Now You See It, Now You Don't!
TellzAll's subject for December is Pong!
Have you ever wondered what sort of games that your grandparents or parents played when they were your age? Well one of the games that your grandparents and parents probably enjoyed was "Pong." Invented in 1972 and marketed by Atari, Pong was the second video arcade game released to the public. Eventually, people could also play the game at home on their own televisions.
Pong was a video version of ping-pong. Two people played the game. They used bars that moved up and down on the television screen to bounce a ball back and forth. The ultimate goal was to try and force your opponent to miss the ball. Pong's developers, Nolan Bushnell, Ted Dabney, and Allan Alcorn, realized that other games required players to read lengthy directions in order to be able to play. These men realized that many people simply wanted to play the game and did not want to take the time to read the directions. In the end, the original instructions for Pong simply read, "Avoid missing ball for high score."
By today's standards, Pong's graphics were very poor. The first Pong video arcade games were played on a black and white television and simply consisted of a digital ball, two digital bars to bounce the ball back and forth, and a digital line that symbolized the net on a ping-pong table. Eventually, a colorized version of the game appeared, with the only difference being that the ball and bars were now green in color. Over time, more complex versions of the game also appeared.
As soon as Atari released the game, Pong became a sensation. Hundreds of people lined up outside of bars and arcades to play the game. Within six months of being released, approximately ten thousand games had been purchased for use in arcades, bars, and other establishments. Once a home version became available, numerous people played the game for so long that the digital net sometimes became permanently emblazoned on their television screens. To prevent this from occurring, Atari encouraged users to play in moderation and to lower the contrast on their television screens.
In recent years, Pong and other Atari games have experienced a resurgence, as they have been re-released. Perhaps your parents or grandparents have purchased one of these games to help them remember their childhood.
