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Category: Laboratory

Designed by William Higinbotham against the boredom of visitors to the Brookhaven National Laboratory in New York, Tennis for Two was a game designed on an analogue lab computer, using an oscilloscope for display. As the computer’s manual included example instructions on how to simulate the trajectory of a bouncing ball, the idea of creating an interactive tennis game was not all too far-fetched. The oscilloscope showed a court and a net, as well as the bouncing ball which could be smashed back to the other player’s side by altering the angle with a knob, and then pushing a button. But what’s a description if you can watch an actual gameplay video of a recreated device a few pixels further down?

Watch it

This short documentary on a reconstruction effort at the BNL includes some very nice historical pictures and anecdotes:

A gameplay video of the reconstructed Tennis for Two device:

Play it

Gamer’s Quarter has an interesting simulator up for download, written in Python and using SDL, although there is only a pre-compiled Windows version available for download. It includes neat features such as a computer opponent and even network play. You can’t deny it’s fun to bounce that dot around!

Get the Tennis for Two simulator