A Literary" History of the Golden Age of Video Games - Golden Age Video Game Books Part 6

September 26, 2014, 11:17 pm

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More Kiddie Fiction

Kid Stuff, of course, wasn't the only company turning out video game related fiction for the tyro set. Traditional publishers also released a handful of titles featuring various video game characters, starting around 1982.

There were two likely reasons why these books didn't appear earlier. The first is that video games still hadn't really exploded into the larger culture yet and the second was that video game merchandising didn't really start until a certain yellow fellow named Pac-Man appeared on the scene in 1981 (yes, it was released in 1980 but didn't really make a splash in US arcades until early 1981).

Pac-man and the Ghost Diggers (September, 1983, Golden Press)
John Albano; illustrations by John Costanza

 

This one was done by Kid Stuff but I think the Golden Books version (sans record) came first. The story involves Pac-Man pulling baby pac-man around in a wagon trying to avoid the "ghost diggers" (the 4 ghosts/monsters), who are trying to get at his power pills.

Along the way,  has to work his way through three mazes

 I don't know about you, but to me, even a 3-year-old would have to be positively addled to not be able to make it through that one.
Does, Paccy make it home safely? At the risk of spoiling the plot, yes he does.

What's this??? That doesn't look like the same Ms. Pac-Man from the arcade game to me. Did Pac-Man trade her in for a younger model after is success? Geez, what were they teaching kids back then.

Ms. Pac-Man's Prize Pupil (1983?, Golden Books)
John Albano; illustrations by John Costanza

 

Golden also produced this one, by the same writer/illustrator combo. The plot is basically exactly the same as the other one (including three mazes), except that it's Ms. Pac-Man taking junior or a stroll in the stroller.
You can read the whole thing here (though you may have to hurry):
Ms. Pac-Man
 
So who were John Albano and John Costanza?
The evidence is circumstantial but they may be the comic book artists of the same name.
John Albano is probably best known as the co-creator of Jonah Hex, DC's scar-faced cowboy bounter hunter.
He also won a Shazam award in 1972 for scripting the story "The Demon Within", which appeared in House of Mystery #201 (read the whole story HERE) and another in 1971 for Best Writer - Humor Division.

A search of Grand Comics Database reveals 410 credits for Albano. Other titles he worked on include House of Secrets, Plop!, Angel and the Ape, Binky, The Unexpected, and Archie.

John Costanza was a letterer (for titles like Swamp Thing) and a cartoonist on Warner Bros characters and the Simpsons comic books.

What is the evidence that these were the same two guys that did the Pac-Man books?
Mainly this article which says that the two worked on another Golden book titled Ronald McDonald and the Tale of the Talking Plant. The article doesn't mention the Pac-Man titles (and it may be wrong about the connection) but since the Ronnie McD book was from the same publisher and by the same writer/illustrator, it seems likely they were the same people.
 
The Adventures of Q*Bert (1983, Parker Brothers)
John Robinson, Illustrations by Al Moraski?
 

 

Q*Bert ran a distant second to Pac-Man in the video game merchandizing pecking order but or me it was no contest. I like his orange fuzziness much more.
In this book, Q*Bert tries to make his way to the top of the magic mountain that towers over Q-Burg (where everything is cube-shaped, even the apples). Joining him are his pals Slick and Sam, who spout things like "Maybe we shouldn’t like, you know, climb the mountain, Q*Bert my man.” Guarding the mountain are the Quarrelsome Quorum (Wrongway, Ugg, and Coily).
Not bad, for a children's story. I liked it much better than the Pac-Man books above.
One thing we learn is that Q*bert's word balloons are actually not cursing (contrary to popular belief). %#!!%X, for instance, means "I know I am brave. I will triumph."
 
You can read the whole thing HERE along with a book report
 
Q*Bert's Quazy Questions (September, 1983, Parker Brothers)
John Robinson?, Illustrations by Al Moraski
 
 

 
 
I haven't read this one, but it APPEARS to be a book of standard riddles, like
 
Q: How much fur can you get from a skunk?
A: As fur as possible
 
Along with some Q*Bert themed ones
 
Q: When is Coily not a snake?
A: When he’s a little cross.
 
Q: What does Q*bert say when he bumps into Sam?
A: Well, X Qs me!

If  this site is correct (and I'm not at all confident that it is), then John Robinson is the author of "Nobody's Child: The stirring true story of an unwanted boy who found hope", which is actually his autobiography. It's the story of his being abandoned as a 4-year old and how he found God and became a born-again Christian. I haven't read it, so I can't say if it's the same person or not. Nor am I sure that Robinson was the author of the riddle book.
 
Coloring and Activity Books
 
There were lots of these and I'm not going to go into them in any depth at all.
The most interesting may have been the "Dragon's Lair Presents" series, which included four books (Dirk the Daring Battles the Black Knight, Dirk the Daring Battles the Crypt Keepers, Dirk the Daring Battles the Giddy Goons, and Dirk the Daring in the Quest for the Stolen Fortune)
All Marvel Books, 1984, by Susan Weyn.
Unfortunately, I have never even seen so much as a picture of the cover of any of these books.
 
Weyn is apparently this Susan Weyn who writes young adult sci-fi and fantasy novels (including The Bar Code Tattoo).
More info:
http://www.suzanneweynbooks.com/index.php/abouttheauthor
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suzanne_Weyn
 
 
 Other activity books:

 
 

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The (Pre) Hisory of Night Driver - Part 1: Nurburgring

June 2, 2014, 6:58 pm

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In earlier posts, I’ve made brief mention of Reiner Foerst’s Nurburgring and Micronetics’ Night Racer as predecessors to Atari’s Night Driver. Today I thought I’d begin to flesh out the story of these games, as well as a number of others that appeared around the same time.
(NOTE that much of the information on Nurbrugring came from the Lance Carter’s History of Racing Games at historyofracinggames.wordpress.com)

Of all the many video game genres, perhaps none (other than the ball and paddle game) is more venerable, or popular, that the driving game. The first driving video game was probably Atari’s Gran Trak 10 (March, 1974). It was followed by a number of similar games between 1974 and 1976, including Taito’s Speed Race/Midway’s Wheels, Electra’s Pace Car Pro (perhaps the first true color driving game), and a dozen more games by Atari/Kee (including 1975’s Hi Way, which included a built-in seat that allowed the player to sit down while playing). These games, however, all featured a top-down perspective rather than the first-person perspective that later became de rigueur. First-person driving games had actually been around, in electromechanical form for years (and driving games in general had been around for even longer – the first may have been Canova and Thompson’s two-player bike racing game Automatic Cycle Racer in 1897). In 1941, the International Mutoscope Corporation (more famous for its peep shows) released Drive Mobile– a driving game that included a rotating plastic drum with the images of a two-lane road clogged with traffic. The player used a steering wheel to maneuver a small plastic car to avoid the traffic while an electronic map of the U.S. tracked his cross-country progress. The following year the company released a two-player variant called Cross-Country Race with the display showing the progress of the two cars on a twisting route from New York to Los Angeles. The early fifties saw the appearance of games with display screens showing 8 mm movie footage of actual traffic such as Capitol Projector's Auto Test (1954 - some sources say 1959) and Turnpike Tournament (1959). In the 1960s, in games like Chicago Coin’s hugely popular Speedway the player maneuvered a plastic car along the projected image of a track produced by shining light through a transparent plastic/nylon disc.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Above images courtesy of Pinrepair.com

 

 

The first-person driving video game would have to wait, however. Ask people what the first such game was and many would probably mention Atari’s Night Driver (October, 1976). In truth, however, Night Driver was preceded by at least four other games with almost identical game play. The granddaddy of them all was actually produced not in America, but in Germany and was started three years earlier: a game called Nurburgring by Dr. Ing- Reiner Foerst.

 

 

In 1971 Reiner Foerst (then 38) took a job as director of a German wire-manufacturer called Trakus.  At the time, companies had just begun to explore the use of driving simulators in research. In 1965, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers had published a report describing such a simulator that used color film footage along with realistic sounds and vibrations to reproduce the driving experience. The system, however, was not interactive. In 1966, the Human Resources Research Organization designed a similar system. With a background in simulation, Foerst decided to capitalize on this growing market by creating the best driving simulators in the business. To do so, however, he needed money and to do that, he decided to create a coin-op driving game. Examining the patents of other companies he found that Volkswagen and British Petroleum had both created simulators. The BP system, however, used a projection screen system and Volkswagen used a large oscilloscope (along with a motion system that allowed limited movement), both of which were too expensive for a game.

(supposedly) Volkswagen's early 1970s driving simulator courtesy of historyofracinggames.wordpress.com

Frustrated, Reiner slapped together a prototype using light bulbs to create a crude display, but the resulting product didn’t work very well. When Pong exploded onto the scene in 1973, Foerst knew he'd found a better solution and by the end of the year he was at work turning his prototype into a video game (that same year, he filed or a US patent on a tic-tac-toe like game). The first version was finished in May of 1975 and placed on location in an arcade in the university town of Giessen where it did well. Encouraged by the success of the prototype, Trakus provided more funding and the first two production units were completed by March of 1976 (when they were shown at the International Exposition for Coin-Op Games in Berlin). Production began soon after at a rate of one machine per week. Dubbed Nurburgring 1 (after the famed German race track built around the mountain village and castle of Nurburg in the 1920s) it featured almost 1,500 components, including a rack stuffed to the gills with a whopping 28 circuit boards. While the visuals were sparse (consisting almost exclusively of a series of white posts along the side of a virtual road, the first-person perspective gave the game level of realism unseen in a video driving game. Adding to the immersive experience were the game’s sounds, which included the roar of the engine, air whistling by the car, crashes, and screeching tires. The engine sounds grew louder the faster you drove and more hollow when the brakeswere applied.

A peek inside the original Nurburgring

            Realistic as it was, the game was also expensive, and complicated, which is why Foerst could only afford to produce one machine a week – even though he realized this would allow other coin-op games to copy his idea. Before long, Foerst’s fears were realized. It started when Foerst paid a visit to a bowling alley to check on one of this games. While there, he met a young video game technician from America named Ted Michon. The meeting would change the course of video game history (but that story will have to wait until part 2) 



A page from one of Reiner Foerst's US patents for Nurbrugring (filed May 13, 1976)

Another Foerst patent - for a "game board with color distinguishable" - filed December 19, 1973 Note that this may have been for a game called Ring-O-Bang

The First European Imports???

October 4, 2014, 12:13 pm

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Recently, I came into possession of a number of documents from the Magnavox v Bally case(s) of the 1970s and found some fascinating new info. A quick background before jumping into the details: starting around April, 1974 Magnavox began filing suit against a number of coin-op companies for patent infringement. They started (I believe) with Chicago Coin and Seeburg, but eventually brought in a number of other companies, including Atari, Bally, Midway, Ramtek, and Allied Leisure (consolidated under a single case).

I have long wanted to get my hands on the trial documents for the case, since they often contain tidbits of info that you can’t get anywhere else. In addition, they are much closer (in time) to the original events and, given that they are legal proceedings, claims are more likely to be accurate since a) the parties often provide physical evidence to back them up and b) the parties are under oath (this doesn’t mean they couldn’t lie, but it would be riskier to do so).

Recently, Marty Goldberg pointed me to a 2012 article on the first known video game lawsuit, which actually wasn’t the Magnavox case but the 1973 Allied Leisure v Midway case:

http://repository.jmls.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1340&context=facpubs

I found the article to be outstanding, and very well researched (sadly, far better, IMO, than most of the video game history that you find on the web or in print). I strongly recommend it to anyone with an interest in early video game history.

Even better, the author of the article was kind enough to provide me with copies of the trial documents that he had not only for the Allied v Midway case, but also for Magnavox v Bally.

Two of the most interesting sections to me were the depositions of Jerry Koci (Chicago Coin VP of Engineering and long-time game designer) and Bob Fritsche (Odyssey product manager for Magnavox).

Chicago Coin

The most interesting of the two was probably Jerry Koci’s deposition, taken on May 28, 1975. Chicago Coin had been in the arcade business since 1931 and between 1973 and 1975 they produced 8 video games, most of them Pong clones. Koci’s most interesting revelation concerned the game TV Goalee.

 

 TV Goalee was actually an interesting game in its own right. While the game itself appears to be another ball-and-paddle soccer game, it had a few twists. For one, it used joystick controllers (though that isn’t overly interesting, as there were a number of other Pong games that did so). The ball didn’t bounce off the walls as in many other “hockey” style games (though that may have been common in soccer games). The really interesting part to me, however, is the cabinet, which included a miniature 3-D soccer stadium with the monitor mounted horizontally.

 

 

Still more interesting is that the game was actually designed not by Chicago Coin, and not even in the U.S., but in Australia, making it one of the earliest foreign video games licensed for release in the U.S.

Here is the relevant section of Koci’s testimony:

Q Does Chicago Dynamic [note Chicago Coin was a division of Chicago Dynamic Industries] employ or retain or utilize any consultants for the design, development, or manufacture of video games?

A We have in the past used Exidy, and we have consulted with Illinois Research on some problems.

Q What’s the full name of that company? Is that Universal Research?

A Illinois Tech.

Q The university or college?

A Yes, the research division.

Q Has Illinois Research Division of Illinois Institute of Technology actually designed a game for you?

A No, sir. They were called in on specific static problems.

Q Anyone else that Chicago Dynamic has used as a consultant, designer, developer of video games?

A We have not used a consultant, but we did acquire a game made in Australia.

Q What game is that?

A Well, it’s Goalee, TV Goalee.

Q I think I asked you about TV Goalee before and what the origin of that was?

A Are you sure it was Goalee? You weren’t referring to Tennis? [Note – Koci had earlier claimed that he didn’t recall where TV Goalee was originally designed, but he was apparently thinking of TV Ping Pong or TV Tennis]

Q Well, early, I thought I had, but that’s not important.

A If it was Goalee, then Mr. Anderson, that came from Australia.

Q Let’s pursue that a little further.

A Okay.

Q What’s the name of the source of that TV Goalee designed in Australia?

A I can’t recall. It’s our distributor called Leisure-something Enterprise.

Q Would you provide us with the accurate name of that company and perhaps its address in Australia?

A Yes, They are located in Perth.

MR. THREEDY I think it’s Leisure Time.

THE WITNESS  Leisure Time or Leisure Enterprises?

MR. THREEDY Leisure Time Enterprises.

THE WITNESS Well, we will confirm it Mr. Anderson.

Q How did TV Goalee first come to the attention of Chicago Dynamic?

A Mr. Steinberg, the president of Leisure in Perth, Australia, had written us about the game and sent in a prototype at our direction.

Q Does the game have the same name in Australia, or is it called by a different name?

A I don’t believe it was ever produced in Australia, to my knowledge.

Q Does Leisure manufacture video games?

A No, sir.

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OK, so who was Leisure Time Enterprises and when did this all occur?

I suspect that Koci is actually referring to Leisure & Allied Industries, a leading Australian coin-op company. Leisure & Allied Industries was a group of companies founded in 1958 by Malcolm Steinberg (note that Koci had said the president of Allied was “Mr. Steinberg”). they are probably best known as a distributor and for starting the Timezone chain in Australia in 1978.

The following photo, from this site was captioned “Our factory, Palmerston St, 1973, Perth”  

 

From trade magazines, I know that the company still located at that address in 1977, meaning that they were indeed in Perth when TV Goalee was made.Given the similarities of the name, the location, the witnesses uncertainty, and the name of the president, I think Koci was actually referring to Leisure & Allied Industries. It's possible, however, that Leisure Time Enterprises was either a division of Leisure & Allied or another company they set up. Malcolm Steinberg had other relatives that worked at his company. So another possibility is that one of them ran another company in Perth.

BTW, here’s a photo of Malcolm Steinberg back in the day (I suspect 1958), from the same site.

 

 

And here he is today:

 

I’m not sure if Allied designed the cabinet or just the game. So when was TV Goalee made? Koci answers that question too. In fact, he provides production run dates for almost all of Chicago Coin’s video games. Production of TV Goalee started April 29, 1974 and ended August 22, 1974. I have only found one release announcement for the game, from the June, 1974 issue of Vending Times, but I suspect they began selling it in early May (since sales usually started shortly after production began). They also showed it at a distributors meeting on May 3, which supports a May release date.

So TV Goalee was an early example of a foreign-made game licensed for release in the U.S. but was it the first? I’d have to go back through my notes to be sure, but it certainly seems to be a candidate. I wrote earlier about Midway’s TV Basketball (a licensed version of Taito’s Baskbetball) being possibly the first Japanese game licensed for U.S. release. I’m not sure when TV Basketball was released, but my best guess is around June, 1974. If accurate (and it may not be), this means that TV Goalee came first. Off the top of my head, I can’t think of any earlier European video game licensed for U.S. release, but I’d have to read through my notes. There were a number of Canadian ball-and-paddle games, but I don’t know if they were sold in the U.S. and if they were, if they were licensed or just sold by the Canadian manufacturer (the first Canadian coin-op video game company may have been Volly, which was allegedly set up by Ramtek but I think they only sold games in Canada). There is also the possibility that Leisure & Allied sold the game to Chicago Coin outright rather than licensing it (though even if true, it might still be the fist European-designed game released in the US).

Super Flipper

Chicago Coin’s most interesting video game (IMO) was Super Flipper.

 

I talked about this one earlier, so I won’t go into the details here, but Koci revealed some interesting information about its origins as well.

Q Who developed the Super Flipper game?

A That was developed by a company in Ancona, Italy.

Q How do you spell that?

A A-N-C-O-N-A

Q Do you know the name of the company?

A Model Racing

Q Company?

A Company.

Q Is that company affiliated with Chicago Dynamic in any way?

A They recently became our distributors for Italy. Prior to that, we had purchased – or at least arranged a royalty agreement on a game called Trapshoot.

Q Was that a video game?

A No sir, it was not.

Q Was that a game that they had developed and licensed you to make?

A Yes, sir.

Q Was Super Flipper a game which was completely developed by Model Racing and sold to you as a complete package, or was it a development agreement between the two companies?

A It was completely packaged and sold to us as a completed game.

Q Is Model Racing Company of Ancona, Italy a manufacturer of video games, do you know?

A They have manufactured this one, and I think it could have been their first introduction to video games.

Q Have they distributed Video games of U. S companies in Italy, do you know?

A Up to -- actually, I don't know, Mr. Anderson

Q For how long gas Model Racing Company been a CDI distributing company in Italy?

A About a month, month and a halt.

Q What contact had CDI -- and when I say "CDI," I mean Chicago Dynamic

A Right.

Q -- had CDI had with Model Racing prior to that first representation about a month ago?

A As I mentioned before , we did arrange a royalty arrangement on Trapshoot, which was about a year and a half ago, two years.

Q Have you had any other dealings with Model Racing Company other than the recent distributorship and the arrangement on Trapshoot and the arrangement on Super Flipper.

A No, sir, not to my knowledge.

Q How did Super Flipper first come to Chicago Dynamic’s attention?

A The manager of our Wiesbaden office, by the name of Michael Barr [sp?], is in close contact with all our distributors and manufacturers throughout Europe. And as I recall the story, they had called Mike – that is, Model Racing – that they had Super Flipper pretty well finished, and that he, Mike Barr, should make arrangements for somebody at CDI, if they could run over to Italy to look at the new game.

Q Did you go and look at it?

A Avron Gensberg went there, Mr. Anderson. I have been there many times.

--

Actually, this "revelation" is not entirely new. The Italian Coin-Op Video Games Zone had earlier speculated that Super Flipper was a licensed version of Model Racing’s UFO, which they claim was “the first original [video] game made in Italy”

 

The site claims that UFO was shown “in January, 1975 at the AMOA Exhibition” but this is clearly wrong, since the AMOA (actually just the MOA at the time) was held November 1-3, 1974. I suspect they may have meant the ATE in London, whish was held in January, 1975.
Model Racing was there. In fact, here's a photo of their booth at the show, featuring their shooting game Duck Shooting

I don't know if they showed UFO, however.
I do know that they showed UFO at the Milan Fair, which I think was in April.

Other Revelations

Koci revealed a few other interesting facts during his deposition. The most interesting to me were those production dates I mentioned earlier.

Here they are:

TV Ping Pong 4/5/73-8/12/73
TV Tennis 8/18/73-11/29/73
Olympic TV Hockey/Olympic TV Football 11/28/73-1/18/74
TV Goalee (licensed from Allied & Leisure Industries) 4/29/74-8/22/74
TV Pingame (licensed from Exidy) 2/5/75-4/29/75

He also noted that production on Super Flipper had just started "today" (presumably 5/28/75).

That leaves only Demolition Derby (also licensed from Exidy).
I am not sure if the production run for Olympic TV Hockey and Olympic TV Footballwas for both games or just one. Koci claims that Olympic TV Football was the European version of Olympic TV Hockey (they probably changed the name since Europeans would be more familiar with football/soccer than hockey).

Next time, we’ll talk about Fritsche’s deposition.

A Literary" History of the Golden Age of Video Games - Golden Age Video Game Books Part 7

October 9, 2014, 8:41 pm

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In today's post, I conclude my look at golden age video game fiction with a pair off titles aimed at slightly older readers.

First up is Video War by Stephen Manes

Video War was published in 1983 by Avon Books (note that Amazon lists the publication date as 2012, but this refers to the digital edition released that year). Since some of you might actually want to read these books, I will only describe them briefly in order to avoid spoiling the ending. Video War tells the story of a disaffected teen named Zoz who spends him time at Arnie's arcade playing a game called Penetron while designing video games in his head (after his alcoholic mom drags him out of an arcade in front of his friends, for example, he creates the game Big Mama, in which you try to shake a 300-pound mother off your back). When his mom's boyfriend, a cretinous city council member, tries to shut down Arnie's and ban video games in Bunker Hill Bluffs, Zoz and his friends form VIDEO (Valley Individuals Defending Entertainment Options) and hold a play-in to raise money for charity and hopefully thwart the nefarious city council. Along the way, Zoz falls in love with a painfully shy hacker named Rowena, whose parents buy her expensive computer equipment as a substitute for the time they can't spend with her.

     According to Amazon's author page, Manes, who has a degree in cinema from USC,  "has written more than thirty books and hundreds of articles in a long career of making arcane words accessible to the uninitiated." His first listed book is "Mule in the Mail", published in November, 1978. In the early to mid 1980s, he wrote a number of books, including a riddle book (Socko), a series of BASIC programming books for various home computers co-written with Paul Somerson (Computer Craziness, Computer Monsters etc.), and a pair of children's fiction titles (The Boy Who Turned Into a TV Set and Life is No Fair!). In October, 1982, he published the young adult novel I'll Live, in which "Eighteen-year-old Dylan faces painful changed brought on by his father's terminal illness." Later works include the Obnoxious Jerks, Hooples on the Highway, and Be a Perfect Person in Just Three Days (which "won kid-voted awards in five states and is a curriculum staple in American and French schools"). Manes also coauthored a biography of Bill Gates (Gates: How Microsoft's Mogul Reinvented an Industry and Made Himself the Richest Man in America) and wrote a book on the world of ballet (Where Snowflakes Dance). For classic video game fans, the most interesting of his later works is probably That Game From Outer Space, which Amazon describes as follows:

"The giant video game that appears one day in Pete's Pizza Palace is the strangest one Oscar Noodleman has ever seen. It looks more like a rocket ship than a game. There's not a word of English on it anywhere; everything from the control panel to the coin slot is labeled in some strange language that seems to use squiggles instead of letters. And when he and Pete finally figure out how to get it working, they discover the loudest game they've ever heard. But as the screen pops out to wrap around Oscar's head and he gets deeper into the game, he discovers levels and challenges unlike any he's ever seen. He begins to wonder if this isn't just a game, but a real rocket from outer space. Some colorful bugs run down the screen and into the coin slot. And that's when things start getting downright weird . . ."

Both That Game From Outer Space and Video War are available as Kindle books.

Illustration from That Game From Outer Space (art by Tony Auth)

Arcade by Robert Maxxe

,
This one was published in October 1986 by Paperjacks, which is technically after my cutoff year for the golden age of video games (1985), but it is close enough and was likely inspired by the golden age, so I'll cover it. The publisher's synopsis on Amazon does a pretty good job describing the book's plot:

"Something is capturing the minds of children in this small town. When her son Nick becomes captivated by "Spacescape," a game at the new video arcade, and spends all of his free time playing his way to the game's elite levels, Mrs. Foster suspects that Nick has become a victim of the game's uncanny, malevolent influence and imagines that kids are being brainwashed by this electronic video-game. The heroine here is lovely young widow Carrie Foster, who runs a gourmet food-shop in a quiet, posh Long Island village--and becomes increasingly fretful about the new video arcade that recently opened just down the street. True, Nick's grades in school certainly aren't suffering. In fact, he's becoming scientifically precocious. But why do the arcade games seem to be so much more sophisticated than others? And why is there never any sign of the owner or manager? And why do the kids who play the games seem to be forming into exclusive cells, with ungifted players permanently barred from the machines? Even Carrie's new love, computer architect Lon Evans, can't quite figure out the technology involved. And then one of the barred non-players drowns--a possible suicide. So Carrie becomes convinced that something is wrong. She and a dubious Lon start tracking down the people behind the arcade--finding only a single entrepreneur in an abandoned factory, who offers an almost plausible explanation. But, with Nick refusing to give up the game, Carrie's surer than ever that "some unholy, unhuman" force is programming the kids. Furthermore, when she and Lon kidnap and dissect one of the machines, their suspicions are confirmed: Lon finds super-sophisticated signs of 'biochips'& brain chemistry, organic soup--a way of feeding intelligence via the game's joystick! So who is behind it all?"

