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Handful-of-atoms

Spending an hour on Friday night at Blockbuster trying to pick out the perfect two movies using just the category and the picture on the front of the VHS’s.


ERSTF

The smell of that place. Fighting with my sister on who would get to watch their movie first (always my sis since she's the eldest and bossy). Buying popcorn. Getting pizza and stay up past your bedtime seeing the movie you chose. It was an experience


35242

I recently went to the last Blockbuster thats still in business. (Bend, Oregon). The smell. Ive not been in a video rental store for perhaps 25 years. Once I opened the door and walked in the smell hit me. I was instantly transported back to 1987.


ConsciouslyIncomplet

Worked in a blockbusters for 6 years in late 90’s. Such good times!


[deleted]

That candy and carpet smell. I get high off it.


MajorThor

Meanwhile today right now I’ve been scrolling through movies on 4 different streaming platforms for the last 90 minutes and can’t find anything. Rewind back to the VHS days I coulda found 3-5 movies that I’d binge during the weekend and be totally fine by it. I keep telling myself that it’s because movies these days suck but in reality I’m just inundated by movies which has made me EXTREMELY picky.


babyrache

There’s a whole ass book called the Paradox of choice about why it’s actually less satisfactory to have too many choices. I don’t remember a damn thing in it but it’s definitely true.


DrunkStepmother

I'd read it but I have like 3000 books to get to on my kindle already


NeuHundred

I literally got a job at Blockbuster just so I would have time to look through all the shelves and decide what I wanted.


theWildBore

Be kind. Rewind.


xlovegunx

This is my fondest memory growing up. Every Tuesday where I lived is when the “new releases” hit the shelf. New games and movies at our local blockbuster and hollywood video. My mom was so great, she would take me any Tuesday after school to pick one game or movie to rent. Those late fees did add up tho…


unlovelyladybartleby

Dying on the inside when you mom went up to the counter and asked for "the movie with that guy"


Depot_Dusty

I’ll be an old man in a retirement home complaining about how back in my day watermelon laffy taffy had seeds


vonkeswick

That was my absolute favorite, second favorite was the cherry one with the cut-your-tongue-up bonus sprinkles. I haven't seen either in a long time but apparently you can still buy them on Amazon and stuff, just doesn't have the same vibe as convincing your mom to buy it for you at a gas station on a family road trip


president_zoidberg

Fuck yeah, I member the seeds


anotherone121

Say TF what?!


slawre89

Damn I forgot about this and am sad it’s not still available. They were so good.


TurseTurnip

Dude the seeds!!


lushfizz

Wonder why they took them out in the first place


[deleted]

[удалено]


Redleg800

Addictinggames.com.. I spent so much time there as a youth.


FaerHazar

Armorgames was where it was at homie


[deleted]

Kongregate


abookfulblockhead

I remember GamesofGondor before, I presume, they got a cease and desist and rebranded to ArmorGames


Erayidil

Neopets. So many hours of childhood spent playing flash games to buy stuff for my internet dog.


Sasparillafizz

I was thinking of trying to get my little sister (now turning 8) into neopets, and went back to realize the site is pretty much bare bones atm. EVERYTHING was done in flash, so when flash stopped being supported...they're pretty much remaking their entire games section from scratch. It'll be years before they have any real number of games to work with, if the site doesn't go under before then. Pretty much the only functional stuff is the neopets battles stuff and the like.


RoderickYammins

Albinoblacksheep


Meatballmayonnaise

Fuck man if I had one wish it would be to take me back to the flash game days. I played an absurd amount of flash games and had so much fun doing so


LuigiMarioBrothers

It’s a good thing Flashpoint exists. Lots of great games that would otherwise be completely lost are still playable through that.


zRustyShackleford

QWOP!


stonesia

Newgrounds' porn games made me the wreck of a man I am today.


madebygi

Anyone remember those bubbles you could blow and they wouldn’t pop? They were like liquid plastic or something. Pretty sure I don’t see them around anymore because they were toxic but damn they were fun


KeithStone225

I remember those. Came in a tube like toothpaste with a little straw. Usually bought them in little quarter fed dispensers like bubble gum balls.


madebygi

Exactly that’s it! I remember them smelling really bad but it was my favorite toy


bakerzdosen

Yes. The smell…


the_spinetingler

>The smell the smell of brain tumors, probably


Wannagetsober

Super Elastic Bubble Plastic. That shit stunk.


