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Pong
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Name: Pong Manufacturer: Atari Year: 1972 Type: Videogame Class: Wide Release Number of Simultaneous Players: 2
Sound: Amplified Mono (one channel)
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Pong DescriptionPong was produced by Atari in 1972. Atari released 126 different machines in our database under this trade name, starting in 1972. Other machines made by Atari during the time period Pong was produced include Doctor Pong, Snoopy Pong, Barrel Pong, Space Race, and Gotcha. Pong - KLOV/IAM 5 Point User Score: 3.26 (7 votes)
Personal Impressions and Technical Impressions each account for half of the total score. Within the Personal Impressions category, "Like" carries a little more weight than the other factors. Log in to rate this game! Cabinet InformationThe original cabinet has wood sides, a flat top, and yellow wood in front of monitor. The word PONG is displayed in large black stylized letters above monitor TV glass. The instructions are as follows Insert Coin. Avoid Missing Ball for High Score.PThe first prototype cabinet was black and red and it had a cardboard bezel which hid a small, black white Hitachi TV. It was placed in Andy Capps Tavern where it sat on a barrel it was small enough to fit on a table. Pong Cocktail. This machine was not as pretty as a standard Pong cabinet and as such isnt as desired by collectors.Cabinet Style Weights and Measures
MiscellaneousThe boards name Syzygy as the manufacturer of the game. While both "Pong" and "Computer Space" say Syzygy Engineered on their control panels, Bushnell was not able to get the rights to this name, so Atari was chosen as the next best choice.Pong is available on the iPad and iPhone via Atari's Greatest Hits application. VAPS Arcade/Coin-Op Pong CensusThere are 9,067 members of the Video Arcade Preservation Society / Vintage Arcade Preservation Society, 7,459 whom participate in our arcade census project of games owned, wanted, or for sale. Census data currently includes 120,511 machines (5,358 unique titles).Common - There are 37 known instances of this machine owned by Pong collectors who are active members. Of these, 32 of them are original dedicated machines, 1 is a conversion in which game circuit boards (and possibly cabinet graphics) have been placed in (and on) another game cabinet, and 4 of them are only circuit boards which a collector could put into a generic case if desired. For Sale - There are 3 active VAPS members with Pong machines for sale. There is one active VAPS member with an extra Pong circuit board for sale. Wanted - Popular - There are 17 active VAPS members currently looking for Pong. This game ranks a 18 on a scale out of 100 (100 = most often seen, 1=least common) in popularity based on census ownership records. This game ranks a 32 on a scale out of 100 (100 = most often wanted, 1=least common) in popularity based on census want list records.
TriviaThe legend of Nolan Bushnell and IPongI being rejected by Bally, and putting the prototype into Andy Capps Tavern, a ustic location in Sunnyvale, CA, is true at least, most of it is. According to the legend, the bartender called Al Alcorn who built the machine two days after it was installed and told him, The fing thing is broken, get it out of here When Alcorn went to check on it, he discovered that the juryrigged coin box was overflowing, preventing the mechanism from registering coins.PThe real story is that it was a polite call two weeks after it was installed, where the tavern manager, Bill Gattis, said to Alcorn, This is the weirdest thing. When I opened the bar this morning, there were two or three people at the door waiting to get in. They walked in and played that machine. They did not buy anything. I have never seen anything like this before. He suggested Alcorn should fix the machine since it had developed a following. Alcorn opened the coin box to treat himself to a free game when quarters came gushing out. He scooped up some of the quarters, put them in his pockets, gave Gattis his business card and said, Next time this happens, you call me at home right away. I can always fix this one. After that, Bushnell decided Atari would manufacture IPongI itself. Partial source Kent, Steven L., IThe First Quarter A 25Year History of Video GamesI Bothell, WA BWD Press, 2000, pp. 3536.Legacy
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eBay ListingsClick to search eBay for Pong Videogame machines and related items.Click to search eBay for machines and parts made by Atari. Check out the IAM/KLOV report of the hottest coin-op machine auctions, powered by Ace.com.
|   Prototype Original Prototype, currently in the Computer History Museum collection
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