This one sounds like an alarmist book inspired by anti-video game hysteria, but it really isn't (at least not entirely). I actually thought this one started out quite well, but kind of lost me once they got to the explanation for all the mysterious events and I found the ending quite disappointing. Still, it's well worth a read for anyone who remembers the good old days.


BONUS - Nolan Bushnell's First Press Announcement

Recently, I came across what I am pretty sure is Nolan Buhnell's first "press announcement". How can I be so sure? Well, take a look:

That's Nolan's birth announcement from the February 14, 1943 issue of the Ogden (Utah) Standard. Note that he was actually born in Ogden, not Clearfield (though his parents lived in Cleafield at the time).
OK, so it wasn't exactly a "press release" and it doesn't mention him by name, but I thought it was interesting (maybe I need to get out more).

Here's one from he March 7, 1958 issue of the same paper that does mention his name:

 

 

Update On Atari Oddities

October 13, 2014, 6:14 pm

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I've posted a few times about various oddball Atari coin-op products I've come across and thought I'd do a post with some updated information about some of them.
 
Atari Theatre Kiosk

One of the things I posted about was the Atari Theatre Kiosk. For some reason, even though I only mentioned it briefly, the post has gotten an inordinate amount of attention (maybe it's a San Francisco thing - I didn't think it was that exciting).

Anyway, I actually found three different articles on it that I didn't bother sharing before.

The first is this one, from the April, 1976 Play Meter, which also includes a picture of one of the units at the Velizy shopping mall in Paris.
For those who don't want to read the whole thing (short as it is), here are some interesting points:

* The unit could actually be configured to hold any number of games, though six was most popular.
* According to Jean Francois Gaillard (Atari's overseas manager), the idea was developed in Atari Europe's French factory, who sent a sample to the US
* A unit was also installed at Orly Airport
* The unit was shown at the Ima show in West Germany in March, 1976
* The unit pictured includes Steeplechase, which seems odd since it was a six-player game - though maybe it was a 3-player version (there are six buttons, however, and I thought it was a one-button-per-player game).

Here's the second article, from Vending Times, February, 1977. I posted the photo last time, but now I have a better version. I don't think I posted the article last time.
Interesting tidbit:

* The unit also included advertising panels and a 35mm slide projection system with info on the Bay Area, sporting events etc.

The last article is from the May 14, 1977 issue of Cash Box (no picture this time).
Tidbits for the lazy:

* The Powell Street was installed in December, 1976 and was clearing about $800 a month for BART
* The games were: Pong Doubles, Space Race, Trak 10, Jet Fighter, LeMans, and Tank.











































































Finally, here are some photos from the San Francisco Chronicle that were recently posted on its blog at
http://blog.sfgate.com/thebigevent/2013/07/11/pac-man-fever-arcade-photos-from-the-1970s-and-1980s/#photo-278749

Atari's Cocktail Pong game
 
I have posted a couple of times about what the first cocktail video game was. One possibility (though it likely wasn't the first) was a cocktail Pong game that Atari did for National Entertainment around late 1973. I have since discovered that a flyer was actually produced for this game:
 

 
Note the Atari logos on the controllers. I am not sure, however, if Atari designed the board for this one, since National Entertainment eventually abandoned the Atari version and went with another one from Meadows (the one in the flyer may use a Meadows board and Atari controllers).

Magic Trolley
 
Another interesting Atari product was its little-known arcade-in-a-trailer with 26 games that could be hauled around to carnivals etc. Less known is that another company later tried the same thing. At the 1977 AMOA show Michigan's Elcon Industries tried the same idea with its Magic Trolley.
 

 
 
 

 

 

 

 I actually talked to Andre Dubel (Elcon founder) who told me that he thinks they only sold one of these.
 
 

A Literary" History of the Golden Age of Video Games - Golden Age Video Game Books Part 8

October 18, 2014, 9:43 pm

≫ Next: Courtroom goodies, part II - Willams' first video game

≪ Previous: Update On Atari Oddities

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So far, we’ve been looking at some video game fiction, but these were relatively rare. Much more common were non-fiction books – in particular strategy guides. THESE were the ones that made the bestseller lists and the ones most people probably think of when they think of video game books of the 1980s. About two dozen of these were published for arcade games (and that’s not counting the various home game strategy guides).

How to Play Space Invaders
Taito
1980

           
As far as I know, this was the first arcade video strategy to be published. Sadly, I do not have a copy as it is extremely rare. It was a 61-page guide written by an anonymous “Japanese Space Invaders champion” and published by Taito. It was originally published in Japan, where it sold quite well, then published in the U.S. Here are some photos from http://www.steverd.com/whatbook/whatbook.htm

 

 

How to Win at Video GamesRay Giguette1981Martin Press (Torrance, CA)

 

This is the first mass-market strategy guide I’ve been able to find. Once again, however, I do not have a copy, nor do I have much information on it. It covered juste ten games and checked in at a scant 46 pages. Nonetheless, it sold 10,000 copies, which may tell you how popular video games were and how much people were starved for strategy guides. The book ended with an advertising promising a second volume, but it was apparently never published.

How to Master the Video Games
Tom Hirschfeld
Bantam Books
December, 1981

Now THIS one I had and loved (and yes, that's Tom on the cover). Giguette’s guide may have been the first coin-op strategy guide to hit the bookstores, but it was hardly a major hit. In December, 1981 Bantam Books released How to Master the Video Games by Tom Hirschfeld, which became the first video game bestseller. The book was the brainchild of visionary publisher Walter Zacharius, a legend in the independent publishing world.

 

Born in Brooklyn in 1923, Zacharius took part in D-Day and the liberation of Paris at age 19. After returning to the U.S., he attended New York University on the G.I. Bill before landing a job with McFadden Publications where he worked on romance magazines like True Story and True Confessions. Aimed at working class women, these magazines often featured lurid tales of wayward women who fell into sin, learned hard-bitten lessons, and emerged triumphant. This experience would serve Zacharius well throughout the remainder or his career. After leaving McFadden, Zacharius went to work for Ace Books, a publisher of paperback genre fiction, including science fiction, fantasy, westerns, and mysteries. At Ace, Zacharius created the two-in-one Ace Double Novel line, which became the company’s mainstay.

 

 

 

 

 In 1961, Zacharius cofounded Lancer Books, most famous for its fantasy novels like Robert E. Howard’s Conan the Barbarian series, science fiction, and erotic spy novels like The Man From O.R.G.Y. In 1965, in a typically shrewd move, Zacharius published a racy sex satire called Candy by Terry Southern and Mason Hoffenberg. The novel had been a hit in Paris, but the publisher had not filed a copyright in the U.S. Dell had already published a version of the book but Zacharius was unfazed. Pricing his version at 20 cents below Dell’s, he splashed the phrase “banned in Paris” across its cover and produced a bestseller. In 1973, Lancer Books went bankrupt. The following year Zacharius, along with Roberta Grossman, formed Kensington Books, which went on to become the nation’s largest independent publisher of mass market and trade paperbacks. Kensington’s books were never going to make the New York Times Review of Books, which was fine with Zacharius. In a 1982 interview, he opined “We’re not impressed with what’s selling on Fifth Avenue or Rodeo Drive, our readers patronize suburban shopping malls”.  Kensington’s primary line was romance novels, published through its Zebra Books imprint, often with flashy (some would say trashy) foil covers. Zacharius built his empire thorough innovative marketing and knowing his audience. He sought out overlooked writers and unpublished authors willing to work for a pittance. Growing the romance genre beyond it formulaic roots, he expanded in to include supernatural and western-themed romances and romances aimed at Hispanic, black, and gay readers. In later years, he struck distribution deals with Wal-Mart, peddled his books on QVC, and pioneered the use of holograms on book covers.

 

 

In the summer of 1981, Zacharius was, as always, looking for the next big thing. At the time, the most popular toy in the country was Rubik’s Cube. Invented in 1974 by Hungarian architect Erno Rubik, the toy was licensed to Ideal, who introduced to the American public in 1980. It was a national sensation, accounting for a quarter of Ideal’s revenues in 1981, selling 30 million copies by mid-1982, and become an icon of 1980s kitsch. Almost as popular as the cube itself were strategy guides that taught players how to solve the dastardly puzzle. Among the titles that hit the bestseller list were Solving the Cube by Cyril Ostrop, You Can Do the Cube, and Mastering Rubik’s Cube by Don Taylor. Written by a 13-year old English schoolboy, You Can Do the Cube sold 1.5 million copies worldwide. Mastering Rubik’s Cube did even better – its 1.8 million copies in print in 1981 made it the #1 trade paperback of the year. The biggest seller of them all was The Simple Solution to Rubik’s Cube, the #1 mass market paperback of the year (winning out over 101 Uses For a Dead Cat and a seemingly endless series of Garfield books – prompting many worried a intellectual to decry the trashing of literary culture). The book was written by James Nourse, a research chemist at Stanford, along with brothers Paul and Mark Weinberg. Originally sold as a typewritten set of instructions, the book was eventually published by Bantam and sold a million copies in its first month and over 7 million overall, making it the year’s bestselling title by far and one of Bantam’s biggest hits ever (a follow-up by Nourse called The Simple Solution to Cubic Puzzles sold another million copies). Zacharius noticed the plethora of Rubik’s Cube titles clogging the bestseller list, as well as the fact that such works were easy to publish (The Simple Solution… clocked in at just 64 pages and Mastering… at a skimpy 32 pages). It was too late to jump on the Rubik’s Cube bandwagon, but another craze was sweeping the nation – video games. Wondering if they could cash in on the phenomenon, Zacharius and Grossman turned to the youngest person in their offices – an 18-year old Harvard student named Tom Hirschfeld.

 

 

A Classics major, Hirschfeld had taken a year off after two years of college to work as an editorial assistant at Kensington. When Zacharius and Grossman asked Tom if he knew anything about video games, he said he had (though he was really more of a pinball player). When they asked if someone could write a strategy book about the games, Tom volunteered his services. Armed with a bag of quarters, Hirschfeld hit the New York City arcades and began to hone his skills. For assistance, manufacturers referred him to various expert players, including Leo Daniels, Asteroids ace Greg Davies, and national Space Invaders champion Bill Heinemann. The book, which took Hirschfeld about four months to complete, profiled the “30 most popular arcade games” (though this number included a few rarities like Atari’s Sky Raider and Bally/Midway’s Space Odyssey). Most games were covered in a 3-5 page section that included a hand-drawn screenshot, a summary of basic gameplay, a number of “observations” about the game, and a handful of strategies.

 

 

 

The book’s oddest chapter featured a series of somewhat bizarre “Off-Machine Exercises” a player could use to enhance their skills (example: “…wrap the fingers of your right hand tightly around a pen. Then extend the forefinger and rotate it clockwise around a doorknob”).

 

 

The strategies were fairly basic but at a time when video game strategy guides were unheard of, they were a godsend and many players would head to arcades with a well-worn copy of the book tucked into their back pocket. Anticipating the popularity of the book, Kensington realized that they wouldn’t be able to handle publishing it on their own. Instead, they turned to Bantam, publishers of The Simple Solution to Rubik’s Cube. Bantam agreed to publish the book and when they saw the final result, they asked Hirschfeld to create a second volume on home video games even before the first book went to press. Released in December, 1981, How to Master the Video Games was a hit. While it didn’t match the sales of Bantam’s Rubik’s Cube volume, over a million copies were printed. The book earned the teenaged Hirschfeld a measure of fame, with Bantam sending him on a publicity tour that included radio interviews, book signings, and an appearance on CBS Morning News (where he taught Diane Sawyer how to play Space Invaders). After penning his two video game tomes, Hirschfeld returned to Harvard to complete his degree then went to Oxford on a Marshall Scholarship where he earned a graduate degree in Economics and Politics. He then returned to the states where he spent 8 years at Salomon Brothers, worked as a financial advisor and venture capitalist, and served as an assistant to Mayor Rudolph Giuliani. In 1999, along with his wife, he wrote Business Dad: How Good Businessmen Can Make Great Fathers (and Vice Versa).

 

Courtroom goodies, part II - Willams' first video game

October 26, 2014, 5:56 pm

≫ Next: The American Video Athletic Association/A Literary" History of the Golden Age of Video Games - Golden Age Video Game Books Part 9

≪ Previous: A Literary" History of the Golden Age of Video Games - Golden Age Video Game Books Part 8

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In a recent post, I discussed some documentation I recently acquired from the Magnavox v Bally case that include some interesting revelations about Chicago Coin’s early video games (well, it was interesting to me at least, even if it wasn’t to anyone else). Today I discuss another document from that case that included some interesting information about the first video game efforts from another well-known company – Williams Electronics (creators ofDefender, Joust, Robotron etc.) Seeburg and Magnavox The testimony comes from the deposition of Bob Fritsche, who served as Product Manager of the Odyssey and black and white television for Magnavox from around January 1973 to about September, 1975 (he had previously been product planner for the Odyssey). During the deposition, which was taken December 28, 1976, Fritsche reveals that Magnavox was approached by Seeburg around January, 1973 about the possibility of having Magnavox (or, more likely, Sanders Associates) build a coin-operated Pong game for them. How is this relevant to Williams? At the time, Williams was owned by Seeburg, which had purchased it in 1964. Seeburg was, of course, primarily known for jukeboxes but they did make other kinds of machines (like the 1947 classic Shoot the Bear, coffee machines etc.) Besides Williams, other Seeburg divisions in 1973 were Choice Vend (soda machines), Qualitone (hearing aids), and King Musical Instruments. But back to video games. I will post the full text of the relevant portion of the deposition at the end, but for now, here’s a summary:

·         In January or February, 1973 Fritsche was approached by Bill Surette, his boss, who had in turn been approached by Seeburg (or an agent representing Seeburg). Surette wanted Fritsche to arrange a meeting in Ft. Wayne (Magnavox HQ) with someone  from Seeburg to review a Pong game that Seeburg had shipped to Magnavox (I believe this was an Atari Pong unit - if it was January or February, 1973, it would almost have to have been)

·         On March 13, 1973 Fritsche wrote a letter to Magnavox’s engineering, design, and financial people asking for help in an analysis of Magnavox producing a coin-operated video game for Seeburg.

·         The meeting (which I think occurred earlier) was held in the Odyssey engineering lab. Fritsche and Dick Waring (head of the Odyssey engineering group) attended along with one person from Seeburg.

·         During the meeting, the Seeburg rep pointed out that the Pong game, which made by “an outfit…out in California” was totally “inadequate for the market”, noting how easily it could be jimmied, how it posed safety hazards, it had no kickplate on the front, it had a pie tin for a coin box etc.

·         Seeburg was aware of the Odyssey patents and that Magnavox was a quality manufacturer and wanted them to make a quality version of Pong.

·         Seeburg also asked Magnavox to look at the other Odyssey games and see if any could be adapted for coin-op play.

·         For the Pong game, in terms of gameplay, Seeburg essentially wanted an exact clone of Pong (they liked the fact that it was easy to understand and required few instructions).

·         After the meeting, Fritsche gathered information and had another meeting (prior to March 13) in Fort Wayne with three people from Seeburg and Williams Electronics.

·         During this meeting, the Williams people explained that they felt the video game market had a lot of potential and they were willing to back up their commitment to Magnavox with an order of around 1,000 or 2,000 units.

·         Fritsche replied that they would need a minimum commitment of 5,000 units and after that, Magnavox had no further contact with Seeburg or Williams.

So it appears that nothing ever came of the negotiations between Seeburg/Williams and Magnavox. Nonetheless, around May, Williams did produce its first video game – a Pong clone called Paddle Ball.

 

 

The Origins of Paddle Ball

 

So if it didn’t come from Magnavox, where DID Paddle Ball come from? Did Seeburg go to someone else? Did Williams “design” it themselves? Was it a mere knockoff of Pong? I don’t really know, but there is one tantalizing possibility. Below is the first page of the instruction sheet for Paddle Ball (taken from this discussion on MameWorld).

 

Notice the logo at the bottom of the page – Magnetic Corporation of America. Who are they and could they have designed Paddle Ball? As it turns out, the company did in act produce at least one video game of its own. Here is an ad from the June, 1975 issue of Play Meter.

 

Note well that address: 179 Bear Hill Road, Waltham, MA.

Over the years, a few boards have turned up for this game, but little other info is known.

The only other reference I found to the company in trade publications is this mention from the want ads section of the June 20, 1977 issue of Play Meter.

 

So it looks like MCOA MAY have made at least one non-Pong game, though this isn’t certain given that the source is a want ad (for a used game?) and may have gotten their info wrong. Note that the 215 area code is in the Philadelphia area.

One of the few other video-game related references to MCOA is this list of Kurz-Kasch Test Fixture boards, which lists a game called Electromotion by “Magnetic Corp”. The only Electromotion I know of it’s the one made by the company the same name, which was located in the Philadelphia area.

 We do, however, have a bit more info on Magnetic Corporation of America. Again, here is a summary:

 

·         The company appears to have been started by MIT studentTheo de Winter after he failed the MIT PhD qualifying exam. “At one point [MCOA] had 200 employees, developing superconductors for the then-new MRI industry.” De Winter later sold the company to Johnson & Johnson.

·         If you do a Google search for “179 Bear Hill Road” and Magnetic, you will find several reference to the company relating to its work on superconducting magnets used in MRIs, research for maglev trains, work they did for Los Alamos National Lab, contracts they had with the Air Force and Department of Energy and more.  

·         A company named “Magnetic Corporation of America” existed at least as early as 1949 , though I don’t know if it was the same company.

·         In 1956, there was a company called Magnetic Corporation of America, which Billboarddescribed as “an operating company whose holdings range from the electronics field to real estate”

·         If you do a Google book search, you will find several more references to Magnetic Corporation of America in Waltham, MA

 I haven’t really dug into the references yet and don't know if I will, but I would like to find out more about how MCOA got involved with video games and if they were involved with designing Paddle Ball (or at least the board). Perhaps someone else can shed more light on the subject?

DEPOSTION OF BILL FRITSCHE

Q Did Magnavox ever consider manufacturing a coin-operated TV game?

A Yes, they did?

Q And how did that come about, or how did that condition arise?

 A Well, the first I was aware of it was through Bill Surette, who I was working for, and this was in January of 1973. I reported to him, and his offices were in New York. He explained to me that he had been approached -- I'm not certain by whom -- whether it was through a broker or directly by Seeburg -- but he had had a contact with them, and by the time he contacted Bill Surette contacted me, he had already been in contact with Seeburg, and was arranging a meeting, through me, at Fort Wayne, at our corporate headquarters, to review a product which Seeburg was mailing to us, and that's what this product that's sitting here in the courtroom, the Pong. The unit was identical to that.

Q That’s Plaintiff’s Exhibit 10?

A Right. That was in our engineering lab and was the product that we used to form our initial discussions with Seeburg, and this was -- I could be wrong on the month -- but it was January or February, 1973. 

Q Mr. Fritsche, please refer to Plaintiff’s Exhibits 97-L and 97-M , and see if that refreshes your recollection as to the date or the approximate date.

A Well, as I say, the first document, 97-L, after reading it, I am familiar with the circumstances. I was not familiar with this letter, which my observation is it comes from a finder who has some correspondence with Magnavox, and I suspect this is how Bill Surette became aware of the potential arrangement that could be made .the potential arrangement that could be made

Q Now, you indicated that Seeburg shipped a Pong game to Magnavox in Fort Wayne?

A Yes

Q Now, when did that occur in the total relationship with between Magnavox and Seeburg? A It had to -- we received that game in January or February, 1973, because I wrote a letter on March 13, 1973 to our engineering, our design, and our financial people in Magnavox, asking them to assist me in an analysis of Magnavox producing a coin-operated video game for Seeburg, and that's the substance of the letter which is Exhibit 97-M. 

Q And I think you said that after Magnavox received the pong game from Seeburg, representatives of Seeburg came to Fort Wayne for a meeting that you attended?

A Yes, yes. They used this game as their talking piece, to explain, first of all, who Seeburg was, how they were positioned in their industry, and they felt -- they characterized themselves

THE COURT: Let's have a few more details on this conversation, who was there, and who was doing the talking.

BY MR. ANDERSON: Q All right. Was this the first meeting when these people came to Magnavox that you –

A It was the first meeting that I was aware of. There could possibly have been another meeting with Bill Surette in New York that I would not be aware of, and I don't recall one happening. I believe this meeting that I had was the first one, and I was there, Dick Waring, who was the head of the engineering group for Odyssey was there, and I do not recall the gentleman's name from Seeburg, I just I don't recall what his name was

Q Was there only one gentleman from Seeburg

A Yes

Q Or more than one?

A Just one.

Q And at the time of that meeting in Fort Wayne, attended by the gentleman from Seeburg, was the pong  game in Fort Wayne?

A Yes, it was, it was in the engineering lab, the meeting was held in the engineering lab for Odyssey, and, as I say, it was used as the talking piece by the Seeburg representative.

Q All right, and then, if you can, relate, in as much detail as you presently can, the entire events of that meeting, in other words, how it started, and who said what to whom, and how it ended?

A Well, primarily, it was a Seeburg representative saying to us -- he was positioning himself, and positioning Seeburg, as to who they were, where they stood in their business, and also· the fact that the reason they were coming to Magnavox was that this game was by an outfit -- or a company out in California, had just entered the marketplace, it was a very, very poor, crude example of a product that would be insufficient in the coin-operated market, and it was totally inadequate for the market, and he commenced to explain why, how the construction is not adequate, etc., etc. We went through all the details how it could be jimmied, the back could be taken off, the safety hazards, and all the parameters that that product -- it looked pretty to us, but to him, he tore it to ribbons. He also indicated at the time that the reason he was at Magnavox was, one, Seeburg was aware of some patents that surrounded Odyssey, and that Magnavox was the exclusive licensee for them. Secondly, he told me that he knows Magnavox and Seeburg's position was -- his position was that Magnavox is a quality manufacturer of TV, stereos, etc., that they have been known in the industry to product quality, furniture pieces out of wood. Therefore, he concludedthat if we can make quality products, and we are a quality house, that we can make a quality cabinet for a video gamebecause we also make the video games. Therefore, he was asking for us to consider how we could make a video game like this one for Seeburg. He expressed concern, as I had concern all along, eventually, as the coin-operated games grew, in the direction that they were going. It's a virgin territory, it's a virgin product, and it needed to have a little protection around it. A lot of people, in trying to gain as much money today out of it, in my opinion, can jeopardize the future of the product, and one of the things Magnavox was trying to do was trying to insure and instill some discipline in product development that would help insure the natural future growth of video gaming.

Q All right, now, you have indicated that he explained that they wanted a game like pong, but that the particular physical construction had drawbacks and insufficiencies, is that correct?

A Yes.

MR. GOLDENBERG: Excuse me.

THE COURT: Mr. Goldenberg?

MR. GOLDENBERG: I object to that. I don't believe that the witness testified as Mr. Anderson characterized, that they wanted a game like pong. If he said that, I missed it, and I withdraw the objection, but

THE COURT: Well, I will sustain the objection, and perhaps you can rephrase your question.

MR. ANDERSON: Certainly.

BY MR. ANDERSON: Q Mr. Fritsche, you have indicated Seeburg sent this pong game, Plaintiffs' Exhibit 10, or a game just like that, down to Magnavox, is that correct?

A That's right.

Q And you explained that this gentleman from Seeburg why he was pointing out the deficiencies to you?

A Yes.

Q Will you explain that?

A He sent the game down because he wanted us to see precisely what was on the market. Visually, he wanted what's right there.

Q When you say "visually"–

A I mean visually in every respect, the wood cabinet and the electronics, the way it worked, the game it played However, he qualified all of those by saying that cabinet in no way meets the quality standards of Seeburg. It must have a kickplate on the front. This does not. Visually, it looks like a game that they would-they could put out. Maybe I am characterizing their quality image for them, but all he was saying is I want a product that's like that, but there are certain things you have to do. You have to put quarter rounds on the back so the man who hauls this to the bowling alley or bar or airport can slide it in and out of his station wagon, because that's how he hauls it to that location

Q Now, one of the things you said he said he wanted was a game that had the same play. Now, did you discuss exactly what that meant, and, if so, what was that?

A Yes, very definitely. It's the tennis game, the two players with the ball.

Q And after he had explained that much, then what happened next during that meeting?

A He discussed the nitty grittys of the product and the kinds of changes he felt were necessary to be incorporated that we would have to consider in our proposal back to them in terms of the quality of the product, the quality and the appearance of the final cabinet and of tre electronics of the game. He also suggested at that time that we ought to be looking at games -- some of the other Odyssey games that already existed in our Model lTL 200, could they, indeed, be adapted for coin-operated play, and he set out some parameters that they had to play from start to conclusion in one and a half to two minutes maximum, because the whole concept of that product is a quarter as quickly as you can get a quarter~,so, therefore, the games cannot be protracted as the Odyssey games were that we were selling as a home game. Two different concepts totally.

THE COURT: Did he have any adverse criticism of the electronics of the Pong machine as opposed to the cosmetic features of it?

THE WITNESS: Electronics, yes. When he took the back off, a lot of exposed -- in this product, there were a lot of exposed electronics that he felt access from the outside was too easy, somebody could get back inside it, could get hurt on it. It was not constructed well inside to catch the money. They had a little pie tin that you can buy in a 5 and 10 store, instead of a coin box that Seeburg and others are used to installing on their products

THE COURT: What about the circuitry?

