If you remember Pong, Atari, Colecovision, Sega Genesis, Apple ][, TRS-80, maybe you need to fix your old Nintendo,
or just find the history of gaming interesting, this book is worth reading.

The book's "hacks" are numbered 1 to 85, ranging from console games, text adventure games, old computer games for DOS, Apple ][ and Commodore 64 among others, MUDs, to creating your own games using game engines such as INFORM (Interactive Fiction). The author also includes details on the history of each system and the history of gaming in general, including the 1983 console gaming market crash involving Atari and third party game creators.

If you're feeling nostalgic after the first 50 pages or so, the author explains how to buy older console systems and games, from Ebay to retailers in Japan and about how much to pay for them. Websites are given, as are the authors
opinions about some of his favorite games.

One of my favorite hacks is hack #6 "Make your NES work like new". The author explains in detail how to take apart your NES and replace the 72-pin connector which causes games to fail. Especially useful if you have or intend to buy an older 8 bit Nintendo system.

The author has owned many game systems and is a wealth of information, his writing is humorous and easy to follow. I give this book 5 out of 5 stars.