On this day, way back in 1958, a couple of lab-coat wearing heroes named William Higinbotham and Robert Dvorak, Sr. made history. These two brainiacs weren’t just flirting with beakers and test tubes at the Brookhaven National Laboratory, oh no! They were busy pioneering the world’s first ‘video’ game – a tennis simulator they affectionately called ‘Tennis for Two’.
This wasn’t your run-of-the-mill Xbox or PlayStation affair. This game was developed on a Donner Model 30 analogue computer (don’t worry, I had to Google it too) and displayed on an oscilloscope. For those not fluent in nerd, an oscilloscope is a piece of equipment that graphically shows electrical signals. In short, these guys were making pixels dance before most of us knew what a pixel was.
This lo-fi, hi-tech marvel was showcased only twice during the laboratory’s annual visitors’ day. And guess what? Hundreds of visitors queued up to try their hand at this electronic novelty. It was like Black Friday, but with less elbowing and more oscilloscope appreciation.
Now, you may be thinking, “Wasn’t Pong the first video game?’ Well, while our beloved Tennis for Two and Pong share a striking resemblance in gameplay, there’s no direct lineage between the two. Just consider Tennis for Two as the cool, obscure indie band that Pong went mainstream with.
Higinbotham and Dvorak unknowingly kick-started a revolution that would change how we play, socialise, and even work. And let’s not forget the humble oscilloscope, which had its brief moment in the gaming limelight. Do you think it’s due for a comeback?
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