THE WITNESS: The circuitry -- I don’t believe, my recollection says, that they knew that much about it. It looked huge to them. The circuitry had some parts missing, and this, that and the other. I don't recall, Judge, that he had really any -- could get very specific about the electronics, because I don't think he was electronically qualified. I think he left that to Magnavox, because -- just his own admission that, "You guys originated it, you guys are electronics engineers, this is TV-oriented, video-oriented, you know, you will ~''have to show me what it can or can' t do."

BY MR. ANDERSON: Q Insofar as the electronics and how they just work to play the game, did he discuss that aspect of the electronics as it related to playing the game?

A Yes, he wanted the same game that he saw played here, and that's a tennis game. One knob. It has to be very, very brief, very quick. Instructions have to be very, very quick for the game. 70 per cent of it has to be observed as you drop the quarter in as to what it is you have to do, so that you don't have to sit there and, while the game is running, start thinking about how do I play this game now, and when I turn this knob, it does this, that or the other. He felt versus our home game, where we have several controls to manipulate, each player, he was satisfied with one control for the player, which was just a vertical movement, couldn't complicate the game, because it had to be completed within two minutes of play.

Q All right, and then what happened? Was there any more conversation that you can now recall at that meeting, and how did it end?

A Well, it ended that we would examine all of the specifications that he left with us, and all those were verbal, examine all the specifications. We would examine internally our capability to do it, which I felt certain we could, and we would come back to him with a proposal. The Exhibit 97-M, as I indicated previously, was my letter to the head of the video engineering department at Magnavox. It was to Whitey Welbaum, who is the head of the industrial design department, and Homer Haag; who was in charge of the financial costing for all products, and I was asking them, through the course of this letter, I was laying out the parameters that we had received during our discussions with Seeburg, how we could put the product together I needed to determine a cost or course, prior to him coming in, just examining the Pong, we tried to duplicate that in our own minds. If I put in the same kind of TV that is there out of Magnavox' stock, what would it cost me? If we made a cabinet such as that, and they were quick and dirty costs, and we wanted to clean those up. We wanted to get more specific, more detailed, because in a company such as Magnavox, the size they were, $300 million sales, you have to prove your point before the company is going to invest any risk capital. You have to prove that you can return some money, and this letter was to try to document our capability to return a profit to the company.

Q Then what happened after the meeting? Were there any further meetings that you know of between Seeburg and Magnavox?

A Yes. I had a meeting following that in New York with Bill Surette in the offices of Seeburg, where we again discussed this potential program in generalities. It was at that meeting that it was suggested that we meet with the operation type people of Seeburg, who were in a subsidiary company of theirs, and I don't know quite the organizational structure they had, but it is Williams Electric, I believe, in Chicago. Three of their people came to Fort Wayne following our New York meeting, and we sat a~ a table in our demonstration room. It was the three people from Seeburg-Williams Electric, myself and our engineer with our own verbal results of this proposal, which is embodied in this letter of March 13th, discussing the kinds of games that they felt they had to have, and it was at that time I was trying to determine, "Now that we know how many we can produce and what it is going to cost us, what is Williams' or Seeburg's willingness to commit to the product?" That is when it was explained to me that in the video game market, for any new game that comes on the market, there is a market potential of about 30,000 units. The first company to introduce a specific type of game can generally garner, oh, 8,000 to 12,000 of that total 30,000 capability. The rest, because of the typical structure of that coin-operated business, it is such that there are a lot of copiers, and the copiers will be out there just as quickly with their new games. Most of that was talked about in the frame of reference of pinball games, where they are basically all the same. The game format changes a little bit, but it is still basically a pinball game The video games represented an area that Williams Electric people had indicated they thought had a significant amount of potential for the future, but that it had to be structured properly, and I wholeheartedly agreed with that, in terms of the kinds of games that would be played on it, the way in which they were produced, and the way in which they could be sold to their distribution to get them marketed out into the various locations where they are used. At that time was when they indicated to me their willingness to back up commitment to Magnavox with like 1,000 to 2,000 units, which just is not satisfactory at all. It is just simply not satisfactory for us to take some of our facilities at Magnavox, redirect them from mainline products to a secondary product venture -- at that time -- for which we didn’t feel Magnavox, nor Seeburg, nor any of the other people who were starting to enter the market at that time, were giving the proper front end marketing planning and strategy to developing the products for the marketplace

THE COURT: Did you say one thousand or two thousand?

THE WITNESS: One thousand to two thousand is about all we got in the way of a commitment.

BY MR. ANDERSON: Q Did Magnavox at that meeting or at any other time indicate to Seeburg what Magnavox considered to be a minimum quantity to justify going into this?

A Yes. I did at that meeting. And I said 5,000 units were a minimum. I think I was probably skating a little bit, also, in that I think my superiors probably would have liked 8,000 units.

Q What happened at that meeting after that? Is there anything else that you can recall?

A I don't recall the specifics, but after that I had no more further contact with Seeburg, nor with Williams, and subsequently negotiations just dissolved. No more contacts were had between the two companies to my knowledge.

Q Do you know whether Seeburg after that did come out with a video or TV game? A Yes. They did.

Q Do you know whether it was the tennis game or some other game they came out with?  

A I believe it was the tennis game. It wasn't quite like this (indicating), because I think it was a four-player unit, which is simply two players on either side. It is four of those controls instead of two.

The American Video Athletic Association/A Literary" History of the Golden Age of Video Games - Golden Age Video Game Books Part 9

November 1, 2014, 9:18 pm

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I categorized today’s post as another in my “literary history” line, but it really isn’t. It’s really more one of the earliest attempts at forming an e-sports league. Actually, there is a book involved. But this time, not only have I not read it, but I’ve never even seen a cover for it and I’m not sure it actually existed.

The book in question is Age of the Video Athelete, supposedly published in 1984 by Dennis DeNure of the Video Athlete Corporation. We’ll get to Dennis and his organization in a bit, but first, did this book exist? Aside from Google Books, it is listed at Barnes & Noble’s website with an ISBN, so apparently it was. It was also listed in the bibliography for a book called Reading: Programs For Young Adults. So what was the book about, who was Dennis DeNure, and what was the Video Athlete Corporation?

Let’s start with the last. I’ve actually touched on this in an earlier post, but Video Athlete Corporation was an early attempt at creating an association for video game players and to promote video games as a sport. It was either AKA the American Video Athletic Association, or the AVAA was part of it.

Video Athlete Corporation filed for incorporation on April 5, 1982. At the time, it was located at 120 W. Mifflin Str in Madison and the “registered agent” was John DeNure. The next mention I found of it was this ad for a video game tournament from the May 21, 1982 Madison Wisconsin State Journal.

 

Note the mention of Defender champ Steve Juraszek, of Time magazine fame. I’m sure most of you haven’t seen that ad, but a few of you might remember the ad below, which ran in the July and August, 1982 issues of Electronic Games.

 

Here is an interesting picture from the August 1, 1982 issue of Play Meter. Note the AVAA logo on the T-shirt.

 

The same logo appeared in this article from Vending Times (I couldn’t’ find the date).

The June 1, 1983 Play Meter, discussed DeNure’s book and organization further. The 98-page book was a manual on promoting video games as a sport and gave details on running sanctioned “Video Game Festivals”, including sample radio ads, and other info. DeNure claimed that his organization would allow individual arcade operators to share national promotions, including personalized ads, for video game tournaments. He also suggested that players be nationally recognized for high scores on video and pinball games and proposed a quarterly newsletter for AVAA players listing everyone who achieved a high score on one of 15 selected games per month in member arcades (which he suggested would pay a $500 membership fee, bought through distributors). Other ideas included a syndicated comic strip, video game triathlons, and an arcade t-shirt with a special pocket for tokens. “Somebody’s going to organize video game play into a sport,” DeNure said, “and I want to be the guy to do it."
Here's the AVAA logo, as it appeared in that article.

 

 

Earlier, in a letter that appeared in the April, 1983 issue of RePlay, DeNure explained “The Video Athlete is an athlete of a different kind, who uses his skills in exercise, practice, and persistence in winning the good things in life openly and with pride.”

So whatever became of the AVAA? Not much, I think, as it pretty much seems to have disappeared by 1985. Still, it was an interesting idea - perhaps one ahead of its time?

And what about Dennis DeNure?

According to his own biography, he was born John Michael DeNure in 1956 in Platteville, WI (“home of the world’s largest M symbol”) but changed his name to Dennis Amadeus de Nure in 1985 after watching the movie “Amadeus” (though the film came out in 1984, and he was clearly using the name before that). On his site DeNure claims that he came up with the idea for Video Athletics in 1982, when he was playing Pac-Man at bars and thought “how neat it would be to turn video game playing into a sport that I trademarked”. While he did trademark the name, he says that he “could not interest the coin-op industry in Chicago to go for the concept.”

Sadly, while DeNure promised to later blog “specifically about my vision for taking video game playing to the next level – the American sporting level”, I was not able to find any blog post on the subject.

What about DeNure’s career after the AVAA? I actually found a lot of info online, most of it about his mayoral candidacies (and most of which I didn’t read), but here is a brief synopsis.

The next reference I found to him is from 1985 when Madison papers report that he was running a shoe shine stand near the state capitol.

 

 

In October, 1986, the Madison Capital Times reported that the “self-described entrepreneur” was pushing to have the state motto changed to “Eat Cheese or Die”. He also got what he called his “first big break in the T-shirt business” selling a t-shirt with the same slogan.  According to this site DeNure had been selling t-shirts since at least the early 1980s, when he began selling them out of a box on the State Street mall. The site claims that one of DeNure’s first shirt, showing a picture of a cow’s butt with the motto “Wisconsin, come smell our dairy-air”, was actually created by another t-shirt vendor named Larry Castle then used by DeNure without permission.

 

 

In April, 1987 the Wisconsin State Journal reported that he was running a shop called DeNure’s T-Shirt Factory and 60s Museum at 555 State Street (another article claims he started the shop in 1984), selling tie-dyed T-shirts and 60s memorabilia. Two months later, the Journal reported that DeNure’s “travelling cow cart” had been robbed of its entire inventory of cow-themed t-shirts, bearing slogans like “Cows are udderly cool”. The cart was mounted on a snow mobile trailer that DeNure pulled around the state with his van to various farm events.

 Lane in 1987 (if not earlier), DeNure launched his political career with a run for Dane County Executive, at one point explaining that he “"believed that most human evil is the result of sexual repression,” and that “Dane County Human Services (should set) its work on fostering enjoyment and acceptance of the human body...". In early 1988, he pleaded no contest and was fined for hurling apples at a Richard Haas mural being painted at Olin Terrace (and, according to the site above, screaming “I am the Jesus Christ of Madison”). Late that year, he entered the race for mayor.

For 12 years (apparently starting around 1993) he ran a store in Madison called Game Haven that sold Magic the Gathering and Pokemon cards, as well as Beanie Babies.

In 2002, he served a two-year sentence in Iowa after he was involved in a fatal accident while driving drunk. After he was released, he planned (according to the site above – though one assumes it was tongue-in-cheek) to write a book called “Confessions of a Drunk Driver” and to offer his “prison art, prison read books, prison unopened mail, prison clothes, prison commissary souvenirs, and before prison tortured beanie babies for sale in the spirit of helping Wisconsin Senator Russ Feingold become President”.

As of this writing, he is apparently still designing t-shirts and pushing for one of his other big ideas – the Museum Mile.

 

 

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Company Profile - Mirco Games

November 15, 2014, 7:00 pm

≫ Next: Softape History - Part I (plus a review of Atari: Game Over)

≪ Previous: The American Video Athletic Association/A Literary" History of the Golden Age of Video Games - Golden Age Video Game Books Part 9

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One of my favorite parts of writing my book and this blog is discovering the stories of the smaller, lesser-known companies that usually go completely unmentioned in standard video game histories. Inevitably, I find that even the most obscure of them has an interesting story to tell (and for the few that don't, it's only because I haven't found it yet). Today's post is about just such a company - Phoenix, Arizona's Mirco Games.
 
Located in Phoenix, Arizona, Mirco Games was primarily known for its foosball tables and for producing the first pinball game with a microprocessor. What is far less known is that between 1973 and 1979, it also released over a dozen video games and what is almost completely unknown is that one of them was one of the earliest video games to use a microprocessor – perhaps even THEearliest.

Origins

In 1967 Dick Raymond and John Walsh were working for GE in Germany when they noticed the growing popularity of table soccer (aka foosball) in the bars and taverns of Germany, France and Italy. Seeing that the games were also popular with American servicemen, the pair discussed the idea of starting a business exporting them to the US (RePlay¸2./28/76). In 1969 or 1970[1], Raymond returned home to Phoenix, AZ and formed a company called Arizona Automation to sell European soccer tables in America under the Champion Soccer name. With just 600 square feet of office space, Raymond (the sole U.S. employee) handled everything from taking orders to packaging the tables while Walsh shipped them from Germany. Within a year, Raymond bought Walsh out and became the sole owner (Leontiades, 1982). When the value of the German mark began to tumble, Raymond decided to manufacture the games domestically. After contracting with a local company called Western Woodcraft to build the tables, he flew to Taiwan to find a company to manufacturer the men, rods, and other hardware. Arizona Automation’s big break came when it exhibited at the 1970 MOA show. The following year, it released the Regular Coin Model table, followed by the Regular Club Model. Both proved to be hits and in four years, Arizona Automation went from $15,000 in sales to $1 million (RePlay, 2/28/76).

            Meanwhile, John Walsh had returned to the U.S. and (along with Bob Kessler, another former GE employee, and Bruce Kinkler) formed a company called Mirco, Inc. as a successor to a partnership called John L. Walsh & Associates (Leontiades, 1982). Incorporated on November 11, 1971, Mirco initially produced software used in automatic testing systems for electronic equipment (such as FLASH – Fault Logic and Simulation Hybrid). In its first full year, the company had sales of over $1 million[2]and began to expand. Realizing that they were doing all the work while the hardware companies that bought their software were making all the profits, they began manufacturing microprocessor-based circuit board test hardware[3], such as the Micro 500-Series Logic-Circuit Tester and (in 1976) the Model 615 Programming Station, which included a printer, CRT, and keyboard (Datamation, 1976).  In addition, on December 15, 1972 it had formed a new division called Mirco Electronic Distributors to distribute electronic components (resistors, capacitors etc.) to companies in the southwest[4]. On December 26, 1973, looking to finance the expansion of its hardware business, Mirco Inc. acquired the assets of Arizona Automation and merged it into a new subsidiary called Mirco Games (Leontiades, 1982). Mirco Games continued to produce foosball tables, starting with Grand Champion, its signature table with at least half a dozen different versions, including home versions produced for Montgomery Ward. Mirco also promoted its tables via a deal with 1968 Olympic pole-vaulting gold medalist Bob Seagren and through the sponsorship of tournaments, like the 1973 and 1984 Louisiana State Soccer Tournament (Leontiades, 1982). Heading up the marketing for the tables was former champion player Bob Edgell. Bob and his brother Steve had become hooked on foosball as graduate students at the University of Minnesota when they discovered the game at a college bar called Big Ten. Before long, they were ready to test their newly-developed skills and headed to a seedy biker bar in Minneapolis called Moby Dick’s that was known to be a foosball hot spot. After going down in defeat, they returned to the Big Ten and continued to hone their game. Unable to find any books on the subject, they decided to write their own and produced the seminal “Table Soccer Rules and Strategy” (Steve later wrote “Adventure in Foosball” – a table-soccer-themed mystery novel loosely based on his life on the tournament circuit). A few months later, they paid a return visit to Moby Dicks. This time they held the table for the entire night. By late 1973, the book was finished, but the brothers still needed a publisher. By then, they had moved to Phoenix. While trying to persuade a reluctant publisher to take a chance on his book, Bob Edgell recalled an ad he had seen for a local foosball manufacturer called Mirco Games and suggested the two pay the company a visit. When the publisher asked Richard Raymond if he would order 5,000 copies of the book in exchange for having one of his tables on the cover, Raymond jumped at the chance. Meanwhile, Edgell and his brother went on to form the International Table Soccer Association. When the venture failed to take off, Bob joined Mirco Games as marketing manager.

 

The 1973 Greater New Orleans Football Championship - Bob Kaiser is on the far left and Ralph Lally (future founder and editor of Play Meter on the far right)

 

             Foosball tables weren’t Mirco’s only product line, however, or even its most successful. After the Arizona Automation/Mirco merger, the company began producing video games as well, starting with the cocktail Pong clones Champion Ping Pong (1973 – initially released by Arizona Automation and later under the Mirco banner). Mirco felt that its experience with test equipment would give it two advantages over the competition: a more reliable product, and the ability to offer a 24-hour turnaround on service (Leontiades, 1982). Outstanding service, however, meant nothing without a solid game, and Mirco didn’t have one – just another tired two-player Pong game. In March, 1974 (Leontiades, 1982) Mirco introduced Challenge, an upright four-player game that offered a free game to players who beat the computer in player-versus-machine mode. While Mirco claimed it was the first video game to offer such a feature (likely a false claim), it wasn’t enough to cover for the fact that Challenge was another uninspired game (not to mention that four-player games had already been on the market for at least eight months). Mirco realized that it needed to develop some more original games if they were to succeed, but they had already invested heavily in R&D for their test equipment, leaving nothing over for video games (Leontiades, 1982). In July (Leontiades, 1982), it introduced a cocktail model of the game and initially tried to sell it to conventional distributors, but none were interested (one suggested that they stick to foosball). Cocktail games had something of a bad reputation in the industry. Many distributors didn’t know how to sell to the more upscale locations that often bought the games and were leery of the sometimes dubious companies that sold them. Frustrated, Mirco went outside the industry and began selling its games to nontraditional “distributors”, often real estate agents, lawyers, doctors, or other professionals looking to cash in on the video game boom.

 

[Bob Edgell] The table-top pong game came about because they tried to sell a stand up model and the market was already saturated. Bob Kaiser, VP of Sales and Marketing came up with the idea of a table-top pong game. His sales model was to attend 'business opportunity' conferences and sell franchise territories. These franchises didn't compete in the normal (pool tables, pin ball games, etc.) coin op world. Instead, they targeted bar lounges, hotel lounges, airports and other non-traditional locations. At the height of the table top pong business, we were shipping over a hundred games a week at a price of $1,000 per table. In the 1973-4 period, several thousand units were sold and all business was COD. Needless to say Mirco had some strange business partners in this market.

Eventually, Mirco was able to convince C.A. Robinson of Los Angeles, one of the country’s largest distributors, to carry its games. Before long, video games were Mirco’s most lucrative product line. Leontiades reports that of the $9.4 million in revenue the company made in fiscal year 1976 (which ended January 31, 1976), $7.3 million was from games - $1.2 million from foosball (about 10% of the total table soccer market) and $6.1 million from video games (by comparison, game sales in the previous two years were just under $1 million). In addition, in 1975, Mirco had begun manufacturing video games in Australia and Germany[5] as well as introducing two new games in the US: Slam (another ball-and-paddle game with a button that allowed the player to “slam” the ball into the opponent’s backcourt) and Scramble (a non-video game that used a grid of light bulbs under a glass top). By January of 1976, about half of Mirco’s ca 150 employees worked in the games division (Leontiades, 1982).

PT-109 and Spirit of ‘76

Flushed with cash from its cocktail Pong games, Mirco began to expand its game offerings. And this time, they came up with something truly innovative.  Mirco’s first non-ball-and-paddle video game was PT-109, one of the forgotten breakthrough games of the video Bronze Age. The game itself was mildly interesting – a naval combat game in which 2 or 4 players navigated around islands, mines and other hazards while attempting to blast one another with torpedoes and howitzers (in 4-player games, each 2-person team consisted of a PT-boat and a battleship). What truly set it apart, however, was that it used a microprocessor – one of the first video games to do so. The game was on display in Mirco’s booth at the 1975 MOA show in October – the same show where Midway debuted Gun Fight, generally considered to be the very first microprocessor video game[6].

            Despite the innovation, PT-109 sold poorly. By the time it appeared, the cocktail video boom had passed and the same doctors and lawyers who had purchased TV Ping Pong and Challenge were unwilling to buy another video game (PT-109 was only produced in a cocktail cabinet). As a result,  PT-109 is all but unknown today, and even the most ardent video game collector is probably unaware that it had a microprocessor, much less that it was one of the first video games to use one. It’s a bit ironic since the one Mirco game that anyone does remember (if they remember one at all) is the pinball game it introduced at the very same show called Spirit of ’76– which has long been considered the first to released pinball game with a microprocessor[7]. While Mirco released it, Spirit of ’76 had been designed by one of pioneers of the coin-op industry – Dave Nutting. Nutting had developed the game after Bally chose to pass on the Flicker prototype he and Jeff Frederiksen had developed in 1974.

[Dave Nutting] When I did the first microprocessor pinball game, Bally at first didn’t want to pay the price I wanted for the patent so then I went to Mirco and had a contract with them and we came out in 1975 with a game called Spirit of ‘76.

The microprocessor would absolutely revolutionize the pinball industry, leading to a 3-year resurgence that saw it become the most popular kid on the coin-op block. While Mirco may have led the revolution, they didn’t reap its rewards. Spirit of ’76 sold a reported 140 units[8]and it remained for Allied Leisure and Bally to popularize the concept of the microprocessor pinball machine. The problem (or at least one of them) was that despite its innovations, Spirit of ’76 was one ugly game. The dull-as-dishwater backglass consisted of little more than a stylized American flag and the playfield art was virtually nonexistent.  Not surprisingly, Mirco made just one other pinball game – the 1978 cocktail pin Lucky Draw.

Entering the Consumer Market (or trying to)

In truth, the failure of Spirit of '76 likely wasn't entirely due to lack of demand. At the time, Mirco was having problems of its own. With the disappearance of the cocktail video game market, Mirco’s video games were barely generating any revenue and its pinball games were generating even less. In addition, more advanced circuit board testers had appeared on the market and foosball alone wasn’t enough to keep the company afloat. In 1976, Mirco posted the first loss in its short existence. The loss was largely due to a failed effort to enter yet another market –home video games. On January 14, 1976 Mirco entered into a contract with Fairchild Camera and Instrument. Fairchild was to produce and deliver 50,000 units of a programmable home video game based on Mirco's Challenge chip. The idea had come from Tom Conners, an experienced electronics industry executive who had joined Mirco from Motorola.
 

[Bob Edgell] Tom Conners had contacts throughout the electronics' industry and began discussions with Fairchild Electronics. He proposed that Fairchild develop a home pong game, using all the outdated TTL parts being stored in the Fairchild warehouses. Mirco would use the automatic tester to insure quality control and ship the units from Phoenix

The game never made it to market. Fairchild encountered problems with one of the game's circuits and failed to deliver the product on time. In response, Montgomery Ward cancelled its $4.3 million order for the game and in November, 1977, Mirco sued Fairchild for breach of contract. They sought $6 million in damages, claiming the Fairchild had made fraudulent statements to lure them into the contract as part of a plan to monopolize the home market with its own Channel F cartridge-based system. In 1978 Fairchild countersued claiming that Mirco refused to accept delivery of the 50,000 units at the agreed-upon $25 purchase price and, further, that Mirco knew the finished game would not meet FCC requirements and had entered into the contract in bad faith "in an effort to create a controversy with Fairchild which could be used to force forgiveness by Fairchild of Mirco's indebtedness to Fairchild arising from other transactions.[9]"  By the time of the lawsuit, however, Mirco already in serious trouble. The Fairchild deal had left Mirco short on cash and forced it to halt production of Spirit of '76. In addition, Mirco was already committed to fund a German subsidiary. As a result, the company cut its staff from 208 to 103 employees and forced the rest to take a 10% pay cut.

Despite the failure of PT-109, however, the video game division was reportedly doing well. Between 1976 and 1978 it released almost a dozen titles. Skywar (1976) was a dual-joystick, World War I, air combat game. Formula M Vrooom (1977) was a rare example of a cocktail driving game. Break In and Block Buster were knockoffs of Breakout. Dawn Patrol (1978), the company’s last known traditional video game, wasanother World War I dogfighting game with a U-shaped controller and an overhead view[10]. Its most successful video game line, however, may have been card games. Starting with 21 in 1976, Mirco released at least six titles by 1979. By then, however, Mirco was on its way out of the business and in 1980 another Phoenix company – Amstar Electronics – purchased its games division.

 

NOTES - sources for this article included interviews with Bob Edgell and Dave Nutting, Milton Leontiades Management Policy, Strategy, and Plans (Little, Brown, 1982 - which included an excellent chapter on Mirco), "Fun and Games in Phoenix" from Datamation, February, 1976, the Arizona Secretary of State website, and (as always) the TAFA and Flyer Fever websites and various issues of RePlay, Play Meter, and Vending Times (especially the article "The Table Soccer Phenomenon" mentioned in Note 1 below)

 

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[1]RePlay, February 28, 1976 (“The Table Soccer Phenomenon”) places the founding in 1969 while Leontiades places it in 1970 – though Leontiades clearly seems to have used the RePlay article as a source.

[2] Leontiades, 1982, who reports sales of $1,156,319 for fiscal year 1973, which ended January 31, 1973. Datamation, 1976reports that the company earned $357,000 in its first year, but it is unclear where they got the figure whereas Leontiades numbers were taken from Micro’s consolidated statement of income.

