‘Pong’ game is now half a century old, believe it or not
This game was not the first video game created, nor the original take on virtual table tennis, as Engadget explains, but it is the game that basically kicked off the video game industry… in a way. This game was immensely popular, it got many people hooked back in the day. The premise was really simple, you had to vertical lines, which essentially act as paddles in this virtual table tennis game. There is another vertical line right across the screen, and a ball that goes from one side to the other. The game did keep the score up top, and that’s it. It was a black-and-white game, in its original form. Atari released this game, and it sold over 8,000 Pong arcade cabinets. A few years later, a home version of the game was released, and managed to get extremely popular. Sears sold about 150,000 units of the console that was needed to play the game. That may not seem like a lot compared to today’s standards, but it was plenty back then. As already mentioned, it basically kicked off the gaming industry. The success of Pong and Home Pong provided Atari with the necessary resources to create the Atari 2600.
Pong basically kicked off the gaming industry
The source notes that the second-generation console went on to sell more than 30 million units before the end of 2004. It’s also worth noting that Nintendo would never exist if not for Pong, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Pong played a huge role in the creation of the gaming industry, and it’s worth celebrating for that. So, happy birthday, Pong!
