Cool ! I used to buy the old "Zzap" magazine, which was a British mag - lots of cool stuff. It used to have programs you typed in (in basic) on the Commodore 64, and within hours you were playing text based games or a game with a sprite of two ! Peeking and Poking was a lot of fun back then.
I owned a Comx35, Commodore 64, Apple IIe clone and Amiga 500. Amazing gaming !
I remember catching the train into the City, buying a Commodore 64 and tucking it under my arm for the trip back home. Back then, no one hassled you. Try doing that today !