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Nolan Bushnell developed Atari in 1970. He designed a coin operated game console which held the Steve Russell’s game named Spacewar.
The game wasn’t a success because it was to complicated to play. Bushnell tried to design a simpler game based on Ping-Pong. And so Pong was created.
Al Alcorn designed Pong. Bushnell tried to sell his design on another coin operated machine. no company wanted to buy his design. So with only $500 to back him up Bushnell and another man named Ted Dabney founded Atari Incorporated, the first video coin operated company.
The History Of Atari would not be complete without discussing how the company name came about. Bushell wanted, at first, to call it Sygyzy but that had already been copyrighted by a roof company. So he called it Atari instead.
The name Atari originated from GO the Japanese board game! Originally meaning Checkmate. The very first coin operated Pong machine was tested in a bar called Andy Capps.
The owner of Andy Capps wasn’t interested in games or new electronic things which Atari had to offer. One day the owner of Andy Capps called Bushnell up and told him the machine was faulty. When Bushnell came to take away and fix the machine the reason why it wasn’t working was soon discovered.
There were too many coins in the coin holder! Bushnell decided to set up a factory and employed hippies for labor so they could start distributing Pong on a larger scale. Pong was a success. at least 9,000 Pong machines were created and sold which was three times more then the pinball machines in that time. Ted backed out from fear of competition, so Bushnell bought his half of Atari.
My mother (when she was 15) enjoyed playing the Atari 2600. Her favorite game was Adventure. An Atari emulator is available so you can upload it and play Adventure and other Atari games.
Pitfall is a game by Atari. In this game your charachter is a little jungle explorer. You must jump, swing and run you’re way around a jungle.
Along the way you will encounter shrinking puddles, gaping holes, rolling logs, crocs and some very angry scorpions. Pitfall is probably more widely known then its sequel, Pitfall II: Lost Caverns.
Another of the various games by Atari is Pole Position. In this game you control a car.
You must try to finish the qualifier round so you can get the pole position in the actual race. as you drive along there are various obstacles Atari has put in so the game becomes more challenging. You must avoid puddles of oil, puddles of water and other cars as you speed along this track.
Dig-Dug is one of my all time favorite Atari developed games. In Dig-Dug you play as a little blue person with an air blowing harpoon gun. The objective in this game is to fill the fat enemies and the dragon with air until they burst.
This game was developed in 1982. To deplete your enemies you can either inflate them with your harpoon gun or by digging under rocks so they fall and crush your enemies. Be careful though! Your enemies have an ability to go through the ground without making holes so they can reach you. If they touch you you’re dead meat!
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