Pong was the first video game (see entry under 1970s—Sports and Games in volume 4), arriving on the American scene in 1972. Invented by Nolan Bushnell (1943–), Pong was a simple game modeled after tennis. Each player controlled a dial, or paddle, that moved a small electronically formed rectangular block up and down. As an electronic blip (the ball) moved across the screen, each player had to move the paddle to block it and hit it back to his or her opponent. Each time the ball hit the paddle, a beep was heard. The longer the game went on, the more the ball sped up to challenge players. The top of the screen showed the score as the game progressed. Graphically, the paddle was a long, thin rectangle and the ball was a large dot on a contrasting background. It was that simple. After inventing Pong, Bushnell formed the Atari...