Atari Pong
1
Atari Pong
2
Pong was the one of the most well-known video
Bushnell came up with the idea of pong when he went to
game in the 1970’s. There were two types of pong
a demonstration on
systems made which was the coin operated version that
the first ever video
people saw when they went to an arcade and the home
game console
video game
called the
console that
Magnavox
everyone wanted
Odyssey
for their home.
(Macdonald, 2014).
Not long after
He noticed that on
Atari came out
the console there
with this new game they got in trouble with another company. But in the end they come out on top as the best-selling game console of its time. Atari was founded in 1972 by Ted Dabney and
Atari co-founders Ted Dabney and Nolan Bushnell, with head of finance Fred Marincic and Pong creator Allan Alcorn.
was a game that was kind of like the
game ping-pong. With coming up with his idea of making the game pong, he thought that he should hire someone to make the game. He hired his first engineer for Atari Al Alcorn. Once he was hired, Bushnell described the game to him, showed him the drawings of what he wanted in the game
Nolan Bushnell. Bushnell came up with the idea for
and told him that he wanted Alcorn to build the game for
making coin operated video games from working in an
him (Isaacson, 2014). Considering it was his first game
amusement arcade. Once the idea came to life Atari
he has made it was not that bad.
became the biggest name in video games at the time.
Atari Pong
3
Within a couple of weeks Alcorn came up with a
Bushnell and Alcorn wanted to test out Pong, so
prototype of Pong. In his
he decided that he would put it in a bar named Andy
prototype he incorporated a
Capp’s. After a couple of days of being in the bar they got
score board, sound when the
a call from the bar manager saying that someone needs
ball hits the paddles, when
to come out and fix the game because it stopped working
the ball hits the paddles the
and the manager knew how popular it was. Alcorn went
ball would go straight out if it
over to the bar
hit the middle of the paddle
and come to
and would go up and down if
find out the coin
it hit the side of the paddles.
box was filled
He built the coin operated
up to the top
system out of a Hitachi TV
with quarters
and hid the wires coming from the TV in a four-foot-tall
that it could not
brown cabinet that was painted yellow.
fit anymore. But
Little did Bushnell tell anyone that he had a contract to make a new video game for a firm in Chicago called Bally Midway. Once Alcorn was finished with the coin operated version of Pong he took it to Bally Midway to give them pong as part of his contract to them. They did not like it so they declined the game (Isaacson, 2014).
after a while of it being in Bally’s they decided that they did not want the game anymore even though the game was making three times as much as the average machine was (Brookey & Oates, 2015).
Atari Pong
Bushnell was thinking about all the success that
4
Once the lawsuit was over they were allowed to
Pong has made when being in the bar that he would
continue selling
have Atari to manufacture the game. So they started out
the pong game,
making 12 of the machines, and decided to sell them for
they were
$900 a machine. Once they were able to open up a place
already making
to make the machines they started making around a
their next big
hundred machines two months of opening. When the
thing. Atari was
facility opened up they wanted to make the sell price to
working on
$1200 (Isaacson, 2014). By 1974 they have sold over
making the Pong
8,000 machines that were put in restaurants, arcades,
game into a home video game for everyone to buy. They
and bars (Macdonald, 2014).
thought that with making this it would help increase sales.
Atari fell into a lawsuit in the fall of 1973 with Magnavox because they had unauthorized copying of a game that was similar to Magnavox Odyssey game table tennis. This was the first ever lawsuit for the video game industry (Ford, 2012). Magnavox looked back at the guest book for the demonstration of Magnavox Odyssey
When making the game they used a custom UC chip inside of the system that would help create the graphics of the game (Goldberg & Vendel, 2012). Once Atari had a home Pong system made up they thought that they would need a major retailer to help sell their product. In January of 1975, Alcorn flew to New York Toy
game table tennis and saw that Bushnell attended. They
Faire. A lot of company’s liked the idea in the new
used that against Atari when they were in court. In April
console, but they did not want to sell the console in their
1974 the case was settled. Atari had to pay between
store because of the issues about the company Atari.
$700,000 and become a Magnavox licensee (Macdonald,
Atari did not have any experience in consumer
2014).
manufacturing and did not have a set price the console
Atari Pong
5
was going to be sold for. Alcorn decides to go to Sears
The units that Sears was selling had the name Sears
and ask Tom Quinn if sears can sell the Pong consoles
Tele-games Pong on the box but when the game came
and if they can sell them in the sears catalog as well.
itself came in shipment it had Atari’s name on the power
Two days later Quinn told them that he wants them to do
button (Goldberg & Vendel, 2012).
a demo of the product at Sears Tower in Chicago. Alcorn went into the demo for the Home Pong
Sears purchased the Home Pong units for $55 each. The first order that Sears placed regarding the
console; Al was worried because the console was not
Atari Pong game system ended up being 75,000 game
working when he plugged it in. He was able to fix some
consoles purchased (Goldberg & Vendel, 2012). In 1975,
wires with in the box and got it to work. Once the demo
the Pong console was released, and once it came out it
was over
became a big hit. It was the bestselling item in the Sears
Sears
catalog. Since it was the most successful product at the
did not
time Sears gave Atari the Quality Excellence Award
want to
(Kent, 2001). Over 200,000 consoles were sold in the
do
first year it came out but Atari came upon a problem
business
when they created the Pong home console. They never
with Atari
trademarked the Pong name which meant that other
because
companies were taking advantage of the mistake and
of the
making their own version of the Pong game and selling it
lawsuit that they had with Magnavox. In March 1975
for a lower price. Within the next year of the console Atari
negotiations were made with Atari and Atari was
decided to make their own brand of Pong consoles. The
eventually allowed to sell their product at sears, but the
success of Pong was the main starting point for the
product had to be a Sears brand with Atari’s logo on it.
company and made it so successful (Macdonald, 2014).
Atari Pong
Atari could never measure up to what they have done when they created Pong. It made them very successful with this game alone. They never had a game come close to the sales. Once they came out with the next game after pong, they were actually on the verge and turning point of them going bankrupt. From that you can tell how much Pong truly meant to Atari and the gaming industry. It was a revolution in its own way and the game created so much more opportunity for everyone, whether it was a young kid wanting to entertain their self or a young visionary trying to make a name for himself. Pong and Atari are the reasons why Video Games are what they are today, they created a pathway and certain entrepreneurs are taking advantage of it right now.
6
Atari Pong
7
Recourses • • • • • •
Macdonald, K. (2014, March 20). IGN PRESENTS: THE HISTORY OF ATARI. http://www.ign.com/articles/2014/03/20/ign-presents-thehistory-of-atari?page=1 Isaacson, W. (2014, October 07). The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution (p. 210215). Simon & Schuster. Kindle Edition. Oates, T. O., & Brookey, R. A. (2015, January 12). Playing to Win: Sport, Video Games, and the Culture of Play (p. 1). Bloomington, Indiana. Indiana University Press. Ford, W. K. (2012, January 01). Copy Game for High Score: The First Video Game Lawsuit. http://repository.jmls.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1340&context=facpubs Goldberg, M. & Vendel, C. (2012, September 15). Atari, Inc: Business Is Fun (p. 154-161). Carmel, NY. Syzygy Press. Kent, S. (2001, September 6). The Ultimate History of Video Games: From Pong to Pokémon - The Story Behind the Craze That Touched Our Lives and Changed the World (p. 94–95). New York. Three Rivers Press.
Images • • • • • • •
Cover photo: http://www.atarimuseum.com/videogames/dedicated/pong_logo.jpg Atari Logo: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/58/Atari_Official_2012_Logo.svg/2000pxAtari_Official_2012_Logo.svg.png Atari co-founders, creator of Pong, and Atari’s head of finance: http://oyster.ignimgs.com/wordpress/stg.ign.com/2014/03/50000413103-01-610x490.jpeg Pong coin-operated game: http://oyster.ignimgs.com/wordpress/stg.ign.com/2014/03/365px-Signed_Pong_Cabinet.jpg Pong poster: https://www.atari.com/sites/default/files/pong.jpg Pong game graphics: http://timesillustrated.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/pong.gif Sears Pong: http://www.gooddealgames.com/articles/Game%20Consoles/2%20Atari%20Pong.jpg