As early as 1950, it was proposed that computers could be programmed to play chess.

The game Spacewar! began in 1962 as a public display for visitors to the Brookhaven National Laboratory in New York.

Spacewar! inspired engineering student Nolan Bushnell to create the next big computer game: Snake.

Several historically important games were originally developed as “after hours” amusements by technical students and staff, and functioned as technology demonstrations.

Soon after it was founded, video game corporation Atari received a contract to develop an electronic version of Ping-Pong.

Atari created the “coin-op” game industry that became perhaps the main source for innovative electronic games well into the 1980s.

In 1966 Ralph Baer designed circuitry to display and control moving dots on a television screen, leading to the simple chase game Fox and Hounds. 

Before Atari had the chance, Ralph Baer and his team created an at-home version of Pong, which previously existed only as a coin-operated game.

Home video games experienced a sharp decline by 1983, with consumer backlash about the games’ unpredictability at an all-time high.

One of the first computer games based on the text, networking, and other capabilities available in academic laboratory computers was Hunt the Wumpus.

Most video games were not equipped to run on home computers until the late 1990s.

In the 1980s, Nintendo and Sega introduced a new generation of video game consoles with graphics that equaled or exceeded the capabilities of personal computers.

Sega was the first to introduce battery-powered storage cartridges that enabled players to save games in progress so that they could later continue playing right where they had left off.