[3] Leontiades reports that on December 18, 1973, Mirco formed a new division called Mirco Systems to handle the testing hardware and software.
[4] Leontiades, 1982, who reports that Mirco’s territory included Arizona, the Albuquerque/Las Cruces/Roswell area, the Denver/Henderson CO area, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and Salt Lake City.
[5] Leontiades, 1982, who reports that Mirco had begun making video games in Australia in April (under the Mirco Games of Australia Pty Ltd division) and in Germany in September (under the Mirco Games of Europe division. Of the $6.1 million in video game sales in FY 1976, $600,000 were from Australia and $200,000 from Germany.
[6] The November 1975 issue of Play Meter reports that Mirco had “entered the pinball market at the Chicago MOA show in October with the first pinball game to use a microprocessor – Spirit of ‘76”. The same article later says “Aside from introducing the microprocessor into pinball, Mirco Games…also put a microprocessor into it’s [sic] new cocktail table game, PT-109”. The January, 1976 issue of Vending Times explicitly states that Mirco showed PT-109 at the MOA show. Cash Box announced the introduction of both Spirit of 76 and PT-109 in November, 1975.
[7] Though Allied Leisure showed Dyn-O-Mite at the same show and may have released Rock On as early as September. A third pin, Komputer Dynamics’ Invasion Stratogy, was also introduced at the 1975 MOA.
[8] As reported in the Clarence Bailey article, but they may have put the game back in production later. Bill Kurtz claims that they produced 500 units.
[9] The lawsuit was covered in the January, 1978 and April 7, 1978 issues of Play Meter and the December, 1977 issue of RePlay
[10] Both the May 15, 1978 issue of Play Meter and the May, 1978 issue of RePlay reported that Mirco showed a game called Zircus “in a wall model, a cocktail table, and an upright version” at the International Coin Machine  Exhibition in Berlin in April, but no description was given. From the title, it may have been a German version of Exidy’s Circus.

Softape History - Part I (plus a review of Atari: Game Over)

November 20, 2014, 6:28 pm

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A few weeks back, I posted an all-too-brief history of Programma International – one of the earliest and largest Apple II software publishers. Today I cover an even earlier company that is in some ways even more interesting – Softape. Once again, this post will be more of a very brief sketch rather than a proper history and will surely not come close to doing the company justice and I hope that others will take up the mantle and flesh out more of the details of this sadly unappreciated company.

The above image, and many others, were taken from http://www.artscipub.com/history/, which also includes more information on Softape

 

Setting the Stage

      Softape was founded in late 1977, a key year in personal computer history. According to a number of histories, the personal computer industry was still in its infancy at the beginning of 1977. While this is arguably true, I would actually argue that it would be more accurate to say that it was in its teenage years. Contrary to popular belief, personal computers did not start with the Apple II, at least not if we define "personal computer" as a computer marketed for personal (rather than corporate or institutional) use. While they are largely forgotten today, there were many personal computers (or microcomputers as many called them at the time) that appeared prior to mid-1977. The June, 1977 issue of Byte for instance, featured ads for the Apple II, the IMSAI 8080, the Sol 20 (Processor Technology of Berkeley), the Poly 88 (Polymorphic Systems, Santa Barbara), the Altair 8800b and 680b (MITS, Albuquerque), the Z-2 (Cromemco, Mountain View), the SWTPC 6800 (Southwest Technical Products, San Antonio), the OSI Challenge (Ohio Scientific Instruments, Hiram OH), the Equinox 100 (Parasitic Engineering, Albany),  the Compucolor 8001 (Compucolor Corp, Norcross GA), the FD-8 (Midwest Scientific Instruments, Olathe KS), the Xitan Alpha-1 (Technical Design Labs, Princeton), and machines by Denver's digital group, as well as reviews of the KIM 1 and the Noval 760 (the latter produced by a division of Gremlin Industries – yes THAT Gremlin - and co-designed by one of the designers of Blockade and other arcade games). And personal computers didn't start with the Apple I either, or even the Altair 8800 (though the Altari could be credited with launching the revolution). A handful of other kits, projects, and machines appeared earlier, such as the Mark-8 and the Scelbi 8H. Some trace personal computers all the way back to the ECHO IV in 1967, or even earlier).

Sadly, these machines have been largely ignored in most computer histories. Two exceptions are Paul Frieberger and Michael Swaine’s Fire in the Valley: The Making of the Personal Computer and Stan Veit’s History of the Personal Computer. While both are outstanding, I found that the former left me wanting, really only serving to whet my appetite for more information on these early machines. By far, the best source of info I’ve found about these seminal companies and machines is Stan Veit’s wonderful book. It certainly isn’t the best-written book on personal computer history (though neither is it poorly written), but it may well be my favorite. Aside from the fact that these machines were mostly hobbyist kits, one reason they have been forgotten is that they didn’t last. In 1977, however, three PCs appeared that did: the Apple II (introduced in April and first sold in June), the TRS-80 (released in August), and the Commodore PET (released in October). Unlike most (though not all) early PCs, these machines were (relatively at least) user friendly and sold well. It was in this milieu that Softape appeared on the scene.

The History of Softape

 

 

Softape was the brainchild of three people: William V. Smith, Bill DePew, and Gary Koffler, all of whom had attended John Burroughs High School in Burbank (though none of them realized this fact when they first met). Smith graduated from high school in 1974 and earned an AA degree from Los Angeles Valley College in 1977 (an interesting aside that has nothing to do with computers or computer games - Smith’s grandmother was Beatrice Roberts, a model, dancer, Miss America finalist, actress [she played Queen Azura in a 1938 Flash Gordon serial], wife of Robert Ripley [of Believe It or Not fame], and mistress to producer Louis B. Mayer [the second M in MGM]). More relevant to our purposes was Smith’s first encounter with computers, which came in 1976 or 1977 when he saw an article in Popular Science detailing how to build an S-100 bus computer (the hardware bus used in the Altair 8800 and other early PCs). After taking a computer class at Los Angeles Valley College in 1977, Smith and his best friend, Dave Mosher, built the computer, with the help of the owner of The Byte Shop in Pasadena[1] and parts cobbled together from various computer manufacturers. Realizing that other people had invested similar time and effort (not to mention money) in computers of their own and needed a way to protect them, Smith and Mosher formed a company called International Computer Accessories that sold clear Plexiglas computer covers nationwide for machines like the Imsai and Byt-8 (a personal computer created and sold by Byte Shopfounder Paul Terrell). Meanwhile, Mosher had taken another job selling fish and fish supplies to aquariums and pet stores. While selling his products, Mosher met another aquarium-supply salesman named Gary Koffler, who also collected and traded Apple II software on cassette. After Dave told Smith about Koffler, the two met and formed an instant connection inspired by their shared love of computers. They quickly wrote a program called Rollin’ On the River that Koffler began trading with his many computer contacts, one of whom another Apple II enthusiast named Bill DePew. DePew had graduated from John Burroughs High in 1972 before briefly attending UCLA. He also had an uncanny ability to learn new things quickly. The three met at DePew’s house in Burbank and decided to start a company to make products for the Apple II, something few companies were doing for the still relatively new computer. The three initially planned to offer both software (programs Koffler had collected plus others written by DePew) and hardware (like a thermostat they found that connected to the Apple II’s game port). Calling their company Softech, and funded by profits from Smith’s Plexiglas cover business as well as a vending route he owned, they rented a 900-square-foot building on Vanowen Street in North Hollywood for $195 a month and went into business, with Smith handling the marketing, accounting, and office management, Koffler heading up sales, and DePew developing the software (Debbie Jorman was the office assistant).

 

Softech’s first product was something called the Software Exchange (later the Softape Software Exchange), which Softape’s winter 1978 catalog described as follows:

The largest problem in personal computing today is the lack of organization and distribution of software. Much software exists, but it is not readily obtainable, Softape is committed to filling this void. Since you had the insight to join the microcomputer revolution, we have no doubt that you will recognize the value of this opportunity. The Softape Software Exchange was created to interface the microcomputer ownerand the microcomputer programmer. Through the exchange every kind of program will be available quickly and inexpensively. Programmers, both novice and professional, can have their software distributed nationally. If the software is "top notch" and of sufficient interest, Softape will contact you about royalties. No program will be distributed until the author has given his permission, and a mutually beneficial agreement has been agreed upon.

 After paying a $20 membership fee, customers could order software “modules” on cassette for $2 each. The first title, Module 1, included three games: Advanced Dragon Maze (a lo-res maze game by Gary Shannon), Digital Derby (a lo-res horse racing game), and Saucer War (a two-player space combat game). William Smith describes Module 1 as "the first program available nationwide for the Apple II". While I am not sure this is true, it was likely among the first. The group mailed a copy of the program to every Apple II retail store they knew of, a task that was made easier by Apple, who had kindly provided them with pre-printed labels, along with its dealer and warranty lists (they bought one of the first 5 MB hard drives from Corvus Systems to store them). At one point, Softech even paid to fly Steve Wozniak down to Burbank to attend a club meeting, after which he retired to Smith’s house to watch Battlestar Gallactica.

Just as they got started, however, a company from San Diego contacted them and told them that they were already using the name Softech so the group changed the name to Softape, which had nothing to do with a downy gorilla, but rather referred to the fact that they made software on cassette tape (the standard method of distributing software at the time). In an effort to save money, the fledgling company cut corners whenever it could. Rather than buying an expensive tape duplicator, Bill DePew created an audio bridge that allowed them to make multiple copies of a tape at once. (in later years, Softape partnered with GRT Corporation, a large music tape and record manufacturer with more extensive duplication facilities). Instead of advertising in national magazines like Byte, Creative Computing, or the Apple II magazines that were just beginning to appear on the scene, Softape marketed its product directly via a newsletter they created called Softalk.

The Softape Software Exchange grew to include at least eight modules with utility and productivity software in addition to games. Eventually, however, Softape found that some programs like DePew’s blackjack game Apple 21 and Bob Bishop’s Music Kaleidoscope merited release as stand-alone products, which they sold for $9.95. While these may seem like “bargain basement” prices compared to those of Apple programs of the early ‘80s, it was actually fairly standard pricing for the cassette-based programs of the time, which rarely sold for more than $15-20 (with the exception of business software). In its relatively brief life, Softape released at least 75 programs for the Apple II (and possibly many more). Among them were graphics programs (Etch a Sketch), music programs (Appleodion), utilities (Dump/Restore), educational programs (Typing Tutor) a Forth interpreter (Forth ][) and over 50 games. It also produced a handful of titles for other systems like the TRS 80. Among the more interesting (or at least interesting sounding) games were Baseball Fever (a full color baseball simulation), Coney Island (featuring 22 different ball-and-paddle games), Journey (a little-known text adventure that may not have been released), and Microgammon. I’m not sure what their most popular games were, since they mostly came out before Softalk’s bestseller lists and other lists, but my guesses would be Microgammon,Photar, Planetoids, Star Mines, Apple 21, and Best of Bishop (which combined Rocket Pilot, Space Maze, Star Wars, Saucer Invasion, Apple-Vision, and Dynamic Bouncer).

Its most groundbreaking program may have been Apple-Talker/Apple Listener, perhaps the earliest speech synthesis/voice recognition program for the Apple II. Softape used the technology in programs like Tic-Tac-Talker (a talking version of tic-tac-toe with voice control). The company’s most ambitious effort was probably Magic Window, a full-function word processor created by Gary Shannon and Bill DePew and released in 1982 under the Artsci/Softape label. Its most unusual feature was that the onscreen cursor actually stayed still while the virtual “paper” moved (like an old school typewriter). The program was voted #1 Word Processor of 1981 (according to Softalk) and came with an optional spell checker (Magic Words) and a mail merge program (Magic Mailer).

In addition to the software, the company also made hardware, like the Bright Pen (a light pen input device that they also used in games like Bright Pen Craps), Reset Guard (which prevented Apple II users from inadvertently hitting the machine’s  reset key), and the Axiom-820 printer. One of the company’s greatest legacies was not a program, but amagazine. After three issues, the Softalk newsletter was converted into a full-scale color magazine (and, IMO, one of the best Apple II magazines on the market) in July, 1980 under the direction of William Smith, Bill DePew, and Margo Tommervic. In late 1979, Tommervic had purchased an Apple II using her winnings from the TV game show Password and became an instant computer addict. When a local store ran a contest for the first person to solve On-Line System’s seminal 1980 graphics adventure Mystery House, Tommervic did so in just 24 hours. Around this time, Tommervic visited Softape (whose offices were a short distance from where she lived) to buy a copy of Magic Window. Within a few days, she and Smith agreed to start a new company to publish Softalk as a full-scale glossy magazine with Tommervic (who had used the rest of her Password winnings to help finance the venture) as Editor, Smith as Advertising Manager, and Bill DePew as Technical Editor. Publishedfrom September, 1980 until August, 1984, Softalk grew to over 400 pages at its peak and included how-to articles, industry news, product reviews, fiction, and monthly games and contests (one asked readers to count the number of turkeys hidden throughout the issue, another asked readers to guess the identity of Lord British, based on clues provided in each issue). For the video game historian (or at least this video game historian), two features stand out. One was the monthly bestseller lists for software in various categories, based on actual retailer sales figures. The other was the monthly “Exec” column, which featured an in-depth history/profile of a single company.

 

Overall, Softape/Artsci sold over 100,000 cassettes and 200,000 disks and had annual sales of over $3 million. Unfortunately it never made the transition to the IBM PC (it did try its hand at a few programs for the Macintosh, but it never really panned out), and disappeared along with the Apple II itself (in addition, many of its programmers were hired away by Apple). Eventually, the three partners had a falling out (involving, in part, a woman). DePew and Smith renamed the company Artsci while Koffler went to work for DataMost (whose founder Dave Gordon was an early friend and customer). Bill Depew died on August 2, 2011 in Burbank. In our

The Artsci crew in 1983

Bonus - Automated Dress Pattern, 1978

This is only tangentially related to Softape. The image below is from the September, 1978 issue of Interface Age. It is for an Apple II dress pattern program written by William V. Smith and Paul Essick. The pattern was available from McCall's Dress Pattern Company and could be printed on a 132 column printer.
The interesting thing to me, however, is the medium. The program was distributed on "floppy ROM". I can't imagine that anybody reading this wouldn't know what a record is (even people born after they were supplanted by CDs and mp3s generally know what they are). But if you weren't around during the record era, you may not remember these things. They were "records" printed on flexible plastic that were often distributed as promotional items in magazines or other media (there were even cardboard records that could be cut out of the back of cereal boxes). Even less known is that they were used to distribute computer software, though only rarely. In a way, this isn't surprising. The data from the record was read in through the cassette input port, but the port could be used with any audio source (the data is the same no matter what source it comes from).
Anyway, I thought it was an interesting sidelight of computer history.

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[1] According to Smith, this was none other than yoga master, Guru Prem Singh Khalsa

Review - Atari: Game Over

Many of you probably know this, but today marked the release of Atari: Game Over, a documentary about the infamous E.T. cartridge burial in Alamogordo, New Mexico. This thing has been the subject of much discussion in the last several months. I just finished watching it and thought I'd post a few comments.  (NOTE there are some "spoilers" below, though if you've paid any attention to this story, they really don't spoil anything as there isn't really anything to spoil)

I have to admit, that I was actually dreading seeing this thing. From what I had seen I knew what I was expecting and it wasn't good. What I was expecting was that they would dig up the site and find a number of different cartridges and other items, including some E.T. cartridges. Actually, I basically already knew that was what they'd find, since I'd read as much elsewhere and was already convinced that that was what was buried there.

What I feared is that they would then say that the "myth" had been proven true after all and that all those people who said it wasn't true would now have to eat crow (followed by online attacks on the E.T. deniers as a bunch of buffoons or accusations that they "refused to believe" the obvious evidence and continued to cling to their unfalsifiable myth claims).
I was even worried that they would only show photos of the ET cartridges they unearthed, rather than the other material they found - giving the false impression that they had found nothing but ET carts, and millions of them.

The first 90% or so of the movie did nothing to allay my fears.
I am happy to report, however, that my fears were largely unfounded. In the end, they freely admit that they did non find millions of ET cartridges, that only about 10% of the carts they found were ET, and that the dump was a general dump of overstock merchandise that had nothing to do specifically with ET.

In short, while they perhaps didn't say so explicitly, they basically confirmed that the story is a myth.

Let me clarify. The "myth" I'm talking about is not that there were ET cartridges buried in a New Mexico landfill (that much has been known for some time - though some continue to inaccurately report that this is the "myth" that the deniers are denying). Rather, the myth was that there were millions of ET cartridges (and only ET cartridges) buried in New Mexico in an effort to hide (or at least dispose of) all evidence of the ET fiasco - a fact that was seen as having deeper significance as a symbol of the fall of Atari and the video game industry in general).

I suspect that there will still be those who claim the film proves that the "myth" was actually true, which truly bugs me as an amateur historian (as does the seeming fact that the true story has actually been available for over 30 years to anyone who actually bothered to read contemporary press accounts in the Alamogordo and El Paso papers [in other words, anyone who bothered to do basic research])

The landfill story actually forms a relatively small part of the documentary, and the actual revelation at the dig comes across as something of an anticlimax. The documentary is really more about the story of ET itself, and especially Howard Scott Warshaw (the best part of the documentary IMO) with a lesser focus on the history of Atari and the video game industry itself. I personally would have like to have seen them go a bit more into the burial and how it came about (they mention next to nothing about the El Paso plant, for instance), but that would have been a boring story for most people so I understand why they didn't dwell on it. My favorites parts of the movie were those with Warshaw, particularly his emotional reaction at the big reveal. They also interview a number of other people, including Manny Gerard, Nolan Bushnell, and Ernest Cline (author of Ready Player One).

While there is nothing new in the documentary for anyone with even a passing familiarity with Atari history, I did find it quite well made and enjoyed it - though that may be more out of relief than anything else (I should also mention that I have very low expectations for video game history documentaries). Zach Penn clearly seems to have a passion for the 2600 (if not its history).

I certainly think it's worth watching (it is available for free for XBox users, or on xbox video of PC users).

Finally, here are a couple of random photos of Big Paw's Cave, the fifth (or sixth?) game in the Moppet series (the second photo is from the AMOA show). 

 

 

 

I'm Hooked, I'm Hooked, My Brain Is Cooked - Two Pieces of Video Game Radio Ephemera

November 25, 2014, 6:43 pm

≫ Next: Programma International - Coin-Op Breeding Ground

≪ Previous: Softape History - Part I (plus a review of Atari: Game Over)

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Today, I cover a couple of little discussed radio relics of the golden age of video games – one a pop song and the other a radio drama.

 Space Invaders by Uncle Vic

 

The pop song is the 1980 novelty hit "Space Invaders" by Uncle Vic, one of a number of songs related to the game Others include “Disco Space Invaders” by Funny Stuff, released in 1979 on Elbon records; “Space Invaders”, another 1979 song by the Australian band Player 1/Playback and The Pretenders 1979 instrumental “Space Invaders”. Those songs will have to wait for another day. Today, we’re talking about Uncle Vic. Before we get started, here's a link to a YouTube video of the song

     Uncle Vic was Victor Earl Blecman, a 27-year-old musician, nightclub owner, and DJ for WGCL in Cleveland. Blecman's music career has started in Elyria, Ohio in1965 when he formed a band called The Cavemen with three junior high school classmates. The band continued through Blecman's high school and  community college years under various names, including Flight, Pennsylvania Crude Oil, Revolver, and Izz, playing at various local clubs like Pickle Bill's and Big Dick's (in 1971, Izz shared a bill with Black Sabbath). Vic would often inject his oddball sense of humor into the band's sets and before long he was doing more joking than playing. He eventually landed a job as a disk jockey in Elyria, while performing disco-themed comedy as "The Fantastic and Intergalactic Uncle Vic" at Elyria's Rathskellar Club (where, in 1976, he tried to set a Guinness World Record for continuous joke-telling). In January, 1977 he opened an adults-only disco club in Elyria called Uncle Vic's Night Club along with two partners. Meanwhile, Blecman had patented a keyboard instrument called the "talking machine" that made use of recorded sounds. In June of 1978, he attended a Chicago trade show trying to find a manufacturer for his device when he ran into the Bradley Brothers, an English trio who had invented another keyboard instrument called the Novatron and signed up to distribute the machines in North America. He also recorded a record called "Baby, Now That I've Found You", scoring a minor local hit.

Uncle Vic in his high school days (from Elyria Chronicle, 1970)

From Elyria Chronicle, 1969

Izz - From Elyria Chronicle, 1971

The idea to create a novelty record based on a video game came around May of 1980 when Vic was playing a show at his night club and noticed that his audience was distracted by the blooping and bleeping of a Space Invaders machine in the back room. Annoyed, Vic's band began playing along with the game, imitating its sounds. The audience loved it and Blecman soon decided to record a song based on the game. 

[Vic Blecman] That's where I saw people line up for the machine. Cheering and yelling and completely lost in playing. So were the watchers. Then I read about the space machines in magazines and heard about tournaments in Europe, South America, America, and Japan. It's international. I decided something that popular deserved to have a song written about it. <Jane Scott, "'Space Invaders' 45 could blow your mind', Cleveland Plain Dealer, July 4, 1980>

 

Uncle Vic's Night Club - birthplace of "Space Invaders"

Then Blecman found out that the Pretenders had included a song called “Space Invaders” on their debut album and almost dropped the idea, until he found out that the song had nothing to do with the game. Blecman then assembled a group to record his song (which he claims he wrote in his bathroom in about half an hour) and recorded it at 3 A.M. at Kirk Yano's After Dark recording studio in five hours at a cost of $4,000. Backing up Blecman (who played bass and sang vocals) were Kirk Yano on guitar, Jose Ortiz on drums, and Pete Tokar (who duplicated the machine's sounds on a synthesizer[1]). 

       "Space Invaders" opened with the lines "Well, there it is in the corner of the bar / I tried to run, but I didn't get far / Those weird little men; I blow 'em away / Id' sell my mom for a chance to play", followed by the song's hook, sung in an alien voice: "He's hooked, he's hooked, his brain is cooked". The chorus featured the words "Space Invaders" sung over and over as the synthesized sounds of the game played in the background. As the song ended, it got faster and faster (like its coin-op inspiration) before ending with a loud explosion.

Blecman pressed 2,000 copies of the record on his own Partay Label and negotiated with Progress Records to distribute them, mailing copies to a number of radio stations. The song quickly became the most requested song on Cleveland area stations (though Blecman, who was also a disk jockey at Cleveland’s WGCL, wasn't allowed to play it on his own show due to FCC regulations) and also became a hit in St. Petersburg and Tampa, Florida. Blecman then struck a deal with Prelude Records, who'd also released the novelty classics "Ahab the Arab" by Ray Stevens and "My Ding-A-Ling"(shamefully, Chuck Berry's biggest hit) to release "Space Invaders"nationallyas a single (b/w "Ode to Slim", an homage to Slim Whitman). While "Space Invaders"failed to crack the national charts, it became a Dr. Demento staple and, for those who heard it, a fondly-remembered relic of the golden age of video games. Two years later, Uncle Vic tried again with another video game song based on Pac-Man titled "It Won't Beat Me". The song went nowhere.

 

Space Invaders
©1980 by Uncle Vic

Well, there it is in the corner of the bar
I tried to run, but I didn't get far
Those weird little men; I blow 'em away
I'd sell my mom for a chance to play

(He's hooked, he's hooked. His brain is cooked.
He's hooked, he's hooked. His brain is cooked.)

They start off slow, but they don't play clean
It's tricky and low; it's a mean machine
There's lots of them and one of you
When the walls are gone, they'll get to you

(He's hooked, he's hooked. His brain is cooked.
He's hooked, he's hooked. His brain is cooked.)

Space invaders (game sounds)
Space invaders
Space invaders
Space invaders

Faster and faster all the time
An hour of this will blow your mind
Gotta get them before they get you
and you'll be broke before you're through

(He's hooked, he's hooked. His brain is cooked.
He's hooked, he's hooked. His brain is cooked.)

As the gang looks over your shoulder in awe
They don't believe what they just saw
You slid to the left and slid to the right
You're the Space Invaders king tonight

(He's hooked, he's hooked. His brain is cooked.
He's hooked, he's hooked. His brain is cooked.)

Space invaders (game sounds)
Space invaders
Space invaders
Space invaders

A feeling of power comes over your hand
Row by row, you're in command
There's one last devil movin' real fast
One single shot (shot noise); got him at last

Space invaders (game sounds)
(Hey, wow, man!)
Space invaders
(I'm gonna get me one of these)
Space invaders
(Yeah!)
Space invaders
(Got it going now!)
Space invaders
(I'm on my fourth row!)
Space invaders
(Gee, they almost got me.)
Space invaders
(We're in trouble now!)
Space invaders
(Oh, wow, really cosmic, man!)
Space invaders (pace quickens)
Space invaders
Space invaders
(Too fast for me, man!)
Space invaders
(high incomprehensible squawking)
Space invaders
Space invaders
Space invaders
Space invaders....
(explosion)

Uncle Vic in 2008

Nightfall – No Quarter

While Uncle Vic’s hit is far from well-known, I’m sure a number of readers will remember it. I can’t say the same for my next bit of radio ephemera. Actually, I’ve already written about this one, but it was way back in the second post I ever did, so some of you may have missed it (for those who didn’t, this part will largely be a repeat of my earlier post).

