Gamer Discovers Nostalgic Gaming Achievement After 40 Years

Highlights

• Gaming achievements have evolved from tangible rewards in the 1980s to digital trophies on modern consoles like Xbox and PS.
• The rediscovery of an Activision patch from 1983 has sparked nostalgia among gamers, showcasing the history of gaming milestones.
• While physical awards like the Activision patches are rare now, some modern gaming competitions still offer unique prizes to winners.

A gamer was hit with a serious case of nostalgia after rediscovering their oldest gaming achievement award, dating back to 1983. The gaming achievement is bringing back fond memories for some gamers, while younger gamers are marveling about the way Activision celebrated gaming achievements long ago.

While in-game achievements have existed in some titles before consoles got involved, gamers really started to take note of achievements in the early 2000s. Starting with the Xbox 360 and PS3, achievement or trophy lists became an effective and exciting way to show one’s progress in a game and brag about pulling off difficult tasks. To this day, some gamers feel they’re not done with a game until they’ve completely polished off the achievement list, even if it means earning some of the most difficult gaming achievements to do so. However, some games had a tangible reward for certain achievements back in the 1980s, as one fan demonstrated.

Reddit user whyforyoulookmeonso shared a photo of a letter and an achievement patch they received from Activision back in the day for their accomplishments in the game Pitfall. Back in the day, the player photographed their TV screen, showing that they had earned at least 20,000 points in the game, and sent it in to Activision. The company, which had only existed for 4 years at that point, responded with the letter congratulating the player on their achievement and encouraging them to keep working hard in its titles. The patch, which could be ironed or sewn on to clothing, noted the player as a member of the Activision Explorers’ Club, giving them a literal badge of honor to show off.

As it turns out, some other gamers on the site also fondly remember these 1980s nostalgic gaming patches, and either earned or tried to earn their own. While Pitfall was a popular game, it wasn’t the only Activision title to get this treatment. In fact, there was a whole slew of releases from the game publisher that fans could earn achievements from, including Tennis, Space Shuttle, and Chopper Command. Pitfall 2 also had its own patch and achievement, tasking the player with earning 99,000 points to get a Cliff Hangers patch.

Gaming Awards Have (Mostly) Gone Digital

These days, gaming achievements are usually limited to a screen. Other than a record of points earned, there isn’t much to physically show for clearing a game 100%. However, in some rare cases, physical awards have made a comeback. A chance to be added to the Xbox Hall of Fame, for example, came with an actual Xbox Series X for the winner. While the Activision patches are nostalgic, it’s unfortunately unlikely that any major game publisher will do something like that as a regular thing ever again.