1971: Galaxy Game, Computer Space and Atari
Category: Arcade
Because of the success of the Spacewar! game, some students decide to build a public version of the game that people could play for money. Their arcade game is called Galaxy Game and is installed at the Tressider Union of Stanford University in September 1971. The machine is very expensive because it is based on a PDP-11/20 computer, building it cost about $20,000.
Two months later, the first commercially sold arcade video game is created by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney. It is based on Spacewar! too, although it has been modified to let one single player battle against computer-controlled alien spaceships, and it is released only two months after Galaxy Game, in November 1971. It is called Computer Space and licensed to Nutting Associates who brings it to market in a nice, futuristic fibreglass cabinet. The game is not a huge success with the general public however, as the controls are too complicated for people who are just discovering what a videogame is. Still, it deserves a place in history for actually being the first commercially sold videogame ever.
Nolan and Ted make about $500 in licensing fees, which they rightfully think is not enough. So one year later they start a new business called Atari, with which they would soon produce their own, new game called Pong.
Watch it
See a short gameplay clip of an actual Computer Space machine:
Play it
As the Computer Space game is a discrete logic device without a microprocessor, it cannot be emulated on a computer, only simulated. Two such simulators for Windows can be downloaded from Computer Space Fan’s website:
Computer Space Simulator for Windows (1)
Computer Space Simulator for Windows (2)
1971 Computer Games
Category: Mainframe
Baseball
Don Daglow (today president and CEO of Stormfront Studios) writes his first computer game, a textual baseball simulation, on a DEC PDP-10 at Pomona College, where he is studying playwriting. This would not only be the beginning of Don’s long career in computer game development, but also a very influential title for decades of new sports games.
Star Trek
Developed by Mike Mayfield on an SDS Sigma 7, Star Trek was a completely unlicensed textgame of outer-space combat. Players would control their NCC-1701 through a number of quadrants and sectors using text commands, trying to destroy all Klingon ships in the area.
Try this page for an impressive amount of conversions and remakes, to find a version you can play on your computer.
The Oregon Trail
Don Rawitsch, Bill Heinemann, and Paul Dillenberger of Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota together work on the idea to create an interactive computer program that can be used in history classes. The result is the first incarnation of The Oregon Trail which would go on the become arguably the most popular and beloved edutainment title ever made. However, the game would not reach a wider audience until 1974, when it was distributed via the state’s MECC educational network.
Over the years, there will be numerous remakes of the title. See the article on Wikipedia for more information.