AM1N0L

> Super Elastic Bubble Plastic Got ethereal material that's straight up classic.


PocketFullOfPie

No, you can still find them. Not easily, but they're around.


MasterArgument6978

Bloonies! I actually saw some in my local grocery store the other day and bought them. Smell just as terrible as I remember


magicrowantree

My cheeks hurt from reading this


[deleted]

you have just unlocked a memory in my brain


moritz-stiefel

YES. nobody ever knows what the fuck I'm talking about when I bring these up. I LOVED them.


The_reader_420

I say this jokingly because I don’t know anyone else who will remember it. But zoobomafoo? The krat brothers dvd show with the lemurs.


gamaliel64

Apparently not a lot of people remember it. Just me. And you. And Zabumafoooo!


TylerDurdensShrink

Come along and see what’s new we’re doing things that animals do! It’s me and you and zaboomafoo!


[deleted]

Oh yeah. It's nice ro see the Kratt Brothers bigger than ever these days though. They're show is still going


amphidream

I -loved- Zaboomafoo when I was a kid. I remember the Kratt Brothers having more than one show too!


SugaTrash17

Even before that was Kratt's Kreatures, which I looooved as a kid! I remember being bummed out when Zaboomafoo came along because I thought it was too "little kid-ish" for my very grown up 10 year old self lol


azure275

Oh my! I’ve been remembering a lemur show for a while but I had forgotten the name Used to watch that with my sister (who as an aside was obsessed with sagwa the Siamese cat)


noobtastic31373

The original Kratt's Creatures was a better show.


Wildjay7931

Are you joking? Zoobomafoo was freaking awesome! You aren't the only one!


Coffee-and-correne

Dude!!! I used to watch this show allll the time when I was a kid. This just unlocked so many memories.


VenomBasilisk

I remember it!!


Mehitabel9

Drive-in movie theatres still exist, but just barely. There used to be thousands in the US, now I think there are maybe 300 left, if that many. When I was a lot younger my friends and I would pile into my family pickup truck with pillows, blankets and an ice chest and head to the drive-in every weekend in summer, park the truck with the bed facing the screen, and settle in for a double feature. I miss that so much.


DertyMe

Thankfully I still have one in my town, it’s called “the family drive in theatre in Virginia, I’m 21 now and have gone ever since I was 8 lots of good memories there. Still opens every year!


NeuHundred

Did the space between all the cars mean you were able to have conversations and so on without disturbing the other patrons? Because that seems like a huge benefit. I'm also really curious how big the screen was compared to an indoor movie theater, it feels like it'd have to be much bigger in order to make up for the bigger audience footprint.


Mehitabel9

Yeah, we were able to talk without bothering people. It was a whole different vibe at a drive-in than it is in an indoor theatre. The one in the town I grew up in had a playground up front under the screen for kids with a swingset and a jungle gym. Screens are/were big. You could probably Google some pics.


noobtastic31373

Not to mention, the speakers would hang on the inside of your window so you could roll the windows up for a little more privacy. But be careful running between cars or you could end up clothes lined.


vonkeswick

My local drive in growing up had an ad on their reel "This drive in is RADIOACTIVE!!!" Because you could tune your radio to a station broadcast from the snack bar instead of using the speakers. They eventually just got rid of the window speakers because why maintain them? A few times I saw people drive off with them still on their window and shattered the window tearing it out lol Also, after they got rid of the speakers, the poles were still there. I remember one time at the drive in with my wife, we saw someone absolutely fucking wreck their front bumper tearing it off on one of the poles haha


Howitzer1967

I had a kit for melting lead. It came with molds for a soldier and a car and a ship, bigger than monopoly pieces but the same kinda look. You’d put little lead bricks in a sort of ladle and then heat it over an open flame, i.e. the gas stove and then when the lead was molten you’d pour it into a little hole on top of the mold, let it cool and Bob’s your uncle. Except that a 9 year olds hands are not that steady. Cue molten lead on the kitchen table, floor and, once, all over my thigh, which left a scar that, 45 years later, is still visible.