 

This one isn’t a song, but a bit of radio drama, an art form that has become increasingly rare, but was a bit more common back in the 1970s and 1980s (remember the NPR production of Star Wars?). This one, however, wasn’t an NPR program. In fact, it wasn’t even American. It was an episode of Nightfall, a Canadian horror anthology series broadcast on CBC from July, 1980 to May, 1983. I am actually a longtime fan of “OTR” (old time radio), particularly radio horror. Nightfall isn’t OTR, but it is one of the finest radio horror anthologies ever produced, IMO.

Unfortunately, the subject of this post wasn’t one of the program’s finest efforts (though I enjoyed it thoroughly anyway). . It was, however, a rare (if not unique) example of a video-game-themed radio drama. The episode I’m talking about is “No Quarter”, which aired on March 4, 1983. You can download it from many places on the web. Here is a link to an internet archive page with “No Quarter” along with most of the other episodes of the series (if you have any interest in horror or radio drama, check out some of the other episodes)

"No Quarter” tells the story of Paul Weaver, a poor shlub who becomes obsessed with video games after playing Donkey Kongwhile waiting for a delayed flight at the Vancouver Airport.  On a drive home from dinner, he and his wife get into an argument over the time he's spending on the games. She is concerned that the games promote anti-social behavior in violence. He replies that the games are educational ("The Defense Department uses Armor Attack as a simulator for tank training." he argues). After he loses his job when he misses an important meeting because he's busy playing Defender ("It you want to beat Defender, don't use the smart bomb in hyperspace”, the arcade owner dubiously tells him), his wife launches a public crusade against video games. One day, Paul gets a mysterious package containing an ultra-advanced arcade game called Death Ship in which an intergalactic slave laborer tries to escape his "Robotron masters". Paul begins playing the game, drawn in by its incredible graphics, voice synthesis, and hyper realistic action. As his score mounts, the game becomes even more lifelike, until it eventually becomes a little too realistic (you’ll have to listen yourself to find out how it ends). Almost unknown today, the episode contains a host of video game references. Death Ship’sdigitized voice intones "coin detected in pocket" ala Berzerk. At one point, the arcade owner tells Paul "Some computer science student in Buffalo blew the brains out of a Pac-Man. You know it only stores six figures. Well, he turned it over three times and the screen split the maze on one side and this electronic gibberish on the other."

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[1] Jane Scott, “’Space Invaders’ 45 could blow your mind”, Cleveland Plain Dealer, July 4, 1980.  Other sources report that Blecman played all of the instruments except keyboard.

Programma International - Coin-Op Breeding Ground

September 15, 2014, 10:04 pm

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Today, I take a brief break from my “literary history” to talk about one of the more interesting software publishers of the personal computer industry’s early years – Programma International. Those of you who cut their gaming teeth on an Apple II may remember Progamma for their “crude” games (most written in Integer BASIC) sold at bargain-basement prices, but Programma was one of the earliest and largest PC software publishers, with its 80-page catalog listing 300 titles (not all of them games) for the Apple II, Commodore PET, TRS 80, and other systems. According to Steven Levy’s Hackers, in fact, Programma was the biggest distributor of Apple II software in the world in 1980. Among its many offerings were utilities, business applications (including the seminal world processor Apple Pie), and a host of games ranging from simple text games to clones of arcade games (Clowns & Balloons and Apple Invaders) to more sophisticated games like Star Voyager and Battlestar I. Despite its importance, however, the company has been largely forgotten and little has been written about its history. And while this article is woefully inadequate in that regard (I wasn’t able to find out much info about it myself), it is a start. One that I hope will lead someone else to pick up the mantle and pen the company’s full history.

 

Programma International cofounder Dave Gordon (from Softalk, July, 1983)

 

            Programma International was primarily the brainchild of two men: Mel Norell and Dave Gordon. A native of Brooklyn, Gordon attended high school in New York City. When he was 18, his family moved to Los Angeles where Gordon earned a master’s degree in accounting from Cal State Los Angeles in 1964. He then spent thirteen years as an accountant and computer controller in the entertainment industry, working for firms like Warner Communications, Gulf & Western, and Paramount. In 1977, Gordon was working for ASI Market Research, which operated a theatre in Hollywood that screened movie and television previews, when he made a discovery that changed the course of his career – microcomputers. 1977 was the year of the microcomputer “trinity” – the Apple II, PET, and TRS-80. Fascinated by the new devices, Gordon put a down payment on both a TRS-80 and a PET. When he got his first look at an Apple II, however, he immediately cancelled his orders and got an Apple II (serial number 126) instead. He quickly began making the rounds of users groups, computer stores, and other owners, using his wheeling-and-dealing skills to amass (or at least attempt to amass) a library of every piece of public domain software made for the Apple II (he apparently copied a few non-public-domain programs as well, as he was known as one of the industry’s biggest software pirates). He even traded software with Apple Computer itself, where he also made friends with Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, Mike Markkula, and several others. According to Softalk, he “…brought out the first Woz Pack from Apple…”, a collection of programs written by Steve Wozniak (though it was also offered by A.P.P.L.E. – the Apple Puget sound Program Library Exchange[1]).

            With the personal computer industry exploding, Gordon began to think about forming a company of his own. That’s where Mel Norell comes in. At the time, Norell ran Programma Associates, a small company that produced software for the Sphere computer. Introduced in 1975 by the Sphere Corporation of Bountiful, Utah, the 6800-based Sphere I was one of the more interesting of the early personal computers in that it came with a built-in keyboard, monitor, and numeric keypad – a rarity at a time when most PCs were kit computers like the Altair 8800 (the Sphere was also available in kit form). Some have even called the Sphere the "first personal computer". It also included 4k of RAM (expandable to 64k), a cassette interface, and multiple I/O ports. Unfortunately, Sphere couldn't meet the enormous demand for the Sphere and only about 1300 were produced (half of them kits) before Sphere went belly up[3]. In 1978, Gordon and Norell formed Programma International, which quickly became perhaps the most prolific producer of Apple II software (if not microcomputer software) on the planet. Of course, in one way that may not have been as great as an accomplishment as it seems, given that there were only a handful of software publishers in existence at the time. On the other hand, the fact that there WERE so few in some ways made Programma’s accomplishments all the more important. Programma produced software in a number of genres, but it’s the games for which they are probably best remembered. Sadly, they are also remembered (when they are remembered at all) for producing “cheap” games – in both price and quality. This reputation, however, is a bit unfair. While Programma’s games were primitive compared to games released just a few years later, in the late 1970s no one minded. Microcomputers were new, games often sold for $10 or less, and there wasn’t much to choose from. Still, while many of Programma’s offerings were excellent, others were crude even by the meager standards of the 1970s. In addition, a number of them were riddled with bugs (a result of Gordon’s policy of buying anything and everything). Before long, Programma was experiencing cash flow problems due to the large number of returns they were getting. In addition, Gordon and Norell frequently clashed over the direction of the company. In addition, Gordon and Norell were increasingly at odds over the company’s direction. In part, this may have been due to Gordon’s larger-than-life personality, which could be in turn charming and enthusiastic and overbearing and unyielding. By late 1980, despite its status as the world’s largest Apple II software producer, Programma was on its last legs. In October, Gordon and Norell sold the company to Hayden Book Company who turned it into Hayden Software with Gordon initially staying on as Vice President and General Manager. Gordon’s personality, however, soon clashed with those of the Hayden executives and in he was fired in the spring of 1981 and replaced by Norell (who was heading another Hayden subsidiary called Sigma Systems). A few months later, Hayden shut down its software division entirely.

 

 

            Crestfallen at first, Gordon went on to form another company called Datamost, in the fall of 1981, borrowing money from friends and setting up shop in his own living room. One of the company’s first successes was Randy Hyde’s book How to Program the Apple II Using 6502 Assembly Language, which sold over 30,000 copies – enough to keep the fledgling company afloat. It was games, however, for which Datamost was best known and they produced some of the industry’s biggest hits, including Thief, Snack Attack, Pandora’s Box, Tubeway, Pig Pen, Cavern Creatures, Spectre, Aztec, The Bilestoad, Money Munchers, Tharolian Tunnels, Flip Out, and Swashbuckler (among many others).

Datamost's booth at the 1983 West Coast Computer Fair, from Softalk

So, what does Programma International (or Datamost) have to do with coin-op video games? Programma actually bought its games from a number of programmers, many (probably most, given the timeframe) of them young, unproven, and previously unpublished. Among them were at least four (and probably more) who went on to design and program arcade games.

Chris Oberth

Christian H. Oberth’s interest in computer programming started when he read Ted Nelson’s seminal Computer Lib/Dream Machines around 1974-75. His first experience with computers came when he encountered the Plato system while attending Wright Junior College in Chicago and (later) DeVry University (in Downers Grove, IL). Instantly hooked, Oberth decided he had to have a personal computer of his own and purchased an Apple II (serial #201). At the time, however, there were no classes that taught microcomputer programming. Oberth signed up for one programming class but dropped it after he found that it utilized punched cards and other ancient technology. Instead, Oberth learned his craft the way many of the third-generation programmers did – through typing in games that appeared in magazines like Creative Computing. Meanwhile, Oberth got a job in the shipping department for a musical instrument repair company. In his spare time, he turned out Apple II games in his living room, packaging them on audio cassettes in Ziploc bags and peddling them to local computer stores. Eventually, Oberth’s skills came to the attention of Dave Gordon, who called him and invited him to L.A. for a meeting. After the meeting, Programmapublished Oberth’s first game – Phasor Zap, following it up with 3-D Docking Mission (both 1978). Before long, Oberth found a second publisher – a computer and musical instrument store in Chicago called The Elektrik Keyboard.

 

screenshot from Phasor Zap

 

[Chris Oberth] The Elektrik Keyboard was one of the musical instrument dealers that our repair shop serviced. I just happened to run into the owner walking out of CES with an Apple II under his arm. Apparently he wanted to add computers (midi music) to his store. When I told him I owned one and knew how to program it, he hired me on the spot.[Interview with Chris Oberth – Retrogaming Times #24, May, 2006]

Oberth published over a dozen games with The Elektrik Keyboardbetween 1978 and 1980, while also serving as head of their computer department (it was there that Oberth met future Gottlieb sound guru Dave Thiel). Then, in 1980, Oberth got another job offer.

[Chris Oberth] One day while working at The Elektrik Keyboard, a guy came in and ordered several Apple II's. He was using them to prototype hand held games and toys at Marvin Glass. Turns out, he was the programmer for Milton Bradley's Simon game.[Interview with Chris Oberth – Retrogaming Times #24, May, 2006]

The meeting led to a job at Marvin Glass (Oberth was hired by none other than Ralph Baer), where he worked on prototype handheld games like Finger Bowl (for Tiger), Light Fight (Milton Bradley), and Alfie (Playskool). After a brief stint at Marvin Glass, Oberth (along with fellow Marvin Glass employee Gunars Licitis) went to work for Stern, where his work included Armored Car, Rescue, Tazzmania, Minefield, Anteater (which was licensed to Tago Electronics – Oberth also produced an Apple II version of the game called Ardy the Aardvark for Datamost) and the unreleasedCrypt. But that story will have to wait or another post. He also worked for a number of other computer and coin-op game publishers including Microlab (Boulder Dash), Epyx (Winter Games), Mindscape (Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom), Gametek (American Gladiators), Incredible Technologies (World Class Bowling), and Electronic Arts (NBA Live 2001). Chris Oberth died in July, 2012 at age 59.

 

 

Gary Shannon

In 1963, Gary Shannon was fresh out of high school when a neighbor who worked for IBM taught him the rudiments of computer programming for a job he wanted Gary to work on. To further hone his skills, Shannon went to a commercial programming school in Los Angeles and also did contract work installing IBM 370s as well as business programming for Hughes Aircraft and Capitol Records. In the 1970s, he took a job with Cal State University, Northridge, where he soon discovered another passion.

[Gary Shannon] They had a policy where you could take classes during the work day as long as you got your 8 hours in so I started to work on a Masters in Computer Science. I didn't finish it, though. What they were teaching didn't have much to do with the real world of programming, so I dropped out of the program. Also, that was about the time that the Apple II first hit the market and I got totally addicted to game programming.

As his interest in the Apple II grew, Gary took a job at Rainbow Computing in Los Angeles. Founded in 1976 by Gene Sprouse and Glen Dollar, Rainbow Computing was one of the earliest Apple retailers (they also sold computer books and magazines, software, and other computers like the Jupiter III). Among the customers who frequented the store were Ken Williams (who founded Sierra On-Line in 1979), Sherwin Steffin (who founded Edu-Ware in 1979) and Dave Gordon (a friend of Shannon’s). Shannon soon began producing games for Programma, including Dragon Maze, Jupiter Express (an outer space shooter), Nightmare Number Nine, and Othello. Shannon's Nightmare #6 had been distributed by Apple in 1978. Shannon also produced games for Softape,another cut-rate software publisher formed in 1977 (as Softech) by three other of Shannon’s friends: William Smith, Bill Depew, and Gary Koffler (who later served as Datamost's VP of Software).

 

 

 

Softape version of Shannon's Othello (the game was also published by Rainbow Computing)

 

Gary wasn’t the only game programmer in the Shannon family. His sister Kathe Spracklen and her husband Dan had programmed a chess game for Z-80 computers called Sargon. After they introduced the game at the 1978 West Coast Computer Faire (where it won the first computer chess tournament) they placed an ad in Byte magazine and began selling photocopies of the code for $15. Eventually, they sold the game to Hayden Software, who released it for a number of personal computers. Gary Shannon programmed the Apple II port of Sargon II. In late 1979, Shannon took a short-term contract for San Diego coin-op manufacturer Gremlin Industries do sound-effects boards. Shannon went on to design and program (with Barbara Michaelec) the outstanding vertical shooter Astro Blaster, but that story will have to wait for another post.

 

Bob Flanagan

            Perhaps the most prolific of the Apple II programmers discussed in this post was Bob Flanagan. Flanagan’s programming career started in middle school when his school got a pair of 33 ASR teletype terminals. Made by Teletype Corporation and originally developed for the U.S. Navy, the Teletype Model 33 was released to the public in 1963. It went on to become one of the most popular terminals in the industry with over 600,000 Model 33s and 32s (the companion model) being produced by 1976. Three models were available: the 33 ASR (Automatic Send and Receive, which used punched tape for input and output), the 33 KSR (Keyboard Send and Receive, which used a keyboard), and 33 RO (Receive Only, which had no input device).

 

 

[Bob Flanagan] [the 33 ASR’s]…were hooked up to a remote computer via acoustic phone modem. I started by typing in games from 101 BASIC Games by DEC. There were several awesome games in there that I typed in as is, played and saved/loaded from the paper tape…[including] BLKJAC, GOLF, GUNNER, GUNER1, HANG, HORSES, LIFE, MNOPLY, MUGWMP, POETRY, POKER, ROCKET, ROCKT1, ROCKT2, YAHTZE, I had a lock box with 15 or more tapes rolled up of various games. Then I started to get bored and started modifying them to do other stuff to improve them or experiment with an idea. Then I went in halfsies with my mom and purchased an Apple II computer when they came out in 1977. I think it was about $1,200. I then spent all my time learning assembly language to support my first game, Speedway, which was published by Programma International on cassette tape

Gordon initially hired Flanagan on the recommendation of a high school friend and Programma programmer named Harry Tarnoff to do cassette duplication, demos, and other programs. When he started designing games, he offered them to Gordon as well. Flanagan was a huge fan of arcade games and video games in particular, as his work for Programma (and later Datamost) shows. Speedway was a version of the Chicago Coin electromechanical classic of the same name, though with a strictly vertical layout (Flanagan’s programming skills were not yet advanced enough to do curves and turns). Flanagan’s second game, Sea Wolf, was a version of Midway’s 1976 arcade video game hit. Other arcade-inspired games included Datamost’s Thief (a takeoff on Berzerk) and Spectre (which one review described as a Tron/Pac-Man combination). Other Flanagan games include Pandora’s Box, Space Ark (Datamost), and Guardian (initially for Continental Software under the alias Tom & Jerry, so as not to hurt Dave Gordon’s feelings or affect Flanagan’s relationship with Datamost). While Flanagan did the bulk of the design and programming, friends occasionally helped out (like many of Programma/Datamost’s programmers, Flanagan worked from home) and Flanagan insisted they get full credit for their work (unlike the coin-op and console industry, many in the computer game industry readily gave credit to their designers in advertising and packaging). Scott Miller helped out on Spectre, Guardian, and Pandora’s Box, Bob Andrews on Sea Wolf, and Art Huff came up with the concept and graphics for Space Ark.  Flanagan later went to work for Atari on the coin-op games Marble Madness, Paperboy, Gauntlet, Gauntlet II, Xybots, Space Lords, Skull & Crossbones, Marble Madness II, and Vapor TRX as even later developed a number of titles for the PS1, Wii, and PC. But that story will have to…well, you know.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Note the coin-op and other game elements: Berzerk robot, Space Invaders alien, Pac-Man ghost, and an enemy from Apple Panic (the enemy with two blue triangles looks familiar too but I can't place it)

Mark Turmell (sort of)

            Another coin-op programmer who got his start at Programma was Mark Turmell, whose coin-op work included Smash TV and NBA Jams. Turmell’s game for Programma, however, was never actually published. Turmell had begun studying computers at 15, taking evening classes at Delta College (a community college in Michigan) while attending high school during the day (his high school didn't offer computer classes). Turmell would attend high school classes in the morning then arrive at Delta at 2 in the afternoon for his five data processing classes, often staying in the campus computer room until near midnight. Attending college at age 15 offered its share of challenges. Because he had no driver's license, he was unable to check out the tapes he needed to complete his programming assignments (luckily, a professor took Turmell under her wing and wrote him a permission note to check out the materials). Nonetheless,by the time he graduated high shool, he had almost earned enough credits for an Associate’s degree in Data Processing[2]. At 16, he bought an Apple II computer, scraping together the money he made from mowing lawns and taking out a loan from his parents. Not long afterwards, he broke into the Delta College computer, just to see if he could. Instead of expelling him, however, they hired him, allowing him to earn enough money to pay his parents back. At age 17, Turmell was hired by a local engineering firm to debug a software package they had purchased to help lay out the city's sewers. The gig led to a job as a consultant with a number of other companies. Turmell, however, was intent on earning his living as a game programmer. His first effort was a game called Head On, which he sent to Programma International. Programma gave him a contract and planned to publish the game until another computer game with the same title was released.  While attending college at Ferris State in Big Rapids, Michigan, he created a vertical shooter called Sneakers that featured multiple screens of zany enemies (inspiration came from Gorf and Astro Blaster). Turmell finished the game in about three months then fedexed it to Sirius Software. When Sirius got the game (which went on to become an Apple II classic) they offered him a job on the spot. Turmell followed up with Beer Run and Free Fall before moving on to design Atari 2600 games like Fast Eddie and  Turmoil for 20^th Century Fox software then landing a job with Williams.

 

 

 

 

 

---

[1] It may be that both Apple and A.P.P.L.E. produced it or that Softalk was referring to A.P.P.L.E. instead of Apple.

[2]Electronic Games (October, 1982) claims he actually did earn the degree.

[3] While http://sphere1.yolasite.com/ claims that Sphere was "killed by its own success" and unable to meet demand, a December, 1976 article in Byte (quoted at the same site) mentions that the company's problems were due to "...a credibility gap on promised software...partly due to parts problems and documentation delays..." and doesn't mention an inability to meet demand. 
 

NOTE - a major source for this story (and almost the only decent source of info I found on Programma) was the article Exec: Datamost that appeared in the July, 1983 issue of Softalk. Thanks also to Bob Flanagan, Gary  Shannon, and the late Chris Oberth for agreeing to talk with me.

As I mentioned above, Programma International deserves a much better article than this. I hope that someone will take it upon themselves to tell the full story, perhaps the Digital Antiquarian (http://www.filfre.net/) - IMO the finest computer game history blog on the web.
 

 

BONUS SECTION

 

This section doesn't really relate to coin-op and only tangentially relates to Programma and Datamost (though it does relate to two of the programmers above), but I thought I'd post it anyway, since I've never seen reference to it anywhere else. On December 3, 1982 in conjunction with Comdex show in Las Vegas (or at least at the same time), a group called Software Distributors held its first "Wizard versus the Wizards game championship. The game pitted a dozen computer game programmers against one another in a contest involving 12 different games (one programmed by each of the programmers). After playing each game for five minutes, points were awarded based on their ranking in each game.  The top four moved on to four semifinal games on an Apple with the top two switching back to Atari games for the finals.

The programmers were (with the company they represented and the game they entered):

 

Jim Nitchals (Cavalier? - Microwave), Dan Thompaon (Sirius - Repton), Mark Turmell (Sirius/Fox? - Turmoil), Bob Flanagan (Datamost - Spectre), Jay Zipnick (Datamost - Pig Pen), Peter Filberti (Datamost - Night Raiders), Steve Bjork (Datasoft - Canyon Climber), Gerry Humphrey (Datasoft - Clowns and Balloons), Russ Wetmore (Adventure International - Preppie), Chuck "Chuckles" Bueche (Sierra-Online, Jawbreaker II), Ken Williams (Sierra Online, Threshold), and Joe Hellesen (Roklan - Wizard of Wor).

 

Broderbund didn't sent any representatives because they were too busy working on the Atari ports of Choplifter and Serpentine.

 

Jim Natchals beat Dan Thompson in the finals to take the crown.

 

The results of the competition and some photos appear below (taken from the January, 1983 issue of Softline)

 

 

 

Mark Turmell watches Dan Thompson play

 

 

 

 

 

 

Swordquest Origins

December 21, 2014, 5:06 pm

≫ Next: History of Softape - Part 2

≪ Previous: Programma International - Coin-Op Breeding Ground

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While working on the section of my book on video game comic books, I came across some information on the Swordquest series that I found interesting and I that I haven't seen mentioned on the various Swordquest sites on the web.

I'm sure most of you know all about Swordquest, but just in case here are the broad details:

Back in 1982, Atari decided to create a sequel to its Adventure cartridge called Adventure II. The game eventually morphed into something completely different: a series of four interconnected cartridges called Swordquest in which players competed to win an actual treasure. There were supposed to be four games in the series, each based on an element - Earthworld, Fireworld, Waterworld, and Airworld. Each would also come with a mini comic book produced by DC Comics (DC was owned by Warner and had already produced the Atari Force mini-comics that had been included in various 2600 games, starting with Defender). The player used clues in the games and comics to solve a puzzle that they would submit to Atari. 50 of the solvers (I may be getting the details wrong) would then be selected (based on a statement saying what they liked about the game) to go to Atari HQ to play a custom version of the game with the winner being awarded a prize worth $25,000. The winners of the four individual games would then compete for the grand prize - a jewel-encrusted "Sword of Ultimate Sorcery" designed by the Franklin Mint worth $50,000.

In Earthworld (I think the others worked the same way but I'm not sure) the way it worked was that the player would travel through various rooms (in this case, based on the 12 Zodiacal signs), often by playing brief arcade game sequences. For certain rooms if they dropped the right combination of items, a pair of numbers would appear, directing them to a certain page and panel of the comic, in which a hidden word appeared. Then then had to take five of the ten words (part of the puzzle was figure out which ones - I think it Earthworld it was the ones with a prime number) and send them to Atari.

Anyhow, the first game drew about 5,000 entries, but only eight were correct. The prize (a talisman and small sword) was won by Steven Bell. The contest for the second game (Fireworld) - a jeweled chalice - was won by Michael Rideout.

Next came Waterworld, but while finalists were apparently selected, but final prize was never awarded and, in the wake of the video game crash, Atari dropped the entire contest and never produced Airworld. No one is sure what happened to the final three prizes (the Waterworld finalists were supposedly given $2,000 each while Rideout and Bell were given $15,000 each as compensation).

Anyway, the whole thing was an excellent idea gone bad. Aside from the crash, one problem was that the games themselves, to put it bluntly, stunk. I realize this a matter of opinion and I have to admit that I didn't actually own any of them, though I was actually quite excited about the contest. A friend of mine had Fireworld, however, and after I played it, I was shocked at how bad it was and quickly decided I wasn't willing to submit myself to the agony of playing the game just to win a jewel-encrusted tchotchke that I would likely never use and didn't know how easily I would be able to sell.
As a standalone game, it was (again, IMO) worthless. The only reason to play it was if you were going to enter the contest.

Anyhow, that's now what I want to write about. What I wanted to write about was some new info I found.

I was actually researching Atari Force at the time, not Swordquest. Since the Atari Force comics were written by Gerry Conway and Roy Thomas, I immediately wondered if they might have been discussed in Alter Ego, a comic book fanzine edited by Roy Thomas.

I didn't find a complete article, but they were discussed in an interview with Thomas in Alter Ego #100. There was only a paragraph on Atari Force, which didn't really reveal anything new (other than that the idea started when DC's Jenette Khan had Conway and Thomas fly to Silicon Valley to meet with atari engineers and the fact that Conway did basically all the work on the series, despite the fact that Thomas was credited as co-creator).

