On this day back in 1972, Atari introduced Pong – an early arcade game that would kick off the video game industry as we know it.
Here's a fun story:
Nolan Bushnell, the Atari founder, decided to test the first Pong machine at a local bar. But he quickly got a call from the owner, saying the machine had broken down.
Bushnell returned to the bar, only to find that the Pong machine hadn’t broken down... It was just jammed with coins from eager players!
Talk about an instant hit.
Pong became the world’s first commercially successful video game, and 10,000 machines were installed within the first four months of it being released. Atari then went on to become a leader in the video game world throughout the 1980s.
For business owners, this story is a great reminder of how one creative spark can set an entire industry on fire!
Innovation sometimes starts small (something as simple as a game at a bar), then it grows into something you couldn't ever have imagined.
Do you remember the original Pong? Did you ever play it?
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