Atari USA
Meets Atari Netherlands
This week I had
an opportunity to meet Mr Atari (Sijmen Schouten)
in person, due to a business trip to the Netherlands.
We have corresponded via e-mails and chat rooms
for two years, but now came the chance for a
face-to-face meeting.
Sijmen and Sandra
picked me up at my hotel in Arnhem and after
a short dinner stop we headed to their place.
Most of you have
heard of Sijmen by now due to his My-IDE hard drive interface for the 8-bit Atari
home computers. As I have said before,
this is a must-have item if you own an 8-bit
Atari computer.
![[Photo: Sandra and Sijmen playing Asteroids]](images/del1.jpg)
After a quick
photo Sijmen began his tour of the Atari haven
that he and his wife have put together.
![[Photo: Sijmen and Del]](images/del2.jpg)
After
a few minutes I was doing something I hadn't
done in 20 years: playing Atari Superman pinball
and having fun.
![[Photo: Del the pinball wizard!]](images/del3.jpg)
Upstairs I viewed
row after row and shelf after shelf of Atari
history. Looking at his collection makes my
ten Ataris seem like nothing.
![[Photo: Atari collection]](images/del4.jpg)
![[Photo: Sijmen and his collection]](images/del5.jpg)
After long discussions
about the world of Atari past, present and future,
we called it a night around midnight.
I may never get
the chance again to visit Mr Atari and
Jar Jar in person, but I had a great time and
the Atari world is a better place having dedicated
people like this in support of it.
Happy holiday...
del@myatari.net
|