Generally speaking, the 1970s are considered to be the decade when video games properly started to happen. However, it's a scarily-interesting fact that the seeds of gaming were sown more than two decades earlier.
Indeed, 2016 marks the 69th anniversary of 1947, the year that computer games were actually invented.
Inevitably, in its first 15 or so years, gaming was barely recognisable. Yet without the things that happened in those years, the things that happen now wouldn't also be happening. Incredibly, the games created between 1947 and 1959 featured many of the hallmarks of the sorts of games we're still playing today. Get a load of this.
Indeed, 2016 marks the 69th anniversary of 1947, the year that computer games were actually invented.
Inevitably, in its first 15 or so years, gaming was barely recognisable. Yet without the things that happened in those years, the things that happen now wouldn't also be happening. Incredibly, the games created between 1947 and 1959 featured many of the hallmarks of the sorts of games we're still playing today. Get a load of this.
1947 - THE CATHODE RAY AMUSEMENT DEVICE
It seems depressingly appropriate that the first ever interactive electronic game would take its inspiration from war. Yet, coming just two years after the end of World War II, it's hardly a surprise; one of its two creators, Thomas T. Goldsmith Jr, was a radar operator.
The snappily-named Cathode Ray Amusement Device comprised of a cathode ray tube hooked up to an oscilloscope, whatever that is. A set of knobs and switches allowed players to fire artillery shells at targets such as tanks and planes - represented using plastic screen overlays, Vectrex-style.
Though Goldsmith Jr and his colleague Estle Ray Mann (no, really - the first computer game was created by Ray Mann) applied for a patent, the Cathode Ray Amusement Device was never released commercially.
The snappily-named Cathode Ray Amusement Device comprised of a cathode ray tube hooked up to an oscilloscope, whatever that is. A set of knobs and switches allowed players to fire artillery shells at targets such as tanks and planes - represented using plastic screen overlays, Vectrex-style.
Though Goldsmith Jr and his colleague Estle Ray Mann (no, really - the first computer game was created by Ray Mann) applied for a patent, the Cathode Ray Amusement Device was never released commercially.
1950 - BERTIE THE BRAIN
Bertie the Brain sounds like a CBeebies show, but he was also one of the first proper computer games. Developed for the Canadian National Exhibition, the giant computer allowed visitors to play a game of noughts and crosses against a computer brain, eh.
Seen ultimately more as a novelty than a signpost to the future of computing, Bertie was disassembled following the Exhibition, and never seen again. Not technically a video game - Bertie's display used lightbulbs, rather than a video screen - it was designed by Doctor Josef Kates, who later went on to create the first traffic signalling system, earning him the nickname "The Bulbfather".
Seen ultimately more as a novelty than a signpost to the future of computing, Bertie was disassembled following the Exhibition, and never seen again. Not technically a video game - Bertie's display used lightbulbs, rather than a video screen - it was designed by Doctor Josef Kates, who later went on to create the first traffic signalling system, earning him the nickname "The Bulbfather".
1951 - NIMROD
Debuting at the 1951 Festival of Britain, Nimrod allowed attendees to play the boring ancient mathematical strategy game "Nim" against a "faster than thought electronic brain". Among those who played on Nimrod at the Festival of Britain was Enigma codebreaker Alan Turing.
Though we cannot be certain that the two events are unconnected, it seems unlikely that Turing's experience with Bertie led to his tragic suicide just three years later.
Though we cannot be certain that the two events are unconnected, it seems unlikely that Turing's experience with Bertie led to his tragic suicide just three years later.
1951 - DRAUGHTS (Pilot ACE)
British computer scientist Christopher Strachey created a draughts program for the Pilot ACE computer (designed by the aforementioned Alan Turing). The program was so advanced that it utilised all of the computer's available memory, being able to "play a complete game of draughts at a reasonable speed".
Strachey also wrote one of the first computer music programs, instructing the Ferranti Mark 1 to perform Baa Baa Black Sheep, God Save The King, and Glenn Miller's In The Mood. In the mood for what though, Glenn? Sadly, your lack of explanation leaves it open to the lewdest of interpretations.
Strachey also wrote one of the first computer music programs, instructing the Ferranti Mark 1 to perform Baa Baa Black Sheep, God Save The King, and Glenn Miller's In The Mood. In the mood for what though, Glenn? Sadly, your lack of explanation leaves it open to the lewdest of interpretations.
1952 - OXO
There's a joke in here somewhere about OXO being the predecessor of the GameCube (Oxo Cube/Game Cube joke, see). OXO was another noughts-and-crosses program. And - yes - it also displayed its visuals on - that's right - an oscilloscope, whatever that is.
