🏓 Pong
Quick Summary
Pong (1972) is the first commercially successful Arcade game, developed by Atari. It is a simple 2D table tennis simulation game representing the starting point of the commercial video game industry.
Pong was designed by Allan Alcorn as a training exercise for Atari. It became an unexpected commercial phenomenon — the first Arcade machines were placed in bars and immediately broke down because the coin boxes were too full.
Significance
- First commercial game: Before Pong, video games were mostly academic experiments or hobbyist projects.
- Founded Atari: The commercial success of Pong provided the capital for Atari to grow into the leading game company of the 1970s and 1980s.
- Defined the Arcade model: Pay-per-play in public venues became the dominant business model for the next decade.