More interesting to me was the following paragraph on Swordquest:

"Then came Swordquest. Gerry and I came up again and huddled with a couple of Atari’s engineers. The company had this general idea for a series of four interconnected games under the banner 'Swordquest', with a grand prize they’d promote to help sell it. A sword was to be buried somewhere in the United States, and the person who found it – working from clues that were to be imbedded in the games themselves – would get a considerable amount of money. This was based on a similar gimmick that we were told had recently been used by a book company, with clues hidden in some picture book; that had sent people scrambling all over the country in search of a buried treasure. Gerry and I immediately came up with the idea that the four games should be based on the four classical 'elements'– earth, air, fire, and water. It was basically a rather effete sword and sorcery comic – Atari wouldn’t have wanted any real blood-and-guts – and George Perez was assigned to pencil the accompanying comics, which would again be printed in a pocket size. Gerry and I split the work on this one, but I forget exactly who wrote what."

 

The next paragraph is even more interesting.

"Only thing is, as I recall, before we did the fourth comic, a real problem arose with the earlier treasure hunt thing. We were told there were lawsuits in the case of the earlier book because some overeager people hunting for the treasure were digging up people’s lawns and demolishing property. So Atari pulled the plug on the Swordquest game before it got completed. Well, the comic book was a lot better than the game anyway."

Now this last paragraph conflicts with what is known about the game. As far as I've read, the final contest was never supposed to involve digging up the sword. Instead, it would be similar to the others - players would play a custom game and the winner would be awarded the sword. In addition, I've never heard that Atari's dropping the series had anything to do with potential lawsuits. It's always been presented as being due to the video game crash and Atari's financial situation.

While I don't think Thomas's info is entirely accurate, however, I don't think he just made it up either. Nor do I think he was just getting the book contest he mentioned confused with the Swordquest contest (he specifically says that they were told about the lawsuits and that the original idea was based on the books).

My first question, however, was what book contest Thomas was talking about. I distinctly remember one such contest from around that time but not distinctly enough to remember the name.

A quick bit of research turned up two possibilities.

The first was Masquerade, a book written by Kit Williams and published in the UK in 1979 that consisted of a series of 16 paintings that provided clues to the location of a jewel-encrusted, golden hare that had been buried somewhere in the UK.  The book sold over a million copies worldwide.

 

The second was Treasure: In Search of the Golden Horse, written by Dr. Crypton (puzzle writer for Discover magazine)  and published in 1984 (as an alternative to the book, a video tape was also produced that provided the requisite clues). In this one, a golden horse worth $25,000 was buried somewhere in the US, along with a key to a safe deposit box containing a $500,000 annuity.

Was one of these the book Thomas was talking about?

One problem with Masquerade was that the treasure was hidden in the UK, not the US (though the book was published in the US by Schocken Books). In addition, a "winner" to the contest was declared in March, 1982, which doesn't seem to fit Thomas's story either (though it might). OTOH, while I didn't find any references to lawsuits, contestants did dig up private property, causing some controversy (read the Wikipedia article for more detail).

Treasure: In Search of the Golden Horse might seem a better candidate. The problem here is the 1984 publication date, which seems to rule it out. . After looking into the book's history, however, I'm not so sure.

According to an August 21, 1989 article in the New York Times (reproduced here) the idea for the book was cooked up in 1982 by Dr. Crypton and filmmaker Sheldon Renan (who produced the video tape for the game) who sold the rights to former record company exec Barry Grieff in 1983. Grieff then raised $3.5 million, formed a company called Intravision to market the idea, and contracted with Warner Books and Vestron Video to distribute the book and video tape. Unlike Masquerade, this one was a flop. Only about 80,000 books and 12,000 videos were sold, Intravision went into debt, and the treasure was never found (at least not by the time of this article - the annuity was donated to Big Brothers/Big Sisters).

The interesting part for our purposes was that the book was published by Warner (Atari's parent). Unfortunately, it seems that they didn't know about it until 1983. If so, it seems it couldn't have been the book that Thomas was talking about.

So where does that leave us?
Is Thomas's story completely inaccurate?
Is there another such contest that could have served as inspiration? (there were a few other "armchair detective" book/contests I found from 1982 involving buried objects, but they were all were in the UK. As I mentioned, I clearly remember one such contest but I'm not sure it was Masquerade or the golden horse book or some other books I couldn't find reference to).
Did Warner know about the golden horse book earlier?

My guess (and it's just that - a total guess) is that the idea for Swordquest did have something to do with one of the buried item book/contests, though I'm not sure which one. I don't know if Atari ever considered burying the sword, however. If they did so, it may have been early in the concept stage, since from what I've read, the initial rules stated that the finals would involved playing a video game (though, oddly, my initial memory was that there was a buried sword involved). And I don't think that the cancelling of the series had much do to with worries about a lawsuit (at least not about digging up private property - though they may have been worried about being sued for something else). It seems to me that the standard explanation (i.e. that they were cancelled for financial reasons) is the most likely. OTOH, I do wonder where Thomas got the info..

A quick aside that has nothing to do with Swordquest or buried treasure contests. A similar idea appeared in 1983 when William Morrow published a book called "Who Killed the Robins Family" in which players tried to solve a murder mystery to win a $10,000 prize. In 1984, Warner Books published the paperback addition. This one I definitely remember (it also sold a million copies).

History of Softape - Part 2

December 27, 2014, 8:14 pm

≫ Next: Annotated Atari Depositions, Part 1

≪ Previous: Swordquest Origins

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Two posts back, I gave a brief account of the history of the early Apple II software publisher Softape. Today, I will take a closer look at three of its most prolific game programmers.

Gary Shannon

NOTE – I already talked about Gary Shannon in my history of Programma International. The information below is a copy-and-paste of that material.

Gary Shannon's Dragon Maze

In 1963, Gary Shannon was fresh out of high school when a neighbor who worked for IBM taught him the rudiments of computer programming for a job he wanted Gary to work on. To further hone his skills, Shannon went to a commercial programming school in Los Angeles and also did contract work installing IBM 370s as well as business programming for Hughes Aircraft and Capitol Records. In the 1970s, he took a job with Cal State University, Northridge, where he soon discovered another passion.

[Gary Shannon] They had a policy where you could take classes during the work day as long as you got your 8 hours in so I started to work on a Masters in Computer Science. I didn't finish it, though. What they were teaching didn't have much to do with the real world of programming, so I dropped out of the program. Also, that was about the time that the Apple II first hit the market and I got totally addicted to game programming.

As his interest in the Apple II grew, Gary took a job at Rainbow Computing in Los Angeles. Founded in 1976 by Gene Sprouse and Glen Dollar, Rainbow Computing was one of the earliest Apple retailers (they also sold computer books and magazines, software, and other computers like the Jupiter III). Among the customers who frequented the store were Ken Williams (who founded Sierra On-Line in 1979), Sherwin Steffin (who founded Edu-Ware in 1979) and Dave Gordon (a friend of Shannon’s). Shannon soon began producing games for Programma, including Dragon Maze, Jupiter Express (an outer space shooter), Nightmare Number Nine, and Othello. Shannon's Nightmare #6 had been distributed by Apple in 1978. Shannon also produced games for Softape,including Advanced Dragon Maze (one of the games on Softape’s very first program – Module 1), Monster Maze, Jupiter Express(in which the player piloted a ship through the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter), and Othello. He also produced Forté– a language for inputting music data.

Steve A. Baker

Another prolific Softape game programmer was Steve A Baker, who produced over a dozen titles for the company. Baker was studying to be a cosmetologist, and was actually close to graduating, when a friend showed him an HP-25 calculator. The two of them entered a Lunar Lander program and played it for hours. Interested, Baker found a gravity simulator program in an issue of Popular Electronics in which the player launched a spacecraft that was then controlled by gravity. After modifying the program to include a moon that the player could orbit, Baker was hooked and decided to launch a new a career as a computer programmer.

            He soon landed a job at a surplus electronics store that also carried a number of early hobbyist computers like the Imsai and the KIM-1 and began reading everything he could get his hands on from the store’s extensive library of computer books and magazines (a task made easier when the store gave its employees one copy of every magazine it had as a Christmas gift).

 

            When the Apple released the Apple II, Baker built his own system using an Apple II motherboard and parts he cobbled together from the store’s inventory and began programming games in Apple’s Integer Basic. Unable to afford the expensive 16K RAM chips, Baker initially had to make do with 4K chips, which limited him to lo-res graphics. His first game, Gunslinger, was a lo-res gunfight between a cowboy and R2D2. At a computer club meeting, a friend introduced him to the owner of Softape, who hired him as a programmer for $800 a month and published a number of his games, starting with Gunslinger and Fighter Pilot (on the same double-sided cassette) Fighter Pilot was a lo-res first-person space combat game that also included synthesized speech (produced via Apple Talker). According to Baker, the game originally included a number of elements borrowed from Battlestar Gallactica (such as the character Starbuck), but they were removed after the show’s lawyer’s complained. Before long, Bill Graves (who’d written Softape’s Forth ][ assembler) introduced Baker to assembly language and hi-res graphics and he began creating more sophisticated games, like Star Mines and Nightcrawler. The latter was a computer version of Atari’s Centipede with the addition of a number of elements like a black hole that would warp the player to a lower pit on the screen. The game was later released as Photar with many of the Centipede-like elements removed. Baker’s bestselling was probably Microgammon, an ASCII-graphics version of backgammon (a game baker had learned while working for Mattel in the Intellivision). Other Softape titles by Baker included Go-Moku, Journey, and Burn-Out

 

            After leaving Softape, Baker worked on a number of games for other systems, including Defender and Stargate ports for the Atari 800 and Apple II, the Atari 2600 ports of Epyx’s Summer Games, Winter Games, and California Games, and Pilgrim Quest and Sporting News Baseball for the Apple II.

Bob Bishop

 

Softape's most prolific and well-known programmer was probably Bob Bishop. Born in Milwaukee, Bishop attended the University of Wisconsin at Madison, where he majored in physics. Bishop initially had little interest in computers until one fall when he signed up for a Fortran programming class and got a copy of Daniel McCracken's seminal A Guide to Fortran Programming. First released in 1961, the work (and its successors) became the standard Fortran textbook in colleges across the country. About three days later, Bishop wrote his first program to solve a problem he'd first begun to work on in his high school days involving calculating the area of a square based on a point a given distance from three of its corners. While waiting for the results of this program (this was in the days when programs had to be submitted to an operator on punch cards), he wrote another to generate prime numbers. Unlike his first program, this one worked the first time it ran (eventually the physics department obtained a CDC 3600 that cut the turnaround time to about two hours).

 

 

            With his new interest in programing, Bishop went to grad school at UCLA where a campus computer club allowed students two minutes a day on the school's mainframe. After earning his MS, Bishop worked at Xerox for a few years, then moved on to NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab where he worked on the Apollo 17 project, the HEAO (High Energy Astronomical Observatory), and the IRAS (Infrared Astronomical Satellite) as head of the 20 programmers in the science ground data handling group. Eventually, the group got an IBM 7044, which Bishop was able to use for his own projects (he later called it his first "personal" computer). Before long, real personal computers began to appear. In 1975, Bishop began seeing ads for MITS' Altair 8800, IMS Technologies' IMSAI, and - the one that really excited him - the Sphere. Despite his persistent calls, however, he was never able to get his hands on a Sphere (neither were many other hobbyists). Then, in 1976 he saw an ad for the Apple I and was so eager to get one that he drove to the address on the ad. Expecting to find a large, fully functional company, he was surprised when he was given Steve Jobs' personal phone number. He eventually made his way to Jobs' house, where Jobs' mother invited him inside to wait. When Steve showed up a few minutes later wearing a scraggly beard and sandals, he took Bishop to his garage and tried to demo the Apple I but couldn't get it to work. Eventually, he got the machine working well enough to convince Bishop he had to have one (which likely wasn't too hard). In November (1976), a fellow employee named Gordon Culp, who was staring a computer retailing company of his own, sold Bishop an assembled Apple I for about $1,000 and he created his first game to reach the public - a Star Trek program written in BASIC that was published in the May, 1977 issue of Interface Age. In early 1977, Apple began advertising the Apple II and once again, Bishop knew he had to have one. Unfortunately he couldn't afford the $1678 price. He made another trip to Apple where he met with Steve Wozniak and Mike Markkula and explained the situation. They took him into a back room and offered to sell him one for a "few hundred dollars" if he gave back his Apple I. Bishop readily agreed and went home to wait for his new machine, which was scheduled to arrive on July 3 (less than a month after its official release on June 10th). Much to Bishop's chagrin, the machine didn't arrive on the 3rd and he spent what he called "the lousiest fourth of July of my life" waiting for the next mail day. At ten the next morning, he finally got his machine (serial number 0013) and turned it on, only to find that nothing happened. He eventually figured out he had to press the reset button and before long began experimenting with the machine's new hi-res graphics capabilities. By the next morning, he'd written a game called Rocket Pilot, which was published in the January, 1978 issue of Kilobaud. He followed with three more games: Saucer Invasion, Space Maze, and Star Wars  (Bishop claims they were the first four hi-res games written for the Apple II).In April of 1978, he wrote Apple Vision, a hi-res graphics demo program in which a dancer appeared on a tiny television, gyrating to the tune of "Turkey in the Straw". While it was crude by latter standards, it was a revolution at the time (it took Bishop two weeks to write) and Apple even included it on the disks that shipped with the Apple II, giving many users their first glimpse of hi-res graphics.      

 

 

 

            While Bishop's initial games were all published as program listings in magazines of the time, he also offered them for sale on cassette via Computer Playground, a computer store in Westminster, CA where Bishop was teaching programming classes. One night while lying in bed, Bishop began to think about how the Apple read data from cassette via its cassette-in port (this was before a floppy drive was available) then converted it to 1-bit digital format  and stored it in memory (to output data, it did the same thing in reverse, via the cassette-out port). What if, Bishop thought, he connected a microphone to the cassette-in port and used to record his own voice data? In just half an hour, Bishop wrote a program called Apple-Talker, the first speech synthesis program for the Apple II and followed with Apple Listener, the first speech recognition program. The next day, Bishop demoed the program for his students. When no one said anything, Bishop figured that had been unimpressed. In truth, they had been stunned into silence and soon asked him to do it again.

 

            At some point, Bishop began to work for Softape, who released all of these programs on cassette along with a number of others, including another game called Bomber, a music/graphics program called Music Kaleidoscope, and a database called The Electronic Index Card File (originally created to catalog Bishop's collection of Donald Duck comics). After his career at Softape, Bishop created a number of other games for DataSoft (most notably Dung Beetles and Money Munchers), and later worked for Apple (a job he says Apple offered him mainly to keep him from taking a job at Atari) and Disney Studios and on the game show Tic Tac Dough(which used nine Apple II's for its prize board).

 

 

Annotated Atari Depositions, Part 1

January 1, 2015, 8:26 pm

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Today I thought I’d try something different and see if goes over well. In the past several months, I’ve come into possession of a number of legal documents from various video game lawsuits of the 1970s. I thought I’d post some of the info to see if there’s any interest. These documents came from two primary sources:

1)    Some were sent to me by William Ford, who obtained them from NARA. (I think I mentioned it earlier, but Ford is the author of the excellent article on the Allied Leisure v Midway lawsuit found here

2)    Ralph Baer. Baer had a huge amount of materials from the Magnavox lawsuits. Some of it (from the 1985 Activision suit) has already been posted online. Other material, he sent to Marty Goldberg and Curt Vendel for archiving. Marty was kind enough to share some with me.

Speaking of the Ralph Baer materials, Marty and Curt are currently working on scanning the material they have and putting in a Ralph Baer repository, which I think will be made available online. This is awesome news and a great way to honor Ralph’s memory. (he wanted his materials to be made available to researchers) In case you didn’t know, Ralph was an absolute packrat. He kept everything. And from what I’ve seen, there’s all kinds of stuff in here. Depositions from Willy Higinbothom, Bill Nutting, Alan Kotok, Steve Russell, Nolan Bushnell. Internal company documents (including documentation on unreleased games, contracts, financial statements. Old magazine articles. References to little known corners of video game history. This stuff promises to be a treasure trove for video game historians or just plain video game history fans.

The stuff I have is voluminous, however, running to over a thousand pages. I, of course, have read it all. So I thought I’d save people the trouble of doing likewise and post some of the stuff I found most interesting (though I only have a tiny percentage of the total).

I’d thought I’d start with transcripts of some of Nolan Bushnell’ depositions in the Magnavox trials.

First, however, here are a couple of documents you might find interesting.

First up is the 1972 Royalty Agreement between Nolan Bushnell and Bally.

 

 

  

 

 
 
 
 
 
This is the contract Syzygy had with Bally when they incorporated as Atari.
Note that this is actually between Nolan and Bally, not Syzygy and Bally.
Note also that it is only for two games (not three as some have reported). The pinball game was a three-level game with the levels based on heaven, earth, and hell (at least according to Nolan, who said it was called Transition - though another document refers to it as Fireball. This was  the same as Bally's popular Fireball pin, which came out earlier).
Contrary to popular belief, after Bally turned down Pong, it did not cancel the contract. Nor did Bally license Pong to them in fulfillment of the contract (they did license Pong, but not to fulfill the contract).
 
The contract was actually fulfilled by Space Race, which Midway released as Asteroid. They also claimed that Atari was in breach of contract for having released Space Race on its own. IIRC the solution was that Atari agreed to forego the 3% royalty on Asteroid to make up for it.
 
Next time, I'll post the Pong licensing agreement, but for now, I thought I'd start posting some of the depositions I mentioned.
 
The first is from January 13 and 14, 1976. This is only about an eighth of it. If I decide to continue, it will take me a while to get through it. And if my OCR doesn't get a good portion of the text, I may end up dropping the whole thing (unless I get a lot of positive feedback).
 
I will add some notes at various points (marked "[NOTE - blah blah blah]").
 
For those who don't know, in April of 1974, Magnavox (manufacturer of the Odyssey) filed the first of its many lawsuits to protect the Sanders Associates/Ralph Baer patents on the Brown Box/Odyssey.
They started by bringing suit against Seeburg and Chicago coin, but eventually extended the suit to include Atari, Sears, Bally, and many more companies.


On to the deposition:
This part concerns Nolan's work history in college. Some will probably find it boring, but I found it kind of interesting. Part two will probably be of more interest.

Deposition of Nolan K. Bushnell

 

Tuesday, January 13, 1976

Wednesday, January 14, 1976

Be it remembered that pursuant to notice of taking…..yadda yadda yadda…at the hour of 10:20 AM….personally appeared Nolan K. Bushnell, called as a witness, who….

Mr. Williams: This is the deposition of Nolan K. Bushnell and Atari, Inc., and is being taken pursuant to Notice in three civil actions all pending in the Northern District of Illinois.

The first action is…

Mr. Williams: Would you state your full name, please, Mr. Bushnell.

A. Nolan K. Bushnell.

Q. Are you the same Nolan K. Bushnell whose deposition has previously been taken in the civil actions just referred to, Magnavox versus Bally?

A. Those two, yes.

Q. What is your present residence?

A. 15289 Top of the Hill Road, Los Gatos, California, 95030.

 

[NOTE - not sure if this was in the ritzy section of town or not, but I think this is what the place looks like today:

 

 

Q. Are you presently employed?

A. Yes, I am.

Q. By whom are you presently employed?

A. Atari, Incorporated in Los Gatos.

Q. What is your position with Atari, Inc.?

A. Chairman of the board.

Q. Did you hold any other positions with Atari incorporated?

Q.  Do you hold any other positions with Atari, Inc?

A.  No, I do not.
 
Q.  What are your present duties as chairman of the board?

A.  Primary direction of the company, strategies, plans, future developments.

Q.  How long have you had these duties with Atari?

A.  Approximately 2 1/2 years.

Q.  What were your duties with Atari prior to that time?

A.  I was president of Atari.

Q.  How did your duties when you were president differ from your present duties?

A.  I was more involved in day-to-day operations. 

Q.  How long were you the president of Atari?

A.  Since its founding in February or March 1972.

Q.  And you were president from that time until you became chairman of the board?

A.  That's correct.

Q.  Have you held any positions with Atari other than president or chairman of the board?

A.  No.

Q.  Would you briefly outline your education for us since high school?  I gather you graduated high school?

A.  Yes.

Q.  What has been your education since that time?

A.  I went to Utah State University in engineering, later in business.  I transferred to the University of Utah at which I pursued a degree in economics and later graduated in engineering.  Bachelor of Science degree in Engineering.

Q.  For how many years were you at Utah State University?

A.  Approximately three.

Q.  Three calendar years or three academic years?

A.  Three academic years.

Q.  When did you commence your studies at Utah State University?

A.  If had to be 1961.

Q.  So you were there from 1961 through 1964?

A.  I believe that's true.

Q.  When did you begin your studies at the University of Utah?

A.  I actually started, I took a summer class at the University of Utah in 62 or 63, but then I later lived closer to the university than I did to Utah State and then I transferred full time to--

Q.  What that in September of 1964?

A.  No.  I believe I transferred mid-year.  I believe I transferred the winter quarter.

Q.  Of what year?

A.  I don't remember.

Q.  Do you think it was approximately 1964 or 1965?

A.  I think that's close enough.

Mr. Herbert: I might say that among the things that you have requested we are proposing to obtain some materials which would more exactly set the dates that Mr. Bushnell was at Utah State and the University of Utah and we do not have those items but we will be getting them.

Mr. Williams: is that primarily in transcript you were referring to?

Mr. Herbert: the transcript.

Mr. Williams: Q. When did you graduate to the University of Utah?  When did you get your degree?

A.  I graduated in the class of ‘69, but I graduated mid-year and it was December of ‘68, I believe.

Q.  While you were in college were you a fulltime student, or were you employed part time.

A.  I was employed all the time.

Q.  Can you give us an outline of the jobs you held while you were in college?

A.  Sure.  I went to work for Litton Guidance Systems.  I worked during school year for Hadley, limited which is a clothing store.  I worked for one of the industrial engineering departments for a while.  I don't remember exactly who the professor was.  Then I worked for my own company which was an advertising company for several summers, and I worked for Lagoon Corporation as manager of the games department.  Initially I started working at Lagoon as just someone--you know, as one of the employees and was made manager three seasons later or two seasons later.
 

[Note - Nolan's advertising company was called the Campus Company. Three times a year, he made blotters for four different universities with a calendar of events in the center and advertising around the outside. He gave the blotters away and sold the advertising, supposedly making about $3,000 for each one (they cost about $500 to produce). Or so says Nolan.]


Q.  Did you hold any other jobs while you were in college?

A.  Oh, I sold Encyclopedia Americana for a while.  I operated some coin machines at Lagoon in Salt Lake City.  That's about it of any substance.

Q.  Do you recall the approximate period of time which you worked for Litton Guidance Systems?

[NOTE  - Litton Guidance and Control Systems was a division of Litton Industries. It made guidance systems for military aircraft. They had a huge facility in Salt Lake City (I think they still do). They are now known as Northrop Grumman Navigation Systems Division.

On a side note, the military actually had a strong presence in the area of Clearfield, Utah (Nolan’s hometown) at the time Nolan was born. Hill Air Field (later Hill Air Force Base) opened in 1940 and became an important supply depot during World War II. As did the Clearfield Naval Supply Depot, which opened in 1943. It might seem odd to have a military supply depot in the middle of Utah but they picked it for its dry climate, large local population, and security from enemy attack.] 

The Clearfield business district in 1941 (Two years before Nolan's birth

 

A.  I think it was ‘61 or--I think it was the summer of ‘62.

Q.  Just during the summer of ‘62?

A.  Yes.

Q.  And you said you worked for one of the industrial engineering departments?  Do you recall what period that was?

A.  I think it was the fall quarter of ‘62 or ‘63.  It was for one of the professors.

Q.  What were your duties in this job?

A.  Draftsman.  Some design.

Q.  Design of what?

A.  Irrigation systems.

Q.  Agricultural irrigation systems?

A.  Yes.

Q.  When did you commence your employment with Lagoon Corporation?

[NOTE - Lagoon Amusement Park is located in Farmington and looks like it was a pretty cool place. It as built by future Utah governor Simon Bamberger in 1886 to draw customers to a railroad he was building between Salt Lake City and Ogden. It's still in existence. They almost tore it down after World War II, but didn't (if they had, video game history might be different). The Beach Boys even mentioned in in their song Salt Lake City.

One might wonder why the Beach Boys would mention a local amusement park in a song but I think a better question is why anyone is there a song about Salt Lake City.

Note too that there is no mention of Nolan's going to work for Lagoon because he lost his tuition money in a poker game. He's told that story on more than one occasion. In other accounts, however, he claims that he went to work there because he had his day job selling calendars and thought that the easiest way to keep from spending money was to get a night job.

 

 

These accounts aren't mutually exclusive but I've always found the poker story a bit too-good-to-be-true. Plus, as you can see, Nolan was no stranger to work, so I think he has plenty of money.]

 

Yes, that's Janis Joplin riding the Flying Jets at Lagoon Amusement Park. You think maybe Nolan...Nah!

 

 

Holey Moley, that's Jimi Hendrix playing Lagoon Amusement Park in 1969. Maybe I should take back my earlier comment. Photos from http://brianrecord.com/2.html

A.  I started in the summer of ‘63.

Q.  How long were you with Lagoon?

A.  I was with Lagoon for five years.

Q.  What your employment with Lagoon continuous over that five-year period or were there breaks in it?

A.  It was hot and heavy, of course, during the summer months.  It fit very well with an academic career because there were always plans that were made and things that were being done all year long and it was a situation where we could put in as many hours as we wanted a two as long as it was job-related--you know, that there was work to do and generally it was pretty much part-time work during the winter months.

