@atomicpoet @retrogaming After that, Radio Shack, as a lot of them would have a game running on their display computer (for example, the PC compatible Tandy 1000 might be showing King's Quest, or later Prince of Persia).
Between arcades, Sears, school computers, and Radio Shack, there were a lot of chances to be exposed to video games without convincing your parents to spend a lot of money on a "Nintendo" or home computer.
@atomicpoet @retrogaming By far the format that the largest percentage of North American folks would have been exposed to was arcade games. No contest. Videogame consoles and home computers were relatively pricey items, but everyone ran across arcade games here and there.
After that, Sears had display units of their branded Atari VCS running Air Sea Battle.
After that, school computers, which explains exposure to Apple ][ and TRS-80 games despite relatively low sales compared to C64 etc.
@juergen_hubert Maybe hunting down radioactive/psionic portals that emit corrupting death - which is why the region is now mostly wilderness rather than heavily inhabited. The goal isn't to make the region safe for colonization, but rather just to help those who already live there.
Note that the original reason for the players to go on this adventure could be different, but finding their first portal changes things.