Trying to determine what to mark as earliest video game is nigh-impossible. Much of the time, the beginning of the timeline begins with the arcade video games and home consoles of the 1970s, but this leaves out the decades of technology and design history which built up to those games.
These early, practically pre-historic games generally didn't even have video screens, and they were generally intended as mere simulations or for demonstrative purposes rather than for real fun. They usually ran on colossal mainframe computers relegated to universities and exclusive research centers. Over time, as these early electronic games gradually evolved, they inched closer and closer to what we can classify now as a video game.
1951 marks an unusually eventful year for early game programs, mostly due to the new wave of mainframe computers beginning to crop up in universities in the US and, especially, the UK. In particular, the engineering firm Ferranti works throughout the year with the University of Manchester to develop the Manchester Mark I, and, later, the Ferranti Mark I, some of the first computers capable of running any type of real game. Over in the US, the Whirlwind computer is developed by MIT for the US Navy, with even more rudimentary capabilities.
Someone else enters the scene this year as well: a television engineer working for Loral Corporation, Ralph Baer is hired to design a high-class television set for the company. It is here that, according to Baer, he has the idea to add some kind of interactivity- although not necessarily a game- into the set as an extra feature.
...Unfortunately, the costs of putting a system like this into a television set are still very high, and the project is running behind schedule, so the company never goes through with the idea. For now, early computer game development continues on specialized machines in universities and research labs.
January
Computer scientist Christopher Strachey first goes to the National Physical Laboratory in the UK, where he is introduced to the Pilot ACE, one of the earliest computers ever built.
February
Over in the US, a group of students at MIT taught by Charles Adams begin creating a simulation of a bouncing ball for the university's Whirlwind I computer.
The same month, the University of Manchester gets its own new computer from Ferranti.
April
MIT's bouncing ball program is completed. The physics simulation shows a side view of a ball bouncing several times across the screen. It's not until later- it's not clear exactly when- that a game component is added. A modification most likely from Jack Gilmore, it adds a line shooting across the screen right before the ball sets off, representing the floor. There's a small gap in the line, representing a hole in the floor, giving the player the objective to line up the ball so that it falls into the hole. It doesn't take very long to complete, and it's hard to call it particularly fun, but it's the first computerized game with visuals that update in real time. Notably, it's also not based on a pre-existing board game or sport, which most of the games around this period were.
Link to: Whirlwind Bouncing Ball simulator.
May
Christopher Strachey uses the NPL's Pilot ACE computer to create a version of the game of draughts (checkers) to run on the machine, working on the program in his spare time throughout the summer
At the same time, the Festival of Britain is going on. Ferranti brings a specially built computer to the festival to showcase the engineering potential of their line of computers. Called the Nimrod Digital Computer, it allows attendees to play a version of the game of Nim against the computer, using a small array of light bulbs as a visual display.
July
Strachey completes his game of draughts, and on the 30th of the month, attempts to run it. However, the program has too many errors for the game to be played. The game pushes the Pilot ACE's tiny memory to its absolute limit, and so Strachey needs a more powerful computer for a functional version of the game to run.
October
Strachey hears about the University of Manchester's new computer, and considers it as a good candidate to retry his draughts program. He gets a manual from Alan Turing and gets to work adapting his code to run on the machine. Strachey is also a pianist, and as he gets used to working with the Ferranti computer, he takes advantage of its sound capabilities to play music, the first time a computer has ever been programmed to do so. The music program is played again later in the year and recorded by the BBC in the first recording of a computer playing music. In the audience is Alan Turing, who describes it as a "good show."
A recording of the computer playing three extremely out-of-tune songs.
November
While Strachey is working on his checkers program, Dietrich Prinz works with Alan Turing to code a version of chess running on the Ferranti Mark I, which they call Mate-In-Two. Although they have the game up and running, it has no visual component, instead played entirely through text.
It takes Strachey until the summer of 1952 to get his game running on the University of Manchester's computer. Called A Game of Draughts, it displays the game of checkers on the computer's rudimentary black-and-white screen.
A Game of Draughts pictured in what is possibly the first screenshot of a video game.
