Is any song of the Christmas season less relatable than the Twelve Days of Christmas? Since when does Christmas have 12 days? How wealthy would you have to be to afford gifts like 5 gold rings or 11 pipers piping?

On the Twelfth Day of Christmas, my true love gave to me:

Old Gift: 12 Drummers Drumming

Analysis: Drum circles are for hippies.

New Gift: 12 Historic Consoles to start a new World’s Gaming Museum.

So, we’ve made it to the 12th day of Christmas, and you know, it’s been pretty selfish for the past 11 days. So let’s embrace the true spirit of Christmas here, and let’s think about giving back — to the gaming world, of course.

That’s why, if I had a true love giving me 12 gaming gifts, I would spend my largest gift allotment on rare and vintage home gaming consoles, using them to start my own Gaming Smithsonian. The beginning of the world’s largest playable gaming museum.

Here’s a sampling of some of the more rare consoles you and I would be able to try if such a place existed.

12 Historic Consoles that the World’s Gaming Museum should have:

1. Odyssey: The world’s first console had no sound, couldn’t keep score, and came with a deck of cards, poker chips, and play money.

2. Fairchild Channel F: The world’s second system had sound which came from the console box itself, not the TV. So, quit complaining about the Wii remote speaker!

3. Atari 2600: For as many fans as Nintendo or Sony have, you’d think there would still be more hardcore Atari fans, especially when you think about how much this console owned the industry back in the 70’s and early 80’s.

4. Vectrex: First Console to use vector graphics.

5. Intellivision: Atari’s first real contender.

6. TurboGrafx-16: We were so involved in the Super Nintendo vs. Genesis console war, a lot of us never go to play this baby.

7. Neo Geo: I never knew anyone who had enough dough to afford a Neo Geo back in the day. With inflation, the price has been estimated to approximately 1,000 bucks. What’s crazier? Games would cost 200 bucks, and that’s without inflation factored in!

8. Virtual Boy: When I was a kid, there were only two times when I came away from a game thinking, “I never want to do that again.” One was when I played the E.T. game on Atari and the other was when I stuck my face into this torture machine.

9. 3DO: Another console for high rollers.

10: Dreamcast: Sega’s last ditch effort, the Dreamcast console paved the way for the online console based gaming we experience today.

11. Nintendo’s Game & Watch: I know it’s not a console, but I just want to hold one. It’s Nintendo’s first attempt at handheld gaming. Some of these units actually had two screens foreshadowing the DS of today.

12. The Phantom: I know this never came out, but in the Video Game Smithsonian, it at the very least deserves a display case in recognition of the scandal that surrounded this console.

Check out The National Coin-op and Video Game Museum and Videotopia for a glimpse at previous attempts to launch a video game museum/exhibit.

And, we’ve made it guys. I present to you, the best Christmas presents I could think of:

The Gamer’s 12 Days of Christmas

On the 12th day of Christmas, my true love gave to me:

12 Historic Consoles to Start a Video Game Museum

11 Gaming Gifts You Won’t Find This Holiday Season

10 Arcade Games to Create My Own Arcade

9 Games From the Future

8 Cool Abilities from the Gaming World

7 New Episodes of Judgement Day

6 Affectionate Emails from Gaming Celebrities

5 Modern Consoles

4 HDTV’s

3 Changes to the Video Game Awards

2 Copies of Kane & Lynch

1 Video Game Loving Girlfriend

12 Days of Christmas, for Gamers: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12

Tags: 12-days-of-christmas-Gaming, Video-Gaming-12-days-of-christmas

• The 12 Days of Christmas, Revised for Gamers: Day 6
• The 12 Days of Christmas, Revised for Gamers: Day 5
• The 12 Days of Christmas, Revised for Gamers: Day 8
• The 12 Days of Christmas: Revised for Gamers – Day 2
• The 12 Days of Christmas: Revised for Gamers – Day 4
• The 12 Days of Christmas, Revised for Gamers: Day 11
• The 12 Days of Christmas, Revised for Gamers: Day 9
• The 12 Days of Christmas: Revised for Gamers – Day 3

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