The Ultimate History of Video Games by Steven L. Kent (2-115)

Summary:

There were a lot of inventions that lead to today’s videogames, but the main was Baffle Ball. This was a game invented by David Gottlieb. The game didn’t use any electricity and it almost has no similarities to modern pinball games. The sales for these games were so high that Gottlieb could barely keep up with them. Once Gottlieb proved that money could be made from these games, his competition began growing. Harry Williams, a Stanford-educated was Gottlieb’s main competition. In 1933, Williams built Contact, the first electric pinball machine. Even though David was well aware of Williams’s innovations, he was more frightened by a different invention. Slot machine manufacturers began making pinball-like machines which combined pinball with gambling. These machines were known as “pay-outs”. David was afraid because these machines were a threat to his industry. He had the right to be afraid. Politicians were against pay-out games and they passed a law to prohibit them, which meant any form of pinball. In 1947, one of Gottlieb’s engineers, by the name of Harry Mabs, added an innovation to the game. He added six spring-powered levers that players use to control and keep the ball in the playfield. As soon as Harry Mabs invented the “flipper bumpers”, all other companies heard about it and used it for their own good. Competition had been waiting for an invention such as that to make their machines better. Later in January 1948, Steven Kordek introduced a two flipper design. Every industry began working to use that design in their machines. In the late 1950’s and early 1960’s students from MIT had a huge impact on computers. Once these students discovered computers they became known as “hackers”, before they were just nerds. IN 1960 many computers were large enough to fill a room. They needed cooling systems because vacuum tubes generated great amounts of heat and they could cause fires. Steve Russell was the first to create a game that took place in space. It was a game about rocket ships dueling. It was known as “Spacewar”. The first video game was created by engineers at Sanders Associates, a New Hampshire based defense contractor. When Ralph Baer first introduced this project to his team they wanted him to stop because they thought it was impossible. Another person from another company took the idea and told his boss. They thought it was a great idea and so they worked on it. The first product was called “Odyssey”.

Quote:

"You can't say that video games grew out of pinball, but you can assume that video games wouldn't have happened without it. It's like bicycles and automobiles.One industry leads to the other and then they exist side by side. But you had to have bicycles to one day have motor cars" ( Baxter 1).

Response:

I totally agree with this quote because in order to have a product you have to begin somewhere. You can't just go from step one to the final product. There have to be problems to be fixed to finally arrive to a much better product. Without the idea of pinball, the video game industry wouldn't have arrived to where it is today in our society.