Q.  But there was not a period during that five-year when you weren't employed by Lagoon either on a fulltime or a part-time basis?

A.  It was kind of a thing where I always knew the people and any time I wanted to work I could.  It was hard to say, you know, when I was not employed and when I was with the relationship we had.

Q.  Where you paid on an hourly basis or a salary basis?

A.  Hourly.  After I was manager it was essentially a salary because it was fixed, you know, a fixed amount and you made the big thing on the profit-sharing basis.  We had Christmas bonuses that generally would finance the fall and winter quarter.

Q.  You initially when you were with lagoon that you were initially just an employee.  What were your first duties when you first went to work for lagoon?

A.  My first duties were I was the Spill-the-Milk operator.  That's a game in which a patron comes to knock over milk bottles with baseballs.  You stand out and say, "Step right up and come and play the game and win a stuffed animal."

Q.  And this was an amusement center of some type operated by lagoon?

A.  Well, Lagoon Corporation is an amusement park outside of Salt Lake City.

Q.  After you were the Spill-the-Milk operator, what were your next duties for Lagoon?

A.  Well, after about a half a season I became--you know, they moved us around and I ran and Shooting Waters and Guess Your Weight, Bowling and Tip 'Em Over and Flukie-Ball.

[NOTE - Flukey Ball was the one where you tried to land a ball in a basket with a sloping board over it. I don't know if it was gaffed or not.

Q.  Did you have any connection with coin-operated amusement machines during that period of your employment?

A.  Yes, I did.  Bowling was a game that we had which I was an operator on for months and it involved maintenance of the machines as well as selling.

Q.  As well as selling what?

A.  Well, getting people to play the games.

Q.  But bowling was a coin-operated games?

A.  Yes, it was.  Skee-Ball was also a coin-operated game which I operated.

Q.  How many employees did Lagoon Corporation have when you first went to work with them?

A. During the peak of the season, during the summer months - - and there were actually three corporations, but they were all owned and run by the same one. So when I talk about Lagoon Corporation it’s actually Amusement Services that was the corporation that I worked for, but it was all considered to be Lagoon even though I don’t know why they had been separated that way.

Q. What were the other corporations?

A. The Fun House Corporation. I think that as the same of it, something like that. I think they split that out because the Fun House is an extremely high-liability thing. People are always breaking arms and legs and things like that. So I think from a liability standpoint they had it separated out.

Q. What as the third corporation.

 A. Lagoon Corporation. Amusement Services ran the food operations and the games. Lagoon Corporation owned all the heavy capital equipment, rides, everything with the exception of the roller coaster. I think the roller coaster as a separate corporation also and, again, I think it was from the liability standpoint.

 Q. Did Lagoon Corporation have any arcades with coin-operated pinball machines and things such as that?

 A. Yes, they did.

 Q. Were the arcade located in the—

 A. Well, that was Amusement Services again that had the arcades, not Lagoon Corporation, if we’re going to divide those.

 Q. Were the arcades located in the park?

 A.  Yes, they were.

Q.  When you were made manager, were you still employed by Amusement Services or were you employed by Lagoon?

A.  It was all Amusement Services.

Q.  When you were made a manager for Amusement Services what were your duties?

A.  It was too essentially operate a complete games department.  I had P and L responsibility, hiring, firing, maintenance responsibility, planning responsibility.

Q.  What types of games were included in the games department?

A.  Coin-operated games, ball-throwing games, penny-pitchers, shooting games, arcade, quick-draw games, guess-your-weight games, basketball-throwing game, High Strikers, Skee -Ball, photo studio, coin-operated photo machines, water pistol games.  Let's see, what are some of the others?  Rolldown, fun balls, darts, Bingoring which is a coin-operated game, Bang.  That's about it.

[NOTE I believe "Bingoring" is actually "Bingorino", a "rolldown" game made by Scientific Machine Company as a followup to their popular "Pokerino" (in which you made poker hands). I think the Broadway Arcade in New York had a row of these machines.

I didn't find a picture of Bingorino, but here's Pokerino]

  

Q. You said Bingoring as a coin-operated game

A. Yes.

Q. Could you describe the game Bingoring?

A. Well, it has a series of holes which you roll a ball down and attempt to get a bingo. Each of the holes are numbered and it lights a light on the back. You get certain patterns, you win points which can be traded for prizes. Oh, baseball was another one.

Q. You mentioned that tone of the areas was an arcade. Would you briefly describe what the arcade was or what it contained?

A. Well, it was a traditional penny arcade which had various things that you can do. The direct responsibility for the arcade was a fellow called Steve Hyde. It contained photocard machine, pinball machines, peep shows -- not the X-rated kind, but, you know, look and see the San Francisco Earthquake and that kind of stuff. There were a few that the little boys thought were really racy at that time, but it's nothing in comparison to what we have now. It also vended fish food to feed to the carp in the lake. Skiing machines, baseball machine. Hockey machines. Driving machines. Just the regular tuff you see in any amusement park arcade.

Q. You said Steve Hyde had responsibility for the penny arcade?

A. Yes.

Q. Did Mr. Hyde report to you or did you report to Mr. Hyde?

A. We reported on an equal level to Mr. Freed.

Q. F-r-e-e-d?

A. Yes. We shared P and L responsibility and maintenance responsibility of the equipment.

Q. As manager was it your responsibility to select the games that were run by Amusement Services Corporation?

A. Only those which were out on the midway. Mr. Hyde and I would discuss the things, but it was ultimately Mr. Freed's decision as to capital equipment purchase. We would both make recommendations.

Q. How many employee did you have reporting to you while you were manger?

A. 60 to 100.

Q. What was Mr. Freed's position?

A. He was president of Amusement Services. He might have been general manager, I'm not sure. He was the man, though. He was the boss. I'm not sure exactly what his title was.

Q. Did you find that when you and Mr. Hyde made recommendations concerning the games to be purchased by Mr. Freed that he often accepted your advice?

 

A. Yes, he did.

Q. How long did you remain a manager of the Amusement Services Corporation?

A. I was manager for three years.

Q. During that entire period did your duties were as you just outlined them for us?

A. Yes.

Q. At the end of this period did you then leave Amusement Services Corporation?

A. Yes, I did.

Q. What was your next employment after that?

A. Ampex Corporation.

Q. I think you stated that for a period while you were in college you were employed by Barlow Furniture during TV and appliance repair and delivery?

[Note Barlow Furniture was actually owned by the husband of Nolan's second cousin. http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/saltlaketribune/obituary.aspx?pid=147132265]

 

A. That’s correct.

Q. Could you outline the nature of your duties concerning television repair?

A. I was really good at switching tubes around. I didn’t have the capital equipment to do some of the heavy repairing. That was left up to some of the other people.

 

Q. You say you didn’t have the capital equipment?

 

A. Yes.

Q. Were you working as a contractor for Barlow essentially or –

A. No. I was just employed on a salary. Hourly, actually.

Q. But were you using your own equipment, your own television repair equipment?

A. Yes, I had my own pliers.

Q. Prior to the time that you worked for Barlow did you have any background in television service or—

A. Well, I played around with ham radio. I had a ham license in 1955, I guess. I was one of the youngest ham radio operators in Utah. That was when I was about ten or eleven, I guess. I just always fooled around. I fixed my own TV’s and then pretty soon I started fixing the neighbors’ TV’s and, you know, it just kind of mushroomed. I worked for Barlow, incidentally, all during high school. It was just kind of one of those evolutionary things.

[NOTE that Ted Dabney disputes this claim (Nolan fixing TVs when he was ten), as detailed here.

At the risk of sounding like an old fogey (I’ll try to forego the “Let me tell you sonny” and “by cracky"s, If you are of my age, you probably remember when changing tubes on a TV was easy. They used to have little stations at the front of every grocery store and supermarket where you could test them. On top was a kind of breadboard that you plugged your tube into to test it and underneath was a rack of tubes. While a ten-year-old could easily have handled that, apparently that was not the case in the 1950s. Back then (says Ted) changing tubes was much more difficult, not to mention dangerous.

You young ‘uns have probably never seen one of these since now, as George Carlin once said “We are essentially tubeless.”

Whether Dabney's claim is true or not, I can't say (I'll take his word for it). Nor am I convinced that Nolan could not have done some minor TV repair in his youth. Alexander Smith discussed this issue  in a recent blog post

 and I basically share his opinion on this one, though I'm a tad more skeptical.

While I think there may be some truth to Nolan's claim, however, there was a motive for him to exaggerate his abilities (not that I'm saying he did so). Nolan has always said that the spot motion circuit he filed for Pong was all his work while Ted says it was his. Ted says that Nolan didn't have the knowledge of television electronics to create such a circuit. Claiming that he repaired TVs would establish that he had the such knowledge (though he wouldn't have to claim he did it when he was ten).

BTW - if you haven't checked out Alex's blog, do yourself a favor and do so.]

 

 

 

  

Q. While you were working for Barlow all during high school during that entire period you were involved in the fixing of televisions?

A. That’s true. It wasn’t my primary responsibility. I’d say I was a better washerman. We were at RCA at that time.

Q. You were what?

A. RCA at that time.

Q. Barlow was RCA?

 

A. Yes.

Q. You mean they were an RCA dealer?

A. Right. We didn’t like the Magnavox guy down the street.

 

--- (gap?) ---

 

Q. You said while you were in college ??? some coin machines on a route in Salt Lake City?

 

A. That’s correct.

 

Q. When did you start operating coin machines that way?

 

A. It had to be about 1965, I think. Each year in the arcade they’d junk some machines or sell them off to employee for five bucks. I’d repair them and fix them up and put them around in some fraternity houses at school and keep them operating and collect the money and split the revenue with the house manager of the fraternity house.

Q. And over how many years did you do that?

 

A. Three years.

Q. So you did it until approximately the time you left Amusement Services?

A. Yes. I sold my route at the time to one of my fraternity brothers.

 

Q. Any you had control over which game you placed on your route?

 

A. Yes, I did.

Q. Did you have any employees?

A. No, I didn’t.

Q. What type of coin machines did you place in various places on the route?

A. Primarily they were baseball machines. The sports game always seemed to do very well.

Q. Would you describe what you mean by baseball machines?

A. It as a machine which essentially consisted of two buttons as far as player controls. One controlled the pitch and the other one controlled the bat. You pushed the pitch button and it would roll a steel ball down toward the bat which, when you pushed on it, it would hit the ball up into a series of holes along the back. If you hit the center hole you’d get a home run and the little man would run around the playfield. If you hit one to the corners you’d get a single or if you hit another place you’d get an out. The object was to obviously hit the bet holes without hitting the out, and if you got three outs the game would be over. There were several variations on the basic theme. Some of them would have little ramps that if you hit the ramp it would knock it up into the bleachers. Which would be a special home run and it would give you three runs or something like that.

[NOTE – The “Baseball” games Nolan is talking about are called “Pitch-and-Bat” games in the biz. The unit with the baserunners is called a “running man” unit.

Here is an excellent sitewhere you can read more about, as well as other EM games. (I got the picture below from there, which is actually from a football game.]

Q. Is there any other type of machines you place other than baseball machines?

 

A. There was one that was called a Boozarometer which essentially was a stick or a wand that had a ring on it that was captive on a wiggly piece of wire, and you would put in a coin and attempt to not touch the wire while moving this spring around. If you touched it the game would be over and a bell would ring. So the idea was to get it clear across the wire without touching it, which is a difficult task. It supposedly was more difficult when you had been drinking than if you hadn’t been.

[NOTE – I think he meant to say “Booz-Barometer”]

 

<Lines 22-27 missing?>

 

Q. You stated that you graduated with a BS in engineering: is that correct?

A. Correct.

Q. Any particular field of engineering?

A. Electrical engineering. Essentially it was a computer-oriented electrical engineering degree that I had.

 

Q. What do you mean by computer-oriented?

 

A. Logic design, systems design, software.

 

Q. You mean that you took courses in logic design and systems design itself?

 

A. Yes. You had many electives internal to the engineering department that you could major in like power distribution, you could major in circuits or you could major in semiconductors, or you could major in computer design, and based on the engineering elective that you took it would pretty much determine, you know, where your interest was and ultimately where your job would be.
 

---

Photo Odds and Ends

January 14, 2015, 9:48 pm

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I thought I'd take a quick break to post some interesting photos I've come across recently.

First up are some more photos from the 1974 All Japan TV Game Championship that I reported on before (http://allincolorforaquarter.blogspot.com/2013/04/early-video-game-tournaments-and-players.html). As I mentioned, it was likely the first national video game tournament and one of the first major coin-op video game tournaments.

(BTW - I have discovered yet another early attempt at an e-sports league from ca 1982. I am going to try to contact that people who started it for more information. I am also still corresponding with Dennis DeNure of the Video Athletes Assn and hope to do a more in depth post on that one soon.)

These are from the November 30, 1974 issue of Marketplace.

Here's tournament winner Osamu Kuroda (a 28-year-old banking employee).

From Video Games magazine, here are articles on two rare games:

A few other rare video and non-video games:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Not a video game, but an odd video game-related product from the 80s.

 



 

 

 

Here's a photo of The Country Store from ca 1985, which was formerly the famous Andy Capp's Tavern (where Pong was play tested and the coin-op video game industry was arguably launched).

I don't know when it stopped being Andy Capp's and so far, I have yet to see an actual photo of Andy Capp's (The San Jose Mercury News might have printed a photo of it, but I don't have access to their archive). I think that today, the site is occupied by Rooster T. Feathers comedy club.

 

 

Finally, from Taito's history blog, here are some photos of a Space Invaders parlor, some bags used to collect quarters from Space Invaders, and a few other Taito products.

Annotated Atari Depositions - Part 2

January 19, 2015, 6:33 pm

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Today we continue with Nolan Bushnell’s deposition from January 13 and 14, 1976. In this part, Nolan discusses his various experiences with computer games at the University of Utah. This (when and if Nolan first saw Spacewar, when he got the idea for a video game, what kind of programming experience he had etc.) is one of the biggest bones of contention in the depositions as well as from a historical standpoint. Before getting into the details, then, it might be helpful to have a few dates in mind:

* Summer 1961 - Steve Russell, Wayne Wiitanen, and J.M. Graetz conceive of Spacewar
* January 1962 - Russell completes "bare bones" version of Spacewar
* May 1962 - Spacewar featured at MIT open house
* September 1962 - Russell completes updated MIT version of Spacewar
* Fall, 1962 - Russell moves to Stanford to join John McCarthy
* 1961 or 1962 (Fall?) - Nolan Bushnell begins studies at Utah State
* 1965 - David Evans accepts offer to come to University of Utah and establish the Computer Science department.
* 1964 or 1965 (Fall?) - Nolan Bushnell transfers to University of Utah
* 1966 - Ralph Baer begins working on what later becomes the "brown box"/Odyssey
* November, 1966 - Univac 1108 arrives at University of Utah computer lab
* 1968 - Ivan Sutherland comes to University of Utah to join David Evans in the Computer Science department
* March 18, 1968 - Ralph Baer files for patent on "Recording crt light gun and method"
* 1969 - Nolan Bushnell encounters Space war at the Stanford Artificial Intelligence Lab (SAIL)
* May 27, 1969 - William Rusch files for patent on "Television Gaming Apparatus"
* August 21, 1969 - Rusch, Baer, and William Harrison file for patent on "Television Gaming Apparatus"
* October, 1969 – Nolan Bushnell, Ted Dabney, and Larry Bryan meet and decide to form Syzygy
* March 22, 1971 - Baer files for a patent on "Television gaming and training apparatus" (the "480" patent)
* August 10, 1971 - Baer's light gun patent granted
* November, 1971 - First Computer Space sales begin.
* June 27, 1972 - Atari is officially incorporated
* August, 1972 - Magnavox Odyssey released in North America
* ca mid-August, 1972 - First Pong prototype is placed on location at Andy Capp's for field testing.
* November, 1972 - Pong is "released"
* November 24, 1972 - Nolan Bushnell filed for patent on "Video image positioning control system for amusement device"
* February 19, 1974 - Bushnell's patent granted
* April, 1974 - Magnavox files its first patent infringement

Anyway, on to the depositions

MR.WILLIAMS. Q. Were you personally involved in any activities prior to December 31, 1969 relating to apparatus for playing of games which utilized cathode ray tube displays?

A. Yes, I was.

Q. What was the first such activity of any kind that you can recall?

A. I recall playing a game on a computer at the University of Utah.

Q. And that was the first activity of that nature that you can recall that you were involved in?

A, Yes on a cathode-ray tube.

Q. When did that occur?

A. I have been trying to pinpoint that. I think it was in the neighborhood of 1965. It was shortly after I came to the University of Utah.

[NOTE - The first question that may come up here is why the court spends so much time on this issue. You might think that it was just the court going over minutiae in mind-numbing detail, as they did with Nolan's employment history, but here the issue is likely more substantial.

At issue is exactly when Nolan got the idea for a video game and, more importantly, if he did so before Ralph Baer.

From a legal standpoint, I’m not entirely sure of the details of exactly what Atari’s claim was (if any). Were they trying to show that Baer’s patents were invalid due to Nolan’s “prior art”? Were they trying to show that Bushnell hadn’t violated Baer’s patents because he got the idea first?

We'll continue to discuss this as we go along, but I thought I'd mention a few things here.

First, the defendants in the various Magnavox lawsuits made numerous attempts to declare Magnavox’s patents invalid. The most common ways to invalidate a patent are to show that it was not original due to “prior art” (i.e. someone else did it first), to show that it was “obvious” (one requirement for a patent was that it had to be for something that is non-obvious), or to show that the patent application was improper. In the Magnavox cases, the defendants tried all three and more.  A number of proposed examples or prior art were brought forward, including Spacewar. We’ll get into specifics later on.

Of course, if Atari was trying to show that Baer’s patents were invalid or that Nolan didn’t infringe on them, they’d have to do a lot more than show that Nolan had merely played Spacewar at University of Utah. At a minimum, it seem he would have actually had to have had a patentable idea. He would not necessarily had to have built anything. Technically, to get a patent, you only have to describe something thoroughly enough that it could be built (though I should say that I am no legal expert). So if this is Atari’s strategy, this is only part of it.

Having said that, however, there are a couple of questions/issues.
First is that the 1965 date has been seriously called into question. Curt Vendel and Marty Goldberg made an extensive effort to vet the claim (along with various others) and the results (which you can read about here) don’t bode well for the 1965 date.

We will discuss further later, but the first question is: is the 1965 date important? Or, to put it another way, if Nolan was being less than forthcoming (and I’m not saying he was), why would he make up a date of 1965 instead of 1966 or 1967 or even 1969 (when no one doubts that he saw the game).

At first it might seem like this was an attempt to establish that Nolan started working on his game before Baer started work on the Brown Box in 1966.

I do not think this is the case, however, for a number of reasons.

First, as mentioned above, merely establishing that Nolan had played the game would be of almost no use from a legal standpoint.
Second, I doubt if Nolan could have known about the 1966 date at this point. AFAIK, it was never mentioned in any of the patent applications.

Another question is why the emphasis on Spacewar? If Nolan was going to make something up, couldn’t he have just claimed he saw some other game? (of course, if he really did play the game in 1965, it's a moot point).

One important thing about Spacewar is that it directly inspired Nolan to create Computer Space, but Magnavox’s lawsuit was surely over Pong, not Computer Space.

As we will discuss later, in regards to Baer’s patents, not just any old game will do. It had to have some specific features, as we shall see.

For the moment, let’s move on.]

Q. By shortly after you came to the University of Utah, how long a period do you mean by shortly?

A. I really don’t recollect. It was one of those things that I just didn’t think that much about it at the time. The University of Utah has a strong computer center, a graphics laboratory. The games that were programmed there and pretty much a common knowledge. I had a friend in the engineering department that I used to play chess with that said, “There’s some great games over at the computer center.” and we went over one night and played.

[Note - this is somewhat significant as it shows that Nolan was talking about the computer center at Utah’s graphics lab (as opposed to another lab on campus).

One issue here is that the University of Utah had just established its Computer Science department in 1965 and David Evans (who founded and ran the graphics lab) had just arrived that year. I’m not sure how much of a lab they could have had by the fall of 1965 and I don’t think the graphics program had really gotten started yet (I don’t think it really kicked into high gear until Ivan Sutherland arrived in 1968)]

Q. What as the friend’s name?

A. His name was Jim Davies, I think.

Q.  And you knew him through your work at the University of Utah?

A.  No.  I knew him through the chess club.

Q.  Do you know where Mr. Davies is located today?

A.  I have no idea.  I'm not really sure that Davies was his last name.  In fact, just a second.  I'm not sure that Jim Davies wasn't another guy. It's Jim something, and it started with a D, but I'm not sure.

Q. Do you recall when you last saw this individual that took you to the computer center?

A. It was during the academic year. He was a senior, I believe, at that time or a graduate student and I really don't know which. You know, a casual acquaintance. We used to have coffee together and talk about politics and philosophy and that sort of thing after chess and I think that he graduated and left the school year at that time.

Q. Could you describe the game which you saw on a computer at the University of Utah, this first game that you saw?

A. Yes, it was called Space War [sic].

[NOTE – Yes, I know that it’s spelled Spacewar or Spacewar! But I’m using the spelling used in the depositions.]

Q. Could you describe how Space War was played?

A. Gee, don't you know by now? It's a rocket ship game in which you fire missiles at the other rocket ships. In some versions there is a sun and in sun versions there aren't, and I don't remember whether this one had a sun or not. It turns out having a sun with gravity is one of the tougher programming problems.

[NOTE – I love Nolan's smart aleck answer here. As mentioned above, by this time Magnavox’s lawyers had likely discussed the details of Spacewar ad nauseum.]

Q. On this first occasion when you saw this game you just walked into the computer center and the game was being played at that time?

A. No. We went in the graphics lab and the guy said to the fellow that was there, "Can we get some time to play Space War?"  And the guy said, "Sure," and something happened and a few minutes later Space War came up on the screen.

Q. And the game was played on a computer, you say?

A. It was played--

Q. Using a computer?

A. Yes.

Q. What kind of a computer was it being used?

A. I'm not sure. That's one of the things I can't put the time on it. It was either a Univac 1108 or an IBM 7094. The University of Utah changed computers while I was there and I'm not sure which one it was, really.

[NOTE – As discussed in the link above, this appears to be a major problem with Nolan’s claim. The Univac 1108 didn’t arrive until November of 1966. The lab did have an IBM 7044 (not a 7094) but that supposedly didn’t have a graphical display. The university also had a PDP-8 that was used as a graphics buffer for the Univac and it had both a vector and a raster terminal but the vector terminal didn’t arrive until November, 1966 either. Vendel and Goldberg consider it unlikely that a raster port of Spacewar had been created. In addition, they claim that the PDP-8 was almost entirely dedicated to actual research.

On an interesting side note, Sperry Rand/Univac actually had a major factory in Salt Lake City that employed over 2,000 people in the late 1960s. It was initially known as Sperry Utah Division but later renamed UNIVAC Salt Lake City.]

Q. But you believe it was one of those two?

A. Yes. I tend to think it was the Univac 1108.

Q. You said the University had changed computers while you were there. Did they change from a Univac 1108 to an IBM 7094. or vice versa?

A. No. You never change in that direction. It changed to an 1108.

[NOTE – This part is true. The University did indeed replace the 7044 with a Univac 1108.]

Q. I think we are going a little more deeply into your recollection of the game Space War.

A. Okay.

Q. You say there were rocket ships?

A. Right.

Q. How did the rocket ships appear on the screen?

A. In a side view rockets. When you pushed a button a missile issues from the nose, travels across the screen. If you hit the opponent’s rocket ship it explodes and you score a point.

Q. Can the play control the position of the rocket ship?

A.  Yes, they can.

Q.  How does it do that?

A.  This one was a four-button model.  You push bombs to rotate your rocket ship right, counterclockwise or clockwise.  If you pushed one button it would rotate clockwise, and if you pushed the other button it would rotate, clockwise.  Then you had a thrust button which would give acceleration and the direction that the rocket was pointed or deceleration as the case may be.  The other one was the first missile button.

Q.  Where were the buttons located?

A.  They were in a little box it was about this (indicating).  It was hooked somewhere into the bowels of the machine.

Q.  Did each player have a box?

A.  Yes.

Q.  How many players were there?

A.  Two.

Q.  You when a torpedo hit a rocket there was the explosion.  How did the explosion appear on the screen?

A.  I think it says, "Bang," or "Boom," or something.  I've seen several versions of this and I'm a little fuzzy which version the first one I saw was.  But I believe it said Bang, and then the rocket ship disintegrated.  Or turned into a series of dots and the rocket ships would start again from opposite corners of the universe.

[NOTE – This is another interesting claim. The original version of Spacewar didn’t print “Bang” or “Boom” or anything else on the screen. In fact, I’m not sure I’ve ever heard of a version that did (though I haven’t really looked into the issue). Nor does it seem to me that this would have been a trivial addition. It would be interesting to see if any of the Stanford versions of the game had such a feature and, if so, if it was original to them.]

Q.  You say it said "Bang." What said "Bang"?

A.  It printed out "Bang" on the screen.

Q.  Over a relatively small portion of the screen or across the entire screen?

A.  I have seen it both ways.  I believe that this was a small "Bang" in regular, you know, say, quarter-inch high characters.

Q. You said that the rocket ship disintegrated. What do you mean by disintegrated?

 A. I think it just turned into some dots. You know, it’s one of those things.

 Q. Did the dots go off in different direction, or did the dots stay in the same spot that the rocket ship had before it disintegrated?

