Pong

Also known as Atari Pong

Pong is a 1972 sports video game developed and published by Atari, Inc. for arcades. It was created by Allan Alcorn as a training exercise assigned to him by Atari co-founder Nolan Bushnell. Bushnell and Atari co-founder Ted Dabney were so surprised by the quality of Alcorn's work that they decided to manufacture the game. Bushnell based the game's concept on an electronic ping-pong game included on the Magnavox Odyssey, the first home video game console; in response, Magnavox later sued Atari for patent infringement.

AI overview

Pong is a 1972 arcade game made by Atari that simulates table tennis, where two players use paddles to hit a ball back and forth on screen. It matters because it was one of the first commercially successful video games, helping launch the video game industry after Atari decided to manufacture Allan Alcorn's original training project.

AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.

Game data

Released: 1972-11-29
User rating: 3.73 / 5
Genres: Arcade, Sports
Platforms: Game Boy Advance, Atari 2600, Atari Flashback, Atari ST
ESRB: Everyone

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Game details · IGDB

79User score · 134 ratings

Pong is a table tennis-themed twitch arcade video game with simple two-dimensional graphics. It was the first sports arcade video game and one of the earliest arcade video games in history, helping to establish the video game industry along with the Magnavox Odyssey. Soon after its release, several companies began producing games that closely mimicked its gameplay.

Released: 1972
Genres: Simulator, Sport, Arcade
Platforms: Arcade, PC (Microsoft Windows), Plug & Play, Legacy Mobile Device
Game modes: Single player, Multiplayer
Franchise: Pong
Developer: Atari
Publisher: Atari, Namco, Atari, Inc., Sears, Hunter Electronics

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Key facts

Video game.title: Pong
Video game.image: Signed Pong Cabinet.jpg
Video game.alt: A vertical wooden structure with a visual display unit embedded in the front side.
Video game.caption: An upright cabinet of Pong on display at the Neville Public Museum of Brown County
Video game.developer: Atari, Inc.
Video game.publisher: Atari, Inc.
Video game.designer: Allan Alcorn
Video game.platforms: Arcade, dedicated console
Video game.released: Arcade Home versionOctober 1975
Video game.genre: Sports
Video game.modes: Single-player, multiplayer

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Wikidata facts

Image: Signed Pong Cabinet.jpg

Show 3 more facts

Commons category: Pong
publication date: 1972-11-29
title: Pong

Sources (5)

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~25 min read

Article

11 sections

Contents

Gameplay
Development and history
Home version {{anchor|console|consoles}}
Lawsuit from Magnavox
Impact and legacy
Ports
Sequels and remakes
In popular culture
References
Further reading
External links

Pong was the first commercially successful video game, helping to establish the video game industry along with the Magnavox Odyssey. Soon after its release, several companies began producing games that closely mimicked its gameplay. Eventually, Atari's competitors released new types of video games that deviated from Pong's original format to varying degrees; this, in turn, led Atari to encourage its staff to move beyond Pong and produce more innovative games themselves.