A History of Computer Games

Pre-video Era

The earliest computer games emerged even before video displays were invented. Gary Arndt explains that these games were created on massive vacuum tube computers, such as Birdie the Brain, which played tic-tac-toe on a 13-foot tall machine at the 1950 Canadian National Exhibition 1. Another example is Nimrod, a computer built to play the game Nim at the 1951 Festival of Britain 1. These early games had custom-built interfaces and were primarily demonstrations of new technology.

The very first computers were created before the integrated circuit was developed, and in fact, even before the transistor. They were huge vacuum tube behemoths that took up entire buildings and used an incredible amount of electricity.

--- Gary Arndt

Despite their simplicity, these pioneering efforts showcased the potential of computer games.

   

Tennis for Two

The creation of Tennis for Two in 1958 marked a significant milestone in the history of computer games. Gary Arndt describes how William Higginbotham and Robert Dvorak developed this game at the Brookhaven National Laboratory using an oscilloscope for display 1. Tennis for Two featured a simple tennis court and net, making it one of the first games to use a video display and custom controllers.

Tennis for Two was an innovative game in two very important ways. First, the display was on an oscilloscope, which had a cathode ray tube, the same as used to be used on television sets.

--- Gary Arndt

Although it was only demonstrated for three days, Tennis for Two paved the way for future video games.