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The Earliest Documented Video Game

Posted by Zonk on from the truly-old-school dept.

AsiNisiMasa writes "The first documented video game was created in 1952 by a scientist who felt the need to give his work relevance to society. It was called 'Tennis for Two' and took up about as much room as one would expect. The article at Brookhaven History comes complete with several pictures and even video: 'A two-dimensional, side view of a tennis court was displayed on an oscilloscope, which has a cathode-ray tube similar to a black and white TV tube. In order to generate the court and net lines and the ball, it was necessary to time-share these functions. While the rest of the system used vacuum tubes and relays, the time-sharing circuit and the fast switches used transistors, which by 1958 were coming into use.'"

7 of 28 comments (clear)

  1. very cool by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    that game seems much more complex than Pong. The only thing I don't get is how the players know where their 'racquet' is...

    1. Re:very cool by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      Actually they don't from what I've gathered, the dial only says what angle to shoot the ball, you can hit it anytime it's on your court. If the other players hits it right next to the net, and you don't have the reflexes to save it, they score. On the contrary, if the player hits it far back, with not a high enough angle, it will hit the net and the other player scores.

      Much much more complex than pong. But then again even in normal video game terms, pong wasn't first. I believe Spacewar was, though I'm not sure how complex that game was.

    2. Re:very cool by atomic-penguin · · Score: 2, Informative

      In this, you can see they use a dial and button to use it - nobody actually used a dial for a game since then I believe.

      Paddles

      --
      /^([Ss]ame [Bb]at (time, |channel.)){2}$/
  2. Up, Down, A, B, A, B, Start by Somatic · · Score: 4, Funny
    Thus, the first video came combo move was 30 degrees left, 60 degrees right, TheOnlyButton, TheOnlyButton, RESET

    (and yeah, it may not be new news, but lighten up. At this point, anything besides another 360, PSP or Hot Coffee lawsuit story is a breath of fresh air).

    --
    My script don't crash! She crashes, you crashed her!
  3. Re:It was 1958. by skyman8081 · · Score: 2, Informative

    Actually, the first video game was OXO, it was an adaptation of tic-tac-toe for the ESDAC computer. It was created in 1952 at the University of Cambridge.

    Tennis for two was not the first video game, as is widely believed.

    --
    Two Roommates and a Boyfriend, updates Monday, Wednesday, and Friday
  4. Re:It was 1958. by Dwedit · · Score: 2, Informative

    Linky

  5. even earlier by Dzube · · Score: 2, Informative

    It's nice to see Mr. Higinbotham get some recognition now and again. It is old news and yes, his work didn't set the world on fire or even influence others that came after him. But his work is there and it's interesting.

    Video games go back even further. Patent 2,455,992 (i.e. the Goldsmith patent) is called _Cathode Ray Tube Amusement Device_. It was filed on Jan 25, 1947 and granted on Dec 14, 1948. From it:

    "This invention relates to a device with which a game can be played. The game is of such a character that it requires care and skill in playing it or operating the device with which the game is played. Skill can be increased with practice and the exercize of care contributes to success."