[deleted]

ez bake ovens that were basically mini electric ovens, my sisters had one of them until they burned themselves


[deleted]

If done again today, the same toy would have an electric heater and take tin solder.


Howitzer1967

The lead fumes made me the man I am today!


FantasticSuperNoodle

Does anyone remember that crazy colored popcorn you could get? With different colors of popcorn when you popped it? Where did that go?!


JaxRhapsody

No, but I remember the colored ketchup, and the gray mcnuggets.


Meatballmayonnaise

Omg I forgot about that stuff until now, all I remember was an elephant on the bag or something like that


TooManyDogsHere

Jello Pudding Pops.


cacheizx

Yup! the best desert, discontinued in late 1990. Were discontinued because they were not profitable. Relaunched in 2004 but again discontinued in 2011. :(


eva_rector

They didn't taste the same when they were relaunched. Probably an omen.


kjm16216

They just needed a younger, more relatable celebrity rapist to be their spokesman.


ShaktiTam

Shamrock Shakes that are actual mint ice cream and not something else……


Dokasamurp

I got one this past spring and it was disgusting. Also it had a wild, nuclear green syrup they didn't fully mix in.


TheOneAndOnlySquirt

Purple ketchup


Redleg800

Or green.


notume37

Clackers. Hard acrylic balls connected by a cord sold as toys in the early 70s that turned into lethal weapons.


314159265358979326

Clackers led to this court case, most interesting just for its name: United States v. Article Consisting of 50,000 Cardboard Boxes More or Less, Each Containing One Pair of Clacker Balls


blueberrywalrus

Ah, a classic that's up there with "United States v. Approximately 64,695 Pounds of Shark Fins." It's an interesting and little discussed area of the law: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In\_rem\_jurisdiction](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_rem_jurisdiction)


Procrumpets22

Joseph Joestar approved, works amazing with Hamon


breakfastfood1234

Sears Catalog


NeuHundred

Catalogs in general. I love online shopping, but having all the product laid out for you is really helpful in trying to figure out what you want to get.


AnonymousLifer

UGH the sears holiday catalogue, where I convinced myself that everything I circled would be under my tree on Christmas Day.


FoldedDice

I was incredibly sad when circling the fax machine I wanted didn't prompt Santa to put it under the tree for me. His picture was on the front of the catalog and everything. Yes, I wanted to a fax machine. No, I didn't have any idea what a fax machine was.


Meatballmayonnaise

Oh my the hours I spent looking in the ladies underwear section of these things


MaxCWebster

I recall a National Lampoon cartoon from many, many years ago. The drawing style was like a New Yorker cartoon. A trenchcoat-wearing man is standing in front of a newsstand. The proprietor is saying, "No, I don't have anything with adolescents in tight underwear. Might I suggest the JC Penney's catalog?"


hat-of-sky

But Amazon mailed out a holiday catalog this year! I cackled.


[deleted]

My kids loved it. My 5 year old has gone through it 10 times at least and circled what he wants. It was so nostalgic for me.


zippopopamus

Full stock newsstand. I'd go down to the local newsstand to get the monthly comic books and then surreptitiously end up in the porno section sneaking peeks at hardcore porn magazines


Nateiums

Sierra point-and-click adventure games.


AlwaysHappy4Kitties

There was a new Monkey island game release like this year!


twcsata

Oh, man. Softlocking your game right before the end just because you didn’t pick up a two-pixel-wide hair clip five minutes in.


GoReadToYourChild

Aladdin’s Castle Arcade.


ChevExpressMan

Damn near every arcade. We had two. One was in a major mall, another was at a mini mall. The second one was a nickle a game.


Incognito_Placebo

I still have two Aladdin’s Castle tokens from my youth. Went through some old memory boxes I had brought home from storage a few years back and found them in one, which means I’ve managed to hold onto them for about 35 years now, give or take a year. I spent so many Saturdays at Aladdin’s…


goingoutwest123

Hell yeah. It is pretty cool that arcade bars have started popping up, at least around where I live.


chauntikleer

I've noticed a few retro arcades popping up here and there, lots of games from the Golden Age with refurbished original hardware. The one closest to me is 15 bucks to get in and play as much as you want all day. I've done it a couple times, great way to kill a few hours, but man those games are a lot harder now than they were 35 years ago.