Later that year, Stanley Gill creates an original game on the EDSAC computer at the University of Cambridge's Cavendish Laboratory. Called Sheep and Gates, it displays a dot, meant to represent a sheep, going through one of two holes in a line, which represent gates. It uses the light beam of the machine's paper tape reader as a control method, with the player sticking their hand in the way of the beam to control which gates are opened.
Around the same time, Alexander "Sandy" Douglas creates a different game on the University of Cambridge's EDSAC. A version of tic-tac-toe deemed A Game of Naughts and Crosses, or later, simply OXO, it uses the computer's electronic screen to display its visuals, rather than needing a custom-built display screen like earlier tic-tac-toe computers.
A 1951 film demonstrating the EDSAC, with voiceover from 1976. Sandy Douglas shows up at 4:15, with Stanley Gill entering at 5:11.
Over at the University of Michigan, William George Brown and Ted Lewis create a simulation of the game of Pool on the university's MIDSAC computer. By far the most sophisticated game created to date, it is a fairly accurate simulation of the game, with graphics on all balls updating in real time, although the speed slows down significantly when several of the balls are moving at once- making it the first game to drop frames. Reports from the time don't show annoyance at the slowdown though, instead finding it interesting that it lets the movement physics be observed in more detail than they would in a real-life game.
Link to: MIDSAC Pool simulator.
A student playing MIDSAC Pool on its original hardware.
William Higinbotham, a physicist who had helped develop the nuclear bomb at Los Alamos, discovers that the Brookhaven National Laboratory's mainframe computer was capable of simulating trajectories with realistic physics, he designs an adaptation of table tennis to run on the machine, building it with technician Robert Dvorak.
Tennis For Two is notable for a couple of reasons. First, it's For Two- it is the first game on this list intended to be played by more than one player; even the conversions of two-player games like tic-tac-toe and checkers were played against the computer.
Second, it's the only computer game so far to be intended solely for fun right from the start, not to be a simulation or to show off the hardware power it runs on. Set up for only three days at the laboratory's annual public exhibition to entertain the attendees, visitors end up lining up for a turn to play. At the end of the exhibition, it gets dismantled and forgotten about for the next 15 years.
Link to: Higinbotham Tennis For Two simulator.
Footage of a reconstructed version of the game being played.
Created by Lincoln Laboratory, one of the same labs behind the Whirlwind I, the TX-0 mainframe computer is capable of using transistors, rather than the earlier vacuum tubes. One of the programs created for the TX-0 is Mouse In The Maze, letting the user create a maze from horizontal and vertical lines, fill it with cheese, and then drop in a virtual mouse, which then traverses the maze to get the cheese. Later, versions were created replacing the cheese with martinis, making the mouse more and more tipsy as it went on. Although the program is often called a video game, the only degree of user interaction is in creating the maze, which the artificial intelligence is then meant to solve. Nevertheless, the low-resolution screen is able to display a fairly recognizable piece of cheese and mouse, which could be considered the first video game character.
The game's mouse character, showcasing the TX-0's mind-boggling effects.
https://youtu.be/nEZYM3v3ALw https://www.wizforest.com/tech/tx-0/#TicTacToe https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h34lKGEgJ4k
Link to: Mouse in the Maze TX-0 emulator.
The TX-0 in action. Mouse in the Maze appears starting at 0:40. Please be warned that the TX-0's display flashes rapidly, so this video is strongly not recommended for anyone sensitive to flashing lights.
Link to: an MIT memo describing the program.
Later that year, the newly formed computer manufacturer DEC modifies the design of the TX-0 to create a much more streamlined version, called the PDP-1. Significantly smaller than any other mainframe computer, the PDP-1 becomes the first minicomputer- which is somewhat of a misnomer, considering it's still several times larger than a human being. Nevertheless, its architecture is better suited to creating games than anything before it, and the PDP line becomes the center of game innovation over the following years.
