I was in 2nd grade when my mom bought me the blue box Basic set for Christmas in '78. Y'see, my dad had bought Squad Leader for my brother and I, and my mom hated how all the little cardboard counters lurked in the carpet when she did her vacuuming. So when she saw the box said that all you need is pencil, paper and dice, she thought it would be great to buy me a game without all those little counters. If she'd only known...
We didn't start playing until '79, and after a few sessions of exploring Quasqueton and the Caves of Chaos, we moved on to other games: Gamma World, Traveller, Top Secret, Star Frontiers. Then everyone else in the neighborhood got tired of gaming, and play became intermittent at best for a decade, during which I fell in with newfangled games like Amber and Vampire. It wasn't until 3rd Edition that I came back to D&D.
And, of course, D&D is responsible for my current 6-year relationship. But that's another story...