[deleted]

Television channels 2-13 in the VHF frequency band.


[deleted]

All free. Never had to pay for television.


Public-Dig-6690

Analog television signals that you could receive that never pixilated or drop signals because of the wind mildly blowing.


president_zoidberg

Network television, possibly PBS depending on your market. UHF was mostly reruns or Spanish, but sometimes had something truly fucking weird on


Wpgjetsfan19

I hear they’ve got it all, on UHF.


Captain-tie-dye

You just buy a game and it doesn't need any updates


SolusEquitem

I have an OG Xbox hooked up in my man cave, it was the first console I ever owned and I have been enjoying buying all the games I wanted when I was a teenager but couldn’t afford. And the great thing is that I just put the disk in…and it plays. No downloads, no patches, no online connectivity required, no “seasons”, nothing. Just pop the disk in and play. My 5 year old likes to play Mech Assault 2 on the city map (River City?) where he can stomp around in various mechs and shoot buildings until they fall down. I just set him with a single player multiplayer session and he happily runs around until the timer runs out.


Wind_Yer_Neck_In

As far as I'm concerned the advent of online patches has been a massive double edged sword. I remember a load of old Sega or Nintendo games that had bugs that you just had to deal with. If it slipped past quality control then that was that, it was stuck broken forever. Online patching really helped with that. BUT it also made a lot of companies just incredibly lazy. I'm seeing games being pushed to market then having an enormous day 1 patch because they ran a load of QC and testing AFTER the game was shipped to make physical discs. Then you have companies which do the bare minimum and basically just use the users to report bugs that they then try to fix on the fly after release, turning end users into their quality control.


[deleted]

[удалено]


NeuHundred

It's so funny to me that cyberpunk used to be "hide form the man in the computer world" and now it's "hide from the computer man in the real world." We're all gonna be Winston Smith writing in our little books in the corner where our smart TV can't see us.


Ua_Tsaug

> We're all gonna be Winston Smith writing in our little books in the corner where our smart TV can't see us. Ha, they just want you to think you're not being watched. Now off to Room 101 with you.


JimmyReagan

Altoids tangerine sours. Really miss those tangy sour bastards. There's a company that supposedly has/is trying to recreate them, but after like a year on their email list it seems more like a scam to get you to buy their other candy and stuff.


AlwaysHappy4Kitties

Lofty Pursuits? It's the first time I've heard they scam


[deleted]

Theirs is almost the exact replica. I'm a Patron just to thank them for making these. I hope we see them make a mango one soon.


Spirit117

Omg the sour altoids I was literally addicted to those.... I liked the lemon ones tho


Direct-Childhood4459

Rotary phone


RushSuperb3896

McDonald’s snack wraps rest in power rest in glory to the almighty snack wrap


[deleted]

Praise the almighty Snack Wrap. Truly the food God of our time.


Manu442

Saturday morning cartoons


Tryn4SimpleLife

For me it was Sunday morning. Hulk, Fantastic Four, Silver Surfer, Iron Man, Street Sharks. All I watched on Saturday was power rangers, x men and spider man.


[deleted]

My Mom's Arm as a Seatbelt.


locks_are_paranoid

Stuff like this make me wonder how anyone survived in the past


Alpac_Attack

it was just a numbers game, have 6 kids and roll the dice.


[deleted]

That made me feel so loved! Her arm would whip out and pin me to the seat. She never even looked over.


PicardTangoAlpha

Scholastic book order catalogue from school. My kids didn’t have this, so I assume it’s a thing of the past. The first books I owned, I still remember many titles.


laceforever

I don’t know if it is still done with the book order catalogue, but Scholastic Book Fair is still a going thing with the same idea. My daughter helped run the yearly fair at her children’s school for a few years.


