Ante Atari

 

It seems like Flintstones technology now, but the Atari console, despite what I thought were  clumsy controllers, was big entertainment and easy to use.  Then you could go to an arcade and play Pong or PacMan on a big noisy machine (but who has quarters in their pockets today?) and rack up those points.   We thought that was the first computer game machine, but the original one weighed over a metric ton, had only one game and its display screen was not the family television but a very small oscilloscope.

It was a hit, though.  Designed by nuclear physicist Edward Condon of Westinghouse, the Nimatron non-programmable computer went on public, interactive display at the 1939 World's Fair. No one saw its potential at the time.  Its game ("Nim") was based on an ancient strategy contest, probably from China, in which two players alternate removing one or more objects (i.e. beans, coins, pebbles, etc.) from different piles.  He who removes the last object is the winner,  or loser,  depending on the version played.   Sounds as simple as a child's card game,  but there is more skill and tactics involved than this short description indicates.

The Nimatron was made with four lines of seven light bulbs each.  The player takes a turn switching a light or two off, then the computer takes a turn (no pages of coding needed, just simple math).  One hundred thousand Fair visitors tried to win, but the primitive computer won 90% of the time!  As I remember with Atari, the Space Invaders won 100% of the time...

 A similar machine, the Nimrod, followed in the U.K. in 1951 and was a hit when it travelled to Germany.  A few years later in 1958, "Tennis for Two" was on public display at New York State's Brookhaven National Laboratory, but a video screen was still in the future as the oscilloscope, though larger than before, was again utilized.   The fun was in varying the gravitational effect by choosing to "play" on the Moon or on Jupiter.  You can see Pong coming -- was this its inspiration? 

                                                           The Nimrod

 Today, the Internet-based Twitch system has 15 million daily users enjoying live streaming of what is now called "e-sports."  Those quarters can stay in your pocket, if you still have them.