...and on the 7th day god created...the 2600!

The Atari (VCS) 2600 started its career in 1977. The VCS stands for Video Computer System. The VCS was just intended to be a new technical design for new video games, i.e. Atari never thought the system to be capable of running different ROM cartridges; just one game in each console!
But Atari thought it over. So they changed their concept (not the electronics), leaving the internal design unchanged: now it was possible to use different ROM-modules plugged into the added cartridge slot, making the system more flexible. This was Atari's answer to the Fairchild Channel F, which was meant to base on different modules. But Atari's new console was technically superior to that system. The Atari VCS was introduced with just nine games available. Atari didn't want to release any more games.
But Atari didn't know what they have created. Noone at the company, even the engineers, ever thought what the machine was really be able to perform. As time went by, programmers took the VCS to unbelievable performance. And with the first licensed arcade titles like "Space Invaders" and "Pac-Man" (quite a horrible port from the arcades) noone could stop the unpredicted success of the Atari 2600!
Throughout the years, the 2600 went through different stages of development. It started with the wood-grain 6-switch model that was introduced first in October, 1977. And in 1986, together with the Atari 7800, the Atari 2600jr saw the daylight; a more efficiently designed version of the VCS. This version was sold until 1991. What game-console in history can look back onto a 14-years life-span? Noone but the Atari (VCS) 2600!