PONG

Pong, built by Atari Inc. was one of the first commercialised videogame ever and one of the first to reach mainstream popularity.

The game is extremely simple: the screen shows only one ball (actually square) and two luminescent fingers, or controlled by one player and the computer, or two players simultaneously. The aim is to try to cross the opponent's finger with the ball.

Importance of Pong

Pong is considered one of the most historically significant titles because it is considered the game that launched the video game industry and started the "arcade golden age".
It was a huge success because it was extremely easy to play and at the same time people were winning only because of their skills: common factor to most arcade games. Other than this women could also easily play Pong, because they had good hand skills.

The origin of Pong

The concept of the game was invented by Nolan Bushnell, Atari founder, in 1971 when he saw on the Magnavox Odyssey table tennis game. At that point, Bushnell decided to give to Atari's young engineer Allan Alcorn an exercise to replicate it: Pong was born.

Alcorn developed the game in three months creating from scratch the circuits: Pong worked through basic circuits such as AND, OR, etc.
In 1972, once he finished the game he created a coin-op prototype that convinced Bushnell so much that they decided to sell it and, given the success, in 1975 was developed a home version that was an instant commercial success.