Sadly, not available to be played by the grubby 1950s public, OXO was only open to visitors to University of Cambridge's Mathematical Laboratory.
Sadly, not available to be played by the grubby 1950s public, OXO was only open to visitors to University of Cambridge's Mathematical Laboratory.
1954 - POOL (MIDSAC)
Engineers at the University of Michigan (thrilling picture displayed above) managed to create a working pool simulator through their MIDSAC computer, which featured on-screen representations of the table, balls and cue. As the players took their shots, the computer calculated the movement of the balls in real time. Indeed, if we were blessed with a mid-sac ball we suspect we'd also need a computer to calculate its movement.
1955 - HUTSPIEL
Hutspiel was invented at the John Hopkins University in Baltimore for the US government. A Cold War-inspired wargame, it pitted two "players" against one another as opposing nuclear states, the NATO-esque OTAN, and the thinly-veiled USSR stand-in, the URSS.
It focused on a fictional confrontation along the banks of the Rhine, and like later - commercial - strategy games, required the players to balance ammunition and fuel supplies. The university later created a similar naval warfare simulator, and a more advanced version of Hutspeil - Theatrespiel.
It focused on a fictional confrontation along the banks of the Rhine, and like later - commercial - strategy games, required the players to balance ammunition and fuel supplies. The university later created a similar naval warfare simulator, and a more advanced version of Hutspeil - Theatrespiel.
1958 - TENNIS FOR TWO
Pong is considered the first proper video game - even if most people forget that it was a proven rip-off. In actual fact, Pong wasn't even the first tennis game.
That accolade had already been taken by Tennis For Two, created by William Higinbotham for the Brookhaven National Laboratory's annual public exhibition. Unlike the top-down Pong, Tennis For Two adopted a side-on perspective, simulating a ball's trajectory based upon wind resistance. Viewed on yet another oscilloscope, whatever that is, Higinbotham created a pair of familiar-looking aluminium paddle controllers.
In 1985, Nintendo sued Magnavox and Ralph H. Baer - creator of the first games console, the Magnavox Odyssey - in a bid to invalidate his patents. Nintendo stated that Baer had stolen his idea for a tennis game from Tennis For Two. Nintendo lost the court case, when the judge ruled that Tennis For Two didn't use video signals, and could therefore not qualify as a video game.
Baer is widely considered to be the Father of Video Games. Consequently, some have labelled Higinbotham the Grandpapapapa of Video Games.
That accolade had already been taken by Tennis For Two, created by William Higinbotham for the Brookhaven National Laboratory's annual public exhibition. Unlike the top-down Pong, Tennis For Two adopted a side-on perspective, simulating a ball's trajectory based upon wind resistance. Viewed on yet another oscilloscope, whatever that is, Higinbotham created a pair of familiar-looking aluminium paddle controllers.
In 1985, Nintendo sued Magnavox and Ralph H. Baer - creator of the first games console, the Magnavox Odyssey - in a bid to invalidate his patents. Nintendo stated that Baer had stolen his idea for a tennis game from Tennis For Two. Nintendo lost the court case, when the judge ruled that Tennis For Two didn't use video signals, and could therefore not qualify as a video game.
Baer is widely considered to be the Father of Video Games. Consequently, some have labelled Higinbotham the Grandpapapapa of Video Games.
1958 - THE MANAGEMENT GAME
Created at Carnegie Tech in Pittsburgh, The Management Game simulated an exciting market battle between three detergent companies. Like later strategy games, it required the players to juggle resources, in this case production, finance and research, as well as advertising budgets, personnel, and distribution.
Simulating three years in the lives of the companies, The Management Game would take two whole semesters to play. Still being used at some universities today, it holds the distinction of having the longest life of any computer game ever written. The very thought of it makes us die a little inside.
Simulating three years in the lives of the companies, The Management Game would take two whole semesters to play. Still being used at some universities today, it holds the distinction of having the longest life of any computer game ever written. The very thought of it makes us die a little inside.
1959 - MOUSE IN THE MAZE
If you thought Pac-Man was the first ever video maze game, you'd be forgiven for being an idiot. Mouse in the Maze, created for the TR-0 computer at MIT, saw users utilising a light pen to build the maze - making it also the first game to use a stylus - and place dots that represented pieces of cheese or Martini glasses (a favourite drink of mice, presumably).
A virtual mouse - also represented by a dot - was then released and would explore the maze to find the objects, based upon characteristics (such as only following left or right walls) defined by the player.
The next milestone in gaming was Spacewar. But that's another story.
A virtual mouse - also represented by a dot - was then released and would explore the maze to find the objects, based upon characteristics (such as only following left or right walls) defined by the player.
The next milestone in gaming was Spacewar. But that's another story.
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