Tennis holds a foundational position in video gaming history, with its origins tracing back to 1958 when William Higinbotham created Tennis for Two. This game, run on an oscilloscope, attracted significant attention during a lab event and suggested the potential popularity of computer games. The first mass-produced console, the Magnavox Odyssey, included games like Table Tennis, emphasizing simple player interaction. The evolution continued with Atari's Pong, spawned by Nolan Bushnell's experience with the Odyssey, marking a pivotal moment in arcade gaming history.
Tennis for Two ran on an oscilloscope and was designed as a minor diversion for visitors attending the lab's annual open day, but when people started playing, a queue developed that eventually extended out of the front door and around the side of the building.
When Magnavox released the product in 1972, its key games were Table Tennis and Tennis, which allowed two players to bat a ball to each other.
Atari founder Nolan Bushnell played tennis on the Odyssey and thought he could do better; with programmer Al Alcorn, he developed Pong.
Collection
[
|
...
]