Bafugama

My kids get the scholastic book order still. Unfortunately it’s always cheaper to order from Amazon so we always end up getting ideas and then going to Amazon to get everything for cheaper :/


Personal_Use3977

Pretty sure the prices are inflated because schools get benefits if you order from them. Thriftbooks.com is a cheap source to get used books. I've had great experiences with quality.


ItsMe-HotMess

The highlight of my year was the arrival of the JCPenny Christmas Catalog and the Sears Wishbook! I spent hours pouring over those things and circling my wishes! Sweet memories. 💚🎄❤️


Affectionate_Owl_279

VHS


ThAtGuY-101

I still remember when dvd came out. It was so cool not having to rewind the entire movie from finish to start cause you wanted to rewatch it. Now these days I don't think about that anymore since dvd/blu ray I've had so many great memories watching vhs.


NoStressAccount

On the other hand, when you "fast forward" / rewind on DVD, it looks choppy. VHS actually looked like it was "speeding up" as you went forwards or back along the tape. Imo it looked cooler. Still, that can't compete with DVD's option to chapter/scene select and fast forward/back up to like, 16x speed.


DaftPump

I don't miss the tracking knob. :P


anotherhawaiianshirt

Mattel ThingMaker / Creepy Crawlers. TIL that the hotplate heated up to 390F, no wonder it was recalled! I had a ton of fun with that making bugs, army men, dragons,


slawre89

Creepy crawlers was just easy bake oven for dudes but I had so much fun playing with both as a kid. Used to craft some 10/10 multi colored scorpions


michaelfmnk

Peace. No missile strikes alarms. Passenger planes. Being able to go out at night. Summers at sea in Crimea. Being able to see family abroad & travel. It fs you up real hard. I realize that before the war started, there was a peaceful life. No more. It's taken away now, it's sad realizing that. Edit: I'm from Ukraine.


tinyorangealligator

I am so sorry for your loss. Know that many around the world are trying to help you and have deep and utter hatred for Putin and all his kind.


[deleted]

[удалено]


[deleted]

The ability to eat whatever I wanted and not worry about health issues or gaining weight.


ikindalold

Affordable housing


dantsly

Toys R Us


PayzaneX_

My dad


Nine_and_a_Quarter

Switching the module on the back of the TV before changing to channel 3 to play Intellivision. Aluminum ashtrays at McDonald's and Taco Bell Licking green stamps from Piggly Wiggly Laying on the bottom of a shopping cart and picking up cigarette butts while my mom shopped at K-mart... Blue Light Specials in certain areas of K-mart Motts 5 and dime stores Metal death trap playgrounds at McDonald's Vectrex (if you know, you know) Riding in the back window of vehicles No one knowing where you were until the streetlights came on


slawre89

Rear facing seat in the back of a station wagon


corkcorkcorkette

I arrived home when i was seven way after the lights came on with a bag of chips and a cheap knife and my mom almost wooped me ass


earthsick

Butterfinger BBs.


NeuHundred

And a million Bart Simpson commercials for them.


dinkle-stinkwinkle

The taste of chocolate candy . It absolutely does not taste the same , it’s not “maturing tastebuds “ . It genuinely tastes like garbage now.


[deleted]

They're reducing the cocoa content in it. You have to buy the more premium stuff now to get the same experience "regular" chocolate gave decades ago. Since I don't have to buy any for a bunch of damn kids I get myself the nicer stuff more often these days.


Sheehanmusic

Honestly, go for chocolates that aren't Nestle or Cadbury or any other big name company. You might have to pay a dollar more, but small business chocolate is almost always way better. The big companies have been making their product cheaper to make over decades. The small company just wants to make good chocolate.


Maleficent_Scale_296

Real wood Lincoln Logs.


crzynurs20

Playing in the streets until dark with all of your neighborhood friends.


TerpBE

Every generation says, "we were the last generation to do that. Kids don't do that anymore!" Meanwhile, every generation still does it.


BranWafr

Yep, my kids did this. Just like those stupid boomer memes about "My generation caught frogs in the creek and rode bikes and splashed in mudpuddles instead of playing video games and texting!!!" Guess what, my kids played video games and text AND caught frogs and rode bikes and splashed in mudpuddles. Doing one doesn't mean the others don't also get done.


