The First Video Game Came Long Before Pong

(iflscience.com)

26 points | by geox 5 days ago

2 comments

  • frozenseven 5 days ago
    • amiga386 22 hours ago
      As per the conclusions of that great video, going back before Pong and defining a "first" video game depends heavily on your definition of both "video" and "game"

      See also Wikipedia's overview: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_history_of_video_games

      If you want Tennis for Two (1958) to be first, you have to introduce criteria that excludes OXO (1952), Checkers (1952), and Sheep and Gates (1952)

      • jhbadger 19 hours ago
        I don't think it is unreasonable to define a "video game" as one employing video graphics and real time input. Things like Tennis for Two (and the later Spacewar) are clearly video games in a sense that mere simulations of board games are not.
    • qiine 20 hours ago
      Its interesting how closely intertwined video games and computers are right from the early days!
  • qiqitori 22 hours ago
    I built a basic version of Tennis for Two a while back, using regular op amps. Some modern oscilloscopes have bad X-Y mode implementations, but most non-extremely-cheap scopes are probably decent enough. https://blog.qiqitori.com/2024/08/implementing-tennis-for-tw...

    I'm also planning on selling a kit in the near future!