[NOTE – This may seem like more pointless minutia, but it is actually far from it. This touches on the issue of exactly what the Magnavox patents actually covered. The 507 patent, for example, covered “an apparatus for generating symbols upon the screen to the receiver to be manipulated by at least one participant, comprising a means for generating a hitting symbol and the means for generating a hit symbol, including means for ascertaining coincidencebetween said hitting symbol and hit symbol and means for imparting a distinct motion to said hit symbol upon coincidence" (emphasis mine). In other words, Baer’s (on in this case, Rusch’s) patents covered detecting when two objects on the screen touched one another and when one object (such as a paddle) imparted motion to another (such as a ball) under player control. This goes far beyond just ball-and-paddle games. While this might seem overly broad to modern readers, two things should be borne in mind. First, Baer’s patent was a “pioneer patent” and was thus supposed to be interpreted broadly. Even more important, however, is that, as simple as they might seem today in the age of software, things like “ascertaining coincidence” between objects and “imparting motion” were far from trivial in the late 1960s, when they had to be achieved using hardware to control the signal from a standard TV set.

So plaintiff’s lawyer here appears to be trying to establish whether or not Spacewar involved “ascertaining coincidence” or “imparting a distinct motion”. This issue came up repeatedly (and I mean repeatedly) in the various trials. For the most part (IIRC), it was ruled that Spacewar did not involve these things. Though on at least one occasion the judge ruled that it did (though he still ruled that it did not invalidate Baer’s patents). Similarly, with the issue of vector vs. raster, for the most part, the court held that, as a vector game, Spacewar was not germane to the Baer patents (again, however, on at least one occasion, the judge ruled that the vector/raster distinction was irrelevant). Baer’s patents only covered producing images on a raster display, which uses entirely different than doing do on a vector display.]
  A. I don’t remember.

 

Q. While the rocket ship was disintegrating, did the dots or whatever appear to keep on moving with the same velocity the rocket ship had before?

A. I don’t remember.

Q. What kind of a display was used in connection with the games you saw?

A. I really don’t know. There’s a screen. I think it was a 12 to 14-inch screen.

Q. Was it a rectangular screen or a circular screen?

A. I really don’t remember.  I think the viewing area for this game was rectangular. Now, whether that was housed in a circular tube or a square tube, I don’t remember.

Q. What do you mean by the viewing area?

A. Well, you would fly off the screen up and you would enter the bottom, but you wouldn’t really fly off the screen, you’d just see half of your rocket ship disappear and the other half would come up through the bottom.

Q. Was this operation you described of flying off the top of the screen and coming on the bottom, was that common to all versions of Space War that you saw?

A. Later than that I’ve seen one which, you know, there was essentially a boundary that you had to stay inside of and in some of the versions if you hit the boundary the rocket ship

<2 pages missing>

 Q. When you first aw this Space War game in this first session that you’re talking about, did you play the game yourself?

A. Yes, I did.

Q. Did you play it with another person?
 

A. Yes.

Q. Do you know who that other person was?

 A. It was Jim Davies, but I don’t think that’s right. Jim D.

Q. Did you play with anybody else at that time during this first occasion that you saw the game?

A. Yes. I played with a graduate student who was there.

Q. Do you know his name?

A. No, I don’t. It was his baby, the graduate student’s. He was kind of a custodian, I think, of that particular Space War game.

Q. What do you mean by the term custodian?

A. I don’t know. He just seemed very knowledgeable and—you know like it was not Jim’s. Jim had just played it, saw it, knew the guy. Brought me in.

Q. Do you know if the graduate student was the one who wrote the program?

A. I had a feeling he was, though I don’t believe he ever said so.

Q. did the graduate student have the program in his possession at the time?

 A. I don’t know.

 Q. Do you know what form the program was in at that time?

 A. No, I can’t

 Q. Was it necessary for that particular graduate student to be present before somebody could play Space War at that particular institution?

 A. I don’t know.

 Q. After this first session when you saw Space War shortly after going to the University of Utah that your next activity with relation to the apparatus for playing games using a cathode-ray tube display?

 A.  Well, it was about, Oh, somewhere around a year later and one of my fraternity brothers got involved in the computer center a little bit more introduced me to several of the people and we got talking about the games and I thought would be kind of fun to learn how to program games.

[NOTE - Note that Nolan here says that after encountering Spacewar (if he did so), he didn't have any more involvement with computer games for a year. He makes this point more explicitly later.]

Q.  You say this is approximately a year after you saw Space War game for the first time?  Who

A.  Yes.

Q.  Did you see any Space War games between the first time that you saw it and the time approximately a year later when your fraternity brother got involved in the computer center?

A.  No, I didn't.

Q.  What did you do as a result of your thinking that it would be fun to program games?

A.  Well, I asked for a listing of the current Space War game, I think I wanted to understand how they had done what they had done, you know, and made some modifications.

Q.  Who did you ask for this?

A.  Randall Willey.

Q.  Who was Randall Willey?

A.  He's a fraternity brother.

Mr. Herbert: How do you spell Willey?

The Witness: w-i-l-l-e-y, I think.

Mr. Williams: Q. Do you know where Mr. Willey is located presently?

A.  I think he's in New York or Washington.  He works for the Navy in their computer operations.

Q.  You mean in New York City?

A.  I'm not sure.  I haven't really kept in touch with him.

Q.  When was the last time you saw Mr. Willey?

A.  I think when I left Salt Lake is the last time I saw him.

Q.  What fraternity were you and Mr. Willey in, do you remember?

A.  I was a Pi Kappa Alpha.

Q.  Does the Pi Kappa Alpha have a national headquarters?

A.  Yes.  It's in the south somewhere.  We were supposed to know that as pledges.  I don't remember.  I think it's in Virginia.

Q.  Do you get any kind of directory of the membership in pi Kappa Alpha?

A.  No, I don't.

Q.  Do you have any kind of directory of that fraternity?

A.  No.

Q.  Do you know if one exists?

A.  I think probably they do.  You know, I get letters from them occasionally putting the bite on me for money, which I think is the main function of alumni.

Q.  You said you asked Mr. Willey for a listing of the current Space War games.  The duties of the listing?

A.  He told me where I could get one.  He directed me to a guy and he gave me a listing.

Q.  Who was the guy?

A.  I don't remember.

Q.  In what form was listing when you received it?

A.  It was a printout.

Q.  Was in the English language?

A.  Oh, no.  It was in FORTRAN.

[NOTE - I actually found that kind of funny, but it's probably just me. On a more serious note, this is another possible problem. Goldberg and Vendel were unable to find any evidence of a FORTRAN version of Spacewar at University of Utah or anywhere else in this timeframe. I don't have access to all their evidence, so I can't say that no such version existed or that some anonymous programmer couldn't have ported it, but at present, the claim is uncorroborated.] 

Q.  At the time you received this printout, what prior experience had you had with computers?

A.  I had had a couple of classes.  I think I had had EE-75 and EE-175 at the time which was an electrical engineering programming class.

Q.  By classes do you mean courses covered in that periodical?

A.  Yes.  There were also engineering-related or computer-related problems in some of the other classes.

Q.  Do you recall what the subject matter of EE-75 was?

A.  It was introduction FORTRAN.

Q.  Any particular version of FORTRAN?

A.  I don't remember.

Q.  What was the subject matter of EE-175?

A.  It was an upper--you know, it was continuing course.  I think it's FORTRAN and I think we got into a little bit of Algol.  The listing may have been Algol.  I'm not sure.  If I could pin the time, because I obviously didn't know how to read Algol before then.  But it was a computer language.  I think it was FORTRAN.

Q.  You didn't know how to read Algol before when?

A.  Before EE-175. I think it's EE-176. It's the later-on computer language.

Q. So you think that you received the computer listing after you had completed the EE-175 course?

A. I just don't know.

Q. But you had at least completed the EE-75 course?

A. Oh, yes. You play in that country, you have to know the language.

Q. What did you do with the listing after you received it?

<2 pages missing>

Space War program as we talked about?

A. I personally really didn't do that much. It was a very complex program. It was, quite frankly, a little bit better than--you know, it took a little better capability than I had at the time.

[NOTE that here Nolan is candid about his modest programming abilities at the time.]

Q. This was the Space War program?

A. Yes, Space War, and there were some other--you know, it was primarily the modifications of Space War but there were some other things that--we took out gravity and tried a flying game, you know, in which the thing as more like a jet. That wasn't quite as much fun as Space War.

[NOTE - Okay, now we have something more than just playing the game. Nolan says he actually made some modifications to it. Again, however, I don't think this would have had much bearing on the issue at hand since Spacewar wasn't his game. As mentioned earlier, it was also deemed irrelevant to the Baer patents, but this had probably not been established at this point In any event, if it were deemed relevant, it seems that Nolan's modifications would have had to made it so in order for them to be germane.]

Q. I guess I don't understand what the flying game was all about.

A. Well, in the Space Wars you always had free fall so that you could point in the opposite direction than you were traveling and then if you pushed the thrust button it would slow you and pretty soon you would move back in a different direction.
If you're taking the flying algorithm, then you're moving in a direction wherever you are pointing. But that's a very simple modification to the program.

Q. Did you do anything else to the program during that work?

A. I don't really remember which things we played there and which things I played later than that. I know that I can remember the first things that I did--you know, it was not really any big deal at the time. It was just a lot of fun to do it and it took a certain amount of dedication to get up at 2 in the morning to go in and get some free computer time. So it wasn't one of those things you did a whole lot.

Q. but all of the activities during this quarter were on the Univac or the IBM 7094?

A. Right.

Q. With the same displays we have testified about previously?

A. Right. We did a lot of things with just playing around with the computer in terms of I can remember we did some really interesting designs, just making designs on the screen, you know. You put in a polar coordinate equation and trace it out and you'd make some pretty designs. There was an interesting one that we did in which they had a round ball, they called it a mouse. You could program it so that you could rotate a cube in any direction and try some of those modifications. But there were very--you know, they were more toys really or using it as a very expensive sketch.

Q. It was not a game as such?

A. No. I mean, we did games, but we also just did other things having to do with the computer itself.

Q. Following the quarter which you were testifying about, what was your next activity relating to the--

[NOTE again that Nolan seems to be saying here that after the quarter in question, he didn't have much, if anything, to do with computer games until he saw them at Stanford in 1969. As to what other games he might have programmed at Utah, we'll be going over that in some detail soon.]

A. It would have to be at the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at Stanford after I came to California.

Q. When was that?

A. It probably was in the middle of '69.

Q. What was your first activity relating to the playing of games at the AI lab?

A. Oh, Space War.

Q. It was Space War?

A. Right.

Q. What kind of machine was Space War played on at the AI lab?

A. I think it was a PDP-6 or a PDP-10. That was on an XY display.

Q. While you were at the University of Utah did you record any of the work that you did relating to the playing of games on a

<2 pages missing>

To be continued...

In the meantime, here's another Atari document. In this case, it's the royalty agreement between Midway and Atari.

 

 

Annotated Atari Depositions, Part 3

January 24, 2015, 4:57 pm

≫ Next: Video Game Genealogies - Ralph Baer

≪ Previous: Annotated Atari Depositions - Part 2

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written down the titles of the papers of the people.

Q. I gather you have ordered a copy of the transcript from the University of Utah?

A. Yes.

Q. And have you corresponded with Dr. Atwood to try and get a description of the course?

A. I have been attempting to get ahold of Dr. Atwood, but he is not full-time at the University any more. It's been a little tough getting ahold of him.

Q. Do you have any idea when you expect the transcript to arrive?

A. I think any day now.

Q. As best you can recall at the present when did you take the Senior Thesis course?

[Note – This section concerns a senior thesis Bushnell claims to have written in which he describes an arcade game consisting of a central computer connected to six terminals

Nolan may well have written such a paper, but no copy of it has ever turned up and likely never will so it’s probably impossible to verify the claim.

I see nothing suspicious in the fact that Nolan didn’t keep a copy of the paper (how many of you kept copies of your college papers? I know I didn’t). I’m not sure if anyone ever asked his professor about it either, but I wouldn’t have expected him or her to remember it either. Still, without the paper, or someone to corroborate its existence, the story remains unconfirmed and given the disputes over some of the other facts in question, some are going to be suspicious of the paper’s existence.]

A. I think it was the spring of '67.

Q. Can you describe in a little bit more detail what was included in that paper? You said it as a block diagram. Can you reproduce the block diagram?

A. Sure. These are monitors and then I had controls feeding back to the computer. I mean, it was not a technical exercise. It was more of a written exercise.

Q. Was that the only diagram that was included in the paper?

A. I think so. It wasn't a very long diagram. Or, I mean, it wasn't a very long paper. I think that's the only picture that was there.

Q. Did the paper say anything about what would be contained in the box which you have labeled on the diagram you just drew as "computer"?

A. Computer? It was a general-purpose time-sharing type computer. I will have to admit this is very foggy recollections on some of this.

Q. You have drawn six small boxes connected by lines to two parallel lines and I gather you have meant to indicate that each one of those six small boxes--

A. Was a monitor.

Q. What do you mean by the word monitor?

A. What do I mean now or what did I mean then

Q. What did you mean then?

A. I think I just meant the type of display that I was familiar with at the school.

Q. You mean an XY type display?

A. I don't know what that was.

Q. You mean the type of display used in conjunction with the Univac or the IBM 7094 that you were working with?

A. Yes. Let me take that back. I don't really know what kind--you know, it was just a monitor that you could play games on for an amusement park.

Q. Did the paper include any description of the types of games that might be played don it?

A. Yes, it did.

Q. What kind of games were described?

A. Space War.

Q. The Space War similar to the Space War which you played on the computer--

[NOTE – Obviously if it could be proven that Nolan could not have seen or played Spacewar at the University of Utah, it would throw doubt on his account here. Conversely, if a copy of the paper ever turned up and it did in fact include a description of Spacewar it would confirm that Nolan had encountered the game by this time (though not necessarily at University of Utah)]

A. Yes. Hangman, which is a word game. The question and answer game, you know, which question will flash up and you had a multiple choice answer. A baseball game.

Q. Any other games?

A. I think those were the only three that I described.

Q. Would you describe what the baseball game was, how you intended it to be played?

A. I intended it to be played similar to the machines that I was operating at the time in which there was a ball and a bat and you were to attempt to hit targets.

[Note – Again, Nolan is describing a “pitch-and-bat” game here, as discussed in the first post in this series.]

Q. How would the ball appear at the plate?

A. I didn’t go into that.

Q. Did you describe in the paper the game baseball in greater detail?

A. I just said a game that simulates the game of baseball in which a ball is pitched to a batter and the batter is controlled by the player. The attempt is to hit the ball straight back to get a home run. If you deviate from the center, then you can get anywhere from a single run to an out. Three outs—and it was a dime in those days. Three outs and you had to put in another dime to play.

Q. Did you state in the paper whether you expected that there be a symbol on the screen which a player could maneuver somehow?

A. Well, I mean, if you’re going to have a ball on the screen I suppose that would be symbol. I don’t think I used that verbiage.

Q. Was the bat to be moved on the screen?

A. Obviously.

Q How was that to be done

A. By pushing a button.

Q. What would occur when one pushed the button?

A. The bat would swing.

Q. Was this described in the paper?

A. I really don’t remember. I just remember that I described a video version of the games that were around at that time.

Q. Did anyone other than you and Dr. Atwood and your wife see the paper?

A. I really don’t know.

Q. Do you think other persons might have seen the paper?

A. I think it is possible. If I knew who they were I would know by now. I mean, I would have talked to them by now.

Q. So you have searched for other people or attempted to recollect who they might be?

A. I have tried to get some confirmation on that, yes.

Q. Have you talked to your wife concerning whether she remembers the contents of that paper?

A. Oh, yes, obviously.

Q. Obviously yes?

A. Yes.

Q. Does she remember what was in that paper?

A. Not in great detail.

Q. Does she remember the description of the game baseball?

A. No.

Q. Did you ask her if she read the description of the game baseball?

A. No, I didn’t.

Q. What is your wife’s present residence?

A. 3872 Gibson. Santa Clara.

Q. What is her name?

A. Paula Bushnell.

Q. I assume that you and your wife are divorced?

A. Yes, we are. I’m not sure if that means you’ve got a friendly witness or not.

Q. How many monitors did you contemplate could be attached to a single computer for the playing of the game?

A. I thought six was—the speeds and the kinds of information at that time.

Q. Did you have any thoughts as to what was the capacity of the computer would have to be to play six games?

A. It had to do an awful lot with how much refresh you had to do, so it meant how smart the computer was. Or the terminal I should say.

Q. Did you do any calculation to figure out what the correlation might be between the capacity of the computer and, as you put it, how smart the monitor was in order to get an acceptable  apparatus?

A. No. I think I just wet my finger—you know, I was trying to get the paper out and I didn’t care about technical excellence because I knew I was going to get graded on punctuation. The nice thing about schools is that you don’t have to build anything that you design.

[NOTE – This raises a semi-important point. From a legal standpoint, even if Nolan did write such a paper, I do not find it likely that it would have constituted an instance of “prior art” that would invalidate Baer’s patents. A mere description of a system in which a central computer controlled remote terminals, even one that included descriptions of games that involved imparting motion or detecting coincidence, probably would not have sufficed. He (IMO) would have had to have described the system in sufficient detail that it could have been built – including a description of exactly how he was going to detect coincidence and impart motion And (again, IMO) he would have had to have described how to do so with a raster display. I’d also imagine he’d have to have done so in a manner similar to that used by Baer.

From a historical standpoint, in regards to establishing who was the “father of the video game industry”, I’m not sure this paper would be of much use either. By his own admission, Nolan’s idea (if it existed) did not have the makings of a viable commercial product at this time. Its main value, I think, would be in establishing when Nolan first got the idea that eventually led to Computer Space.]

Q. Did you ever build an apparatus as it was shown in the paper?

A. I attempted to later on. I mean, a time-sharing system.

Q. When did you attempt it or when did you first start to attempt it?

A. I would say the middle of 1970 or early 1970.

Q. Did you complete building the apparatus as described in the paper?

A. No, I didn’t. I just got to a paper design.

Q. Is there any particular reason why you stopped working?

A. Yes, I found a better way.

Q. What way was that?

A. Well, in the using of a computer and a monitor, the calculations you were talking about, I kept going through them finding that I was running out of time doing the kinds of things on the six monitors that I wanted to. So then I cut it back to four monitors and in doing more interface and more software I found that I was again running out of time. Since I decided that we had to design the monitor because the terminals at that time were very expensive, I was building my own monitor, a special-purpose terminal for this thing. Each time I would find in the computer that I was running out of time I’d take some of the functions out of the computer and put it into a slightly more intelligent terminal. After I went through the loop two or three times and each time finding conditions in which the computer would run out of time, I took a look at the terminals and I said, “Gee, they’re getting so smart, why do I really need that? Let’s throw away the mini-computer and put it all in the terminal.” That’s really now the stand-alone games evolved. I was really happy because it made a lot more economic sense, you know, once you can split them apart so that your stand-alone units, limiting you market to the large amusement parks, you know, that would have to take the six or seven terminals to make it justifiable economically.

[NOTE here that Nolan doesn’t claim to have actually built a system with multiple terminals (as some seem to have erroneously concluded). This was all done on paper.]

Q. As far as you know was it ever actually done in 1969 that the games were played on a raster scan display setup?

A. To the best of my knowledge, no, they weren’t

Q. I believe you stated that in early 1970 you attempted to build an apparatus for playing games similar to the one described in the paper which you wrote at the University of Utah?

A. Right.

Q. Prior to that did you do anything or attempt to construct or interest anybody else in constructing the apparatus as described in that paper?

A. No, I didn’t.

Q. did you ever show the paper to anybody at Lagoon Corporation or Amusement Services Corporation?

A. No. I think I talked to some of the people at Lagoon saying you know, “Gentlemen, it would be neat if we could have a computer out here and hook it up.” But, you know, it was one of those things where when you’re talking about six games that would cost as much as a roller coaster, it was kind of an academic kind of discussion.

Q. How much did you think six games would have cost at that time?

A. Using that system probably a quarter of a million dollars.

[NOTE - I may be missing something obvious here but it seems that Bushnell could have built a cheaper system using the DEC PDP-8 (generally considered the first successful, mass-produced minicomputer), which had been released in 1965 and cost around $18,000. Perhaps it initially cost more than that or perhaps it was impractical or incapable of driving multiple displays, or maybe he just wasn't aware of it.]

Q. At that time would that have been an economic investment as far as you know to get six games?

A. I don’t know. The question then becomes if you had six of them—well, let’s put a pencil to it. If you could get fifty cents a game and it plays in two minutes, that would be $15 an hour times six, that would be $90 an hour. If you amortized the thing over three years, what does it come out to? Say that you want a ten-percent return on your capital. A quarter of a million dollars and a ten-percent return. If you have two years which is 24 months--this says that you would have to make $11,000 a month. $11,000 a month at $90 an hour, let's divide 24 into that. That is $490 a day. So that says that you could just barely make it if you could keep the machine going full tilt for five hours a day or six hours a day, rather. So it was marginally doable based on some good assumptions.

Q. At that time was fifty cents a game a realistic price?

A. Well, I'm saying that games were really great. The market at that time was 25 cents. So it says that you would have to keep the game going for 10 or 12 hours. I don't think I would invest my money in it.

Q. Do you have any documents relating to your attempts to build the system of your paper in early 1970?

A. Yes, we do. They are right here (indicating).

Q. You have pointed out two files, one labeled "Data General" and the other one labeled "System Planning, Nova Interface.”

A. Right.

Q. And those are the only two files?

A. That's all that I could find. They were down in the bottom of a box of all kinds of junk.

MR. WILLIAMS: I would like to have the Reporter mark as Atari Exhibit 39 a manila file bearing the label "Data General,' and as Atari Exhibit 40 a manila file bearing the legend  "System Planning, Nova Interface."

I think maybe, Mr. Reporter, if you could mark each paper in each one of these files as in the case of Exhibit 39, 39-1 through 39 whatever it takes, and likewise with Exhibit 40.

(File folder labeled "Data General 'I"was marked Atari Exhibit 39-1through 39-7 for Identification.)

(File folder labeled "Legend System Planning, Nova Interface" I was marked Atari Exhibit 40-1 through 40-18 for Identification.)

[NOTE – This section deals with the Data General Nova. I’m sure most of you already know this, but the seeing an ad for the Nova was what convinced Nolan that his idea might be practical. Data General was founded by several former DEC employees in 1968 to produce low-cost minicomputers. The Nova was a minicomputer that was introduced at a base price of $3,995 (far cheaper than DEC’s PDP-8, considered by many the first successful minicomputer).]

MR. WILLIAMS: Q. Mr. Bushnell, I hand you Atari Exhibit 39 and the document which has been marked 39-1 and ask if you can identify that document for me.

A. Yes.

Q. What is it?

A. It's a letter that I was going to-- No. It's an envelope. It's a letter in which-

Q. You are referring to 39-2 as the letter?

A. Yes. 39-1 is an envelope. --in which we were going to order a Data General computer.

Q. You say, "We were going to order a Data General computer"?

A. The company. The Syzygy Company at that time.

Q. And Syzygy at that time was a partnership; is that correct?

A. Yes.

Q. Consisting of you and Mr. Dabney?

A. Right.
Q. How did this relate to your infiltration of the system of your prior paper?

A. Well, we had gotten to a point where we felt that we had feasibility on the system and so we needed a machine to actually build one.

Q. The letter-- A. Well, what it was, we wanted to get the best price we could so we ordered six of everything except for one item which I guess we needed more than that. Because we didn't have any money. So we wanted to, you know, give the impression at least that we were high rollers.

Q. Was that letter ever sent?

A. No, it wasn't.

Q. It appears to bear the date January 26, 1971.

[NOTE – this letter seems to indicate that Nolan still hadn’t entirely dropped the idea of using a Nova as of late January, 1971.]

A. Correct.

Q. Was it written on or about that date?

A. Yes, it was.

Q. Prior to the time of writing that letter had you built any devices for the playing of games using a cathode-ray tube according to your system of your prior paper?

A. Yes. We had put some stuff together as far as a monitor goes. See ,wi1h this system we were building terminals to hook on which this would drive and we had established at that point that we could get a tube hooked up to a raster scan responding to that and I think we moved some objects around.

Q. Well, on January 26th of 1971, you were considering using a raster scan display on your system?

A. Yes.

Q. You say you put a monitor together prior to that January 26th, 1971 date. Was the monitor as you had built it useful for playing games?

A. Well, the way we had done it, it possibly could have been. We were trying to build--Spacewar was the game that we were trying, and Spacewar needed some very complex calculations and the device that we lashed up didn't have the ability to do complex calculations. It was more of a display device.

Q. You say it could have been used for playing games, but was it used for playing games prior to that January 26, 1971 date?

A. Well, if you mean we moved objects around on it and had a little bit of fun, yes, we did. It goes into our definition of what is a game. It wasn't anything that kept score or that I said, "Whoopee, I beat you.'' But we did move objects on it.

Q. How did the objects that were moved appear to the participants?

A. Well, one was we had a rocket ship that would move up, down, right or left. I guess before that we had ~ a square that would move up, down, right or left. Then we hooked in a diode matrix and turned the square into a rocket ship.

Q. How did the participant effect this motion up, down, right or left?

A. Flipped switches.

Q. