Granddaddy of Video Games
Pong is 25 Years Old
 |
|
 |
| There is no secret here, no cheat codes. This is a game of angles and hand-eye coordination. |
|
 |
|
Playable version of Pong can be found at ---- http://www.syssrc.com/museum/ html/pong/pong2.html
Pong FAQ can be found at
http://www.classicgaming.com If you want to really wallow in nostalgia check out the MAME (Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator). These people have resurrected a huge number of classic and not-so-classic games and made them playable on PCs. You wont believe it! |
 |
 |
By Harry Chittick
Special to ABCNEWS.com
It doesn't really seem like 25 years ago. I remember the first time. Waiting for an airplane at San Francisco International Airport. From the bar came the distinctive sound: Pong ... Pong ... Pong.
Curious, I walked over to see two men hunched over a small table, deeply engrossed in playing "Pong." A small crowd had gathered to watch. We were all amazed; you could actually control the images on the TV screen.
Pong is considered the world's first video game and certainly the forefather of the whole family of PC games. It celebrates its 25th birthday this month. I don't think anyone, including Pong's creator, Nolan Bushnell, could have predicted then how fast or far the electronic gaming scene would come. But back then it was primal and addicting in its simplicity. For those of you too young to have played Pong, let me explain.
Intense Game Play
Pong consisted simply of a black-and-white screen with two bars known as the paddles and a small square called the ball. The object was for each player to move the paddle up or down along their side of the court so as to contact the ball. Miss the ball and your opponent scored a point. The ball would rebound off the paddles or the top or bottom of the screen making the distinctive pong sound. Devilishly simple in concept but tricky in execution. Game play often became quite intense.
Atari manufactured Pong beginning in 1972 and by 1974 there was a home version. For the next four years it or hundreds of Pong clones were the only game in town. It seemed like you couldn't go anywhere without hearing that distinctive "pong . pong." I can still see the opening screen instructions: "AVOID MISSING BALL FOR HIGH SCORE." Start playing a game and you were sure to draw a crowd of onlookers.
By 1977 there were tennis, hockey, handball, squash and even a catch version of the game. Despite their relatively simple circuits, prices for the home units ranged from $50 to $90. By the late '70s, solid state circuits and chips had become more affordable and games like Space Invaders, Pac-Man and others were taking over.
A Classic
Today collectors pay high prices for working Pong units. There are several playable versions of Pong on the Internet (see Inside Moves). Start one up at the office, invite a co-worker in and watch what happens. It doesn't take long to pull in a small crowd of cheering spectators. Microsoft ought to take note of this and replace solitaire in the next version of Windows.
It just goes to show that Pong's popularity is not just due to nostalgia . long after the thousands of post-Pong games are a dim memory the granddaddy of all games still shines for its simplicity and playability.
The Gamer appears Mondays on ABCNEWS.com
