Writer's Block: Beep, Bop, Boop

[infrogmation]

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Pong.

I'm not sure why (maybe one of my older siblings asked for it), but
one day my Dad brought home a "Pong" set and hooked it up to the
television in the living room. It was entertaining enough to play
with some, didn't match a good book of course. After a bit the
thing I found most facinating about it was when the paddles could be
set just right to make the "ball" bounce back and forth indefinately
without any further input.

Comments

Even before

[infrogmation.livejournal.com]

mmcirvin's mention reminded me of something I had forgotten -- actually the first "computer game" I played was Tic-Tac-Toe. The Chicago Museum of Science had a Tic-Tac-Toe playing computer on display in the 1960s. Everyone was impressed that it made its moves instantly without any visible hesitation. I was proud I got a draw with it. I would have liked to play more than one game, but there was a line.

[mmcirvin.livejournal.com]

A while back I tried to identify the particular pong game my family had briefly owned in the Seventies. It wasn't an Atari or Magnavox unit, and I remember specific details about it that don't match anything on the various museum or collector sites--specifically, the appearance of the analog joysticks, which were little chromed levers protruding from ball-shaped bases.

I may never know. There were a huge number of these Pong knockoffs produced in the Seventies, many of which were functional clones based on standard chips by General Instruments. This game may have been one of them, because they all sound very functionally similar to what I remember. Most of the GI pongs were marketed in Europe, not in America (they thrived in Europe in part because the Atari and Intellivision were slower to appear there). But I've also seen some indication of models in the US market.

[jdquintette.livejournal.com]

I tried playing these things in bars briefly when they came out, but quickly got bored. I had friends who were obsessed with it though and would freak out if you put your beer down on the table in a way which obscured the field of play.