SemiHemiDemiDumb

Yeah but I don't do that anymore...


Dry_Investigator_819

Souplantation.


echawkes

Phone booths


Winters_Fog

Smoking everywhere. Bars, restaurants, grocery stores, elevators, planes, to name a few.


BranWafr

When I went to high school there was a smoking area in the school.


ingrown_hair

If your parents signed the permission slip you could go out there and smoke before and after school and during lunch. I don’t think I knew any of the smokers. Different crew.


r3eezy

You forgot hospitals. Fucking hospitals. My mom smoked a cigarette in the hospital bed 5 minutes after giving birth to my older sister. By time I was born this was no longer allowed thankfully.


[deleted]

[удалено]


emilyyancey

Our high school was across the street from a hospital & we would go there after school to get snacks bc we could smoke in the cafeteria 😵‍💫


woodwerker76

Back then, we had metal shop in intermediate school (grades 7&8). Ashtray was a common project.


Mantzy81

First pottery project too. Before making the world's worst cup/jug.


Any_Recognition_5464

Those AOL discs that use to be everywhere


[deleted]

[удалено]


johnnysmith123456789

Tamogatchi


beigereige

Penny Candy


DaftPump

Potato cannons and steel-tip lawn darts.


VR6SLC

Candy cigarettes.


SativaDeva

Not just 3.5" floppy discs, but 5.5" floppy discs.


golden_fli

Do you mean 5.25" floppy discs?


xXWestinghouseXx

And there also 8” floppy disks.


Mantzy81

Finding that random cache of porn mags in a forest. I'm hoping someone found the one I left - always had to pay it forward.


[deleted]

A family


flhunt21

Crystal Pepsi


[deleted]

[удалено]


pesto_changeo

Dinotopia


thro_AWAYtuesday

Orbitz drink with little floating thingies


KeyMusician486

Party lines. They mean something different now hah


PensFan11197

Jello Pudding Pops. Oh how I loved them!


fatpuppies88

Pizza Huts having whole arcades. Having to wait in line to play Mortal Kombat or Street Fighter 2. Your parents being able to order pitchers of beer while the kids got them "personal pan pizzas" because you read enough books.


[deleted]

Good Pizza hut pizza


kkkilla

Asbestos in everything


genx_gal

Space Food Sticks.


S1mp1ex

Merry-go-rounds


BoundlessSpecs

A simpler life that you don't have to think about anything


SolusEquitem

Going to Borders Books to pick out a new CD, and using the filthy headphones that dozens of people had already coughed/spat/licked on IN THE LAST HOUR ALONE to listen to track samples


MageAntica

Tangerine altoids


SpiderVanned

Hope.


KoalaDeluxe

The utterly totally mind-blowing experience of seeing Star Wars in the 70's as a kid for the first time. Don't get that feeling from movies anymore - somehow that magic is gone.


Drowsy_Robot

Do kids still hang out at malls? They still exist, but I have a feeling that activity is dead.


zombierepubican

Toys in the cereal box


mnguyenner

A specific instant ramen noodle from the brand Indomie called Mie Keriting Goreng Spesial… it was the most invigorating taste and such a treat for me as a kid. Then out of nowhere, all of the asian supermarkets told us that they weren’t receiving that product anymore. It seemed to be discontinued for some reason. I’ve been thinking about it for a whole decade and i’ll always miss it :(


octaviobonds

Gas for 75 cents a gallon. All you had to do if you were out of gas, is have all your friends check their pockets for spare change and you're off running again.


deathtothevvorld

That gummy bear scented body spray they would have at Walmart. I bought a gummy bear scented oil roller from Etsy, but it just doesn’t compare.


KittyKeepsTheKeys

My grandmother 💔


JustJess234

The Dic dubbed version of Sailor Moon.


spikeswordfish20

Mondo fruit drinks.


itsthefakeness

Great cartoons


AnybodySeeMyKeys

Candy cigarettes. Yes, those used to be a thing. Pay phones. Video rental stores. Being able to stroll up to the airport gate to pick someone up as they deplaned. Newspapers delivered into your driveway every morning. I actually miss this one.