Before Pong, there was Computer Space, the first commercial video game. The progenitor of today’s $175 billion industry debuted on October ...
Before Pong, there was Computer Space, the first commercial video game. The progenitor of today’s $175 billion industry debuted on October 15, 1971, at the Music Operators of America trade show in Chicago. Housed in a futuristic-looking cabinet, Computer Space took its place alongside the latest jukeboxes, pinball machines and other coin-operated games manufacturers were pitching to arcade and bar owners.
Computer Space, made by the small company Nutting Associates, seemed to have everything going for it. Its scenario – flying a rocket ship through space locked in a dogfight with two flying saucers – seemed perfect for the times. The Apollo Moon missions were in full swing.
The game was a good match for people who enjoyed science-fiction movies like 2001: A Space Odyssey and Planet of the Apes and television shows like Star Trek and Lost in Space, or those who had thrilled to the aerial combat of the movies The Battle of Britain and Tora! Tora! Tora! There was even prominent placement of a Computer Space cabinet in Charlton Heston’s film The Omega Man.
But when Computer Space was unveiled, it did not generate a flood of orders, and no flood ever arrived. It was not until Computer Space’s makers left the company, founded Atari and released Pong the next year that the commercial potential of video games became apparent....