After the PDP-1 minicomputer makes its way to MIT, a group of students decide to use it to create a space flight program, inspired by the Soviet Union and then United States' space programs succeeding in putting a human being into orbit the previous year. Led by "Slug" Russell, the group create Spacewar!, with two spaceships flying around space shooting each other while avoiding gravity from the star. The game is significantly more complex than anything made previously, and requires hundreds of hours of work by several people to create- Dan Edwards is credited with coming up with the game's gravity calculations, “Shag” Graetz with the explosions, Bob Saunders with testing, and with Peter Samson, Wayne Wiitanen, and Alan Kotok as contributors as well. The game spreads to universities all over the country, becoming extremely popular with those who have access to computers that can run it, which is still a very exclusive group at this point, as only 55 PDP-1 computers are ever sold.
To start the Spacewar! emulator, hold left CTRL and press enter, then wait about 20 seconds for the program to load. To control this two-player game, use the arrow keys for player 1 and ESDF keys for player 2. For directions or more info, check the original source here.
https://youtu.be/CwZAKJ8Y6YUSlug Russell discusses the creation of Spacewar! in a documentary clip. Note: one commentator describes the PDP-1 as a microcomputer, which is incorrect; these are a different type of computer that come significantly later than minicomputers like the PDP-1.
Footage of Spacewar! being played.
Spacewar! lead developer Slug Russell sitting next to a PDP-1.
The Board of Cooperative Educational Services of Westchester County, New York and IBM hold a joint research project, investigating the idea of computer-based simulations in schools. As a part of the project, they create The Sumerian Game, programmed by William McKay and written by Mabel Addis, a fourth-grade schoolteacher, for an IBM mainframe computer. Intended to teach Sumerian economics, it puts students in the role of the ruler of the Sumerian city of Lagash, making decisions about quantities of grain to allocate throughout harvest season over the course of three rounds. Although it originally has no visual element whatsoever, it has various credits as the first strategy game, the first simulation game, the first educational game, the first game with a female designer, and the first computer game with a narrative.
After two groups of around 30 students play the game, its code is no longer kept around, and the only lasting records of the game come from reconstructions based on descriptions of the game.
The Sumerian Game is one of the earliest examples of a computer game used for teaching purposes. As mainframe computers spread around universities, some instructors expose them to younger learners to give them a head start in their education. To get these kids interested in the boring computers, educators present material in the form of game, either to teach programming and computer skills or general educational material.
Link to: a reconstructed version of the Sumerian Game. Free download, but requires a Steam account.
In 1966, Ralph Baer now works at defense contractor Sanders Associates, as the lead of the Equipment Design division. On August 31, during a business trip to New York, he sits outside a bus terminal, waiting to go to a meeting. As he waits, he mind drifts back to the idea he had a decade and a half before of an interactive television set, and he jots down an idea in a small spiral notebook of playing games on a home television set.
The next day, he turns those notes into a full proposal, bouncing the idea of a "game box" around the Sanders Associates Research & Development division. The project is quickly given the go-ahead, and by December, Baer and his team successfully create a prototype of a line moving on a screen.
Baer's four-page proposal, dated September 1, 1966.
Spacewar! makes its way to Stanford University's Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, where it runs on a PDP-6 computer and becomes a favorite among the university's students.
One of these students is Bill Pitts, who is not a part of the Artificial Intelligence Project at all. Instead, he breaks into the Stanford Artificial Intelligence Laboratory building for fun, without knowing what it is, while exploring tunnels underneath the campus. After seeing Spacewar! in action, he convinces the project lead to give him access to come back and keep playing. After playing a game with fellow student Hugh Tuck, he comments that if someone could get the game to run in a coin-operated arcade cabinet, it would probably be very successful. But, unfortunately, the hardware costs of running the game are still far too high to mass-produce.
Hugh Tuck talks about seeing Spacewar! for the first time. Tuck says the game runs on a PDP-10, which is what it switches to a few years later.
In 1967, Baer brings on technician Bill Harrison to work on their "TV Game" project. They are extremely secretive about the project, working in a small room which is kept locked at all times. In May, the system handles two-player games, with Harrison beating Baer in their first game. In June, they present a prototype of the project to the entire board of directors of Sanders Associates, with a full seven games shown off. Most of the executives are not particularly impressed, but nonetheless, they give the go-ahead to develop the technology into a commercial product. The prototype continues development for the next several years, with another engineer, Bill Rusch, joining shortly after.
