The Raspberry Pi – now in the grubby mits of the UCHG.

But what to do with it?

For those not in the know, the Raspberry Pi is a teeny tiny but fully fledged computer – complete with full HD output, and powered by a smartphone style processor. Originally created to encourage kids to get into computer programming, they have been embraced as equally by the modding (=nerdy) community.

We are obviously among the latter. But now comes a decision – what should be done with Pi? We can’t eat it – therefore, can we play games on it? Or should we watch South Park on it?

Should it become the bastard child of the fullsize arcade machine? We do have plenty of spare buttons… Perhaps it is time for an arcade coffee table? Or would this result in homelessness from our significant others?

So many questions, so little Pi.

While we ponder the possibilities, feel free to leave suggestions in the comments…

It would be fair to say that the UCHG has a wide and varied collection when it comes to consoles. The collection ranges from early black and white Binatone machines to the now not so cutting edge PS3. If you add them all together, including the duplicated machines, there is somewhere in the region of 25 consoles and 1 arcade machine – and that is without including the handhelds.

With a collection comprising of so many units it is inevitable that some consoles are looked upon with more favor than others. For many years I have overlooked the Nintendo 64s in our collection. Treating them like the overweight kid on sports day I would pick almost anything over them. I also find the strange three pronged control pad to be about as appealing as touching Susan Boyle’s lady space. Even with gloves on you just know its not going to feel right. It was not just the deformed pad that put me off giving this Nintendo a try. On the rare occasions I did play the N64 I tended to stick to Mario Kart and Golden Eye. This has led to a very limited understanding of whats hot and whats not when it comes to N64 games.

It is this gap in my gaming CV that made me snap up a bargain N64 on Ebay for £18.

An N64! Another welcome addition to the Nintendo section of the collection. Between us we now have 3! #retrogaming twitter.com/UCHG2008/statu…

— UCHG (@UCHG2008) May 31, 2013

As I waited for the postman to deliver my new prize I started to get more and more excited. By the time it arrived I could hardly contain myself. I had to use every ounce of self restraint as I unwrapped the package and opened the box. Like a teenage boy during his first sexual experience – all I wanted to do was get it out and stick something in it… A game. Stick a game in it.

So here I am. As the gaming world goes mental for E3 and the next gen consoles I am standing at the start of a journey of retro gaming discovery.  I may be 16 years late to the party but I can not wait to get out there and discover all the titles I overlooked, and of course revisit the classics I did play. So instead of throwing down £500 on the next big thing, why not give a console form your past a chance and get the same thrills on the cheap? [insert prostitution joke here] You never know. You might just find a new favorite.