While video games predate 1972, that year marked the beginning of their reach to a much wider public audience.
In 1958, physicist William Higinbotham created an oscilloscope‑based tennis game for visitors at the Brookhaven National Laboratory in New York. Titled Tennis for Two, the invention was never sold commercially.
In 1972, two machines introduced video games to the public. The Magnavox Odyssey became the first home console, connecting to a standard television set. Months later, Atari, a fledgling California company, installed a prototype of Pong at Andy Capp’s Tavern, a bar in Sunnyvale.
Within days, the setup malfunctioned because the coin box overflowed with quarters.
Pong, featuring two paddles, a square‑shaped ball, and a scoreboard, rapidly became a commercial sensation and laid the foundation for the arcade video‑game industry.
By the end of the decade, arcades were packed with cabinets. Atari’s 2600 console, released in 1977, popularized interchangeable game cartridges, enabling players to purchase new games without buying a new machine.
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