The first prototype, called TV Game #1.
Ralph Baer discusses the creation of the prototype in a documentary clip.
In 1968, DEC employee Doug Dyment gives a presentation at the University of Alberta on the role of computers in education. After the talk, a woman who'd seen the Sumerian Game approaches him to see if he'd heard of it, and when he is unfamiliar, gives him a description. Based on nothing more than this description, Dyment creates a version of the game, with only a single round, for the PDP-8. This version, variously called The Sumer Game, King of Sumeria, or Hamurabi, becomes widespread in the programming community.
Doug Dyment discusses the Sumer Game’s rise in popularity.
Link to: the reconstructed Sumerian Game, which also includes the 1968 version. Free download, but requires a Steam account.
On January 15th, Ralph Baer and Bill Rusch file a patent for the technology of the Brown Box prototype. The patent describes a home video game console, although that terminology has not yet come into use.
Early in 1969, Ralph Baer and Bill Harrison complete their TV Game prototype, named the "Brown Box" after to its wood-grain casing. However, the finished machine is too expensive for Sanders Associates to sell, so they make the decision to license the technology to a television manufacturer. The cable company TelePrompTer had backed out of a deal already, but negotiations progress with RCA Corporation for months until the deal falls through.
Ralph Baer and Bill Harrison play the Ping Pong game as part of a demonstration of the Brown Box prototype’s capabilities.
https://youtu.be/I6eEBhetNqQ
The Brown Box prototype. The big gun peripheral in the front is used for a light-based accuracy game.
The same year, the California-based electronics company Ampex hires a new group of engineers in its Videofile Information Systems Division. New college graduate Nolan Bushnell is hired early in the year, where he meets new officemates Larry Bryan and Samuel Dabney Jr, nicknamed Ted. Later in the year, two students at UC Berkeley, Steve Bristow and Al Alcorn, are hired as well. The group become friends, playing games like chess and Go together. Bushnell bounces around an idea he has to start a pizza parlor with things like pinball games and talking barrels, but doesn’t do anything with it at the moment.
Later, shortly after the Apollo Lunar Module lands on the moon, high school student Jim Storer creates a program on the high school's PDP-8 computer called Rocket, a text-based simulation of the landing. His computer teacher submits the game to the DEC users' newsletter, where its source code is distributed to subscribers under the name Apollo.
In early 1970, Ted Dabney, Nolan Bushnell, and Larry Bryan are sitting around in Dabney's house, when Bushnell brings up an idea he has to take the idea of Spacewar!, but put it in the format of an arcade machine. They agree to form a partnership to make a prototype of the idea. To come up with a name for the partnership, Bryan cracks open a dictionary, and lands on "Syzygy." The three agree to put in $100 as an investment- except for Bryan, because he doesn’t have $100 to spare.
Arcade games are already globally widespread at this point- it's just that they're electro-mechanical arcade games, like pinball. In the US, big companies like Bally, Midway, and Ramtek are well-established in making arcade games. However, putting a computer inside of one of these machines is almost completely unheard of.
Larry Bryan is able to get a program working of a version of Spacewar! in this format, but the three run into the same problem as before: the cost of a computer to run the game is simply too high to be able to mass-produce the machine. Bryan leaves the partnership soon after.
Dabney and Bushnell discuss the birth of Syzygy and their approach to the idea.
As this is happening, Sanders has finally found a licensee for the Brown Box. Even though their deal with RCA had fallen through, one of RCA's executives, Bill Enders, had left the company to work at one of its competitors, Magnavox. He is enthusiastic enough about the project to convince Magnavox's other executives to sign on, and so the two companies negotiate throughout the year for a licensing agreement.
Sometime around here, school districts in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania hold Project SOLO, an initiative to teach high school students foundational coding and computer skills. Students in Bud Valenti’s class create Hide and Seek, a text-only conversion of the playground game, on a PDP-10.