What was the first Fallout game that brought you to the series? (Poll)

Technically, it's Fallout Shelter which introduced me to this franchise and I had a lot of fun with. I had a sudden urge to play 50s era recordings and started to immerse myself in the first Fallout game.

So:

I started the first one as a kid, I saw a time counter and immidiately lost interest. I hate time counter in my RPG's.

Then I played 2. I liked it, but I completely screw character creation and my character couldn't do anything, so I stopped.

Then I played 3 and legitimatiely got scared, I am scaredy cat, and ababndoned basements full of monsters were too much for me.

And then I played 4 and sink aroung 60 hours in it, so I feel that finally I got hooked.

I was visiting Turkey on vacation and went to a internet cafe and it was loaded with games. I just random started a game and it was Fallout 3. The start of the game where you start as a kid and growing up fast to an adult it really made me fall in love asap. (Also the exploring after ofc, the world was HUGE). My favourite Fallout game is Fallout 76 deffo. (I'm probably the only one in the world that would say that :D )

3 was my first but NV is the first one in which i completed the story.

I must say it didn't seem to me like a very popular game at the time.
I wouldn't have known it existed, if not some word-to-mouth from a random friend.
It wasn't a "Mortal Kombat", "Doom" or "Diablo" that literally everyone knew.
It was very much loved among the community of Fallout players and CRPG players.
But not very widely known beyond that.
I feel it wasn't until Fallout 3, that it got much much more popular, and I started seeing references to it beyond the RPG loving community.

I have to disagree with this, Fallout 1 & 2 were quite well known from what I remember, well before there ever was any talk about Fallout 3. I played the first Fallout 1 because it was so well known as a "good" game, I didn't learn about it from a specific friend. I always intended to play the 2nd one but never got around to it. Fallout 1 was fun, but kind of unbalanced and the time limit really sucked.

I believe it was Fallout 4.
I did know New Vegas and FO3 existed, but never got around to them. And when FO1 and 2 came out I was 4 years old. So 90s gaming never really alluded me.
Fallout 4, I loved due to the post-apocalyptic setting and deep lore. And I strongly disagree with everyone badmouthing the game. Sure - it wasn't the most complicated or greatest story, yet it was still fun and had quite a lot of stuff to do.

Eventually played NV and 3 as well and enjoyed them. Frankly 76 wasn't that bad either.

How else? The first Fallout OFC. There was no reason to wait for the next one to come out, before playing the first ;)

On the other hand this claim can be easily disputed, because it could be argued, that Wasteland (which I've missed at the time) was truly the first game in the series.

It was Fallout 3, a few months before New Vegas was announced. I read it on a local fanzine (I didn't know anything about the first Fallout games) and it sounded super interesting. I later played it and became one of my favourite games of that time. Then New Vegas came out and when the DLCs allowed me to complete the story, the balance shifted over the latter.