I started playing AGs when I was five, so I do remember all this (even picking up SoMI the day it came out).

Yay, I was born in '83 too and got into adventure games around 1994. I asked my mother to buy me a LucasArts adventure pack that included Sam and Max because at the time they were all over the gaming magazines. Very good memories, but generally I don't like looking back now as I start yearning to return there.

Waldensoftware for the win.

Yeah, we had Waldensoftware here. Got my first Amiga 500 from there.

Thread reminds me a lot of this one. :D

I got my Commodore 64 in 1988. That was when I discovered Maniac Mansion and Zak McKracken. Been hooked on adventures ever since.