FROM the age of about six, I was fascinated by computers.

It was the 80s, a time of seemingly never-ending expansion of the tech world, in which anything was possible.

Granted, what was actually possible back then – when you look back now – wasn’t a great deal, but my word, we had fun!

And, almost four decades later, I was delighted to be able to introduce my own daughter to the world of The Spectrum.

It was among my first computers back in the day, boasting a whopping 48k of memory (to give that some context, most smartphones now have at least 8GB of operating memory, a massive 8,000,000k).

But I was still excited, as those were days of innocence, of pure gaming fun, free from the internet, free from paying for this upgrade and that upgrade, just sitting down to play a really simple game – and loving it.

Thankfully, to make this sort of nostalgic journey easy, the lovely people at Retro Games have put together The Spectrum, a modern box containing all the old magic.

As I had hoped, set up was easy – we took it out of the box and plugged it straight into our TV, switched it on, and we were away!

You really can plug it straight in, so there’s no wrestling with trying to make a 40-year-old analogue machine work with modern, digital tech.

My daughter’s eyes lit up as the screen burst into life as the games appeared on the screen.

The Spectrum, handily, comes pre-loaded with 48 classic games, including the likes of The Hobbit, Manic Miner, and Head Over Heels.

My little one has found her passion in the platform adventure, Devwill Too, which features a cracking four-but soundtrack, as well as cracking playability – because it is all we had!

The only things I would note if you’re considering one of these for the veteran gamer in your life, is that there is no power pack supplied – although a phone charger seems to do the trick – and that you might want to buy a joystick at the same time, as that is by far the easiest way to control these things!

All in all though, The Spectrum is easy to use, it’s brilliant fun, and it’s simple, which is what so many of us are craving in this over-technical gaming world.

And it’s not too expensive either, at £89.99. But for the ageing gamer in your life – and the up-and-coming gamer in the family – that nostalgic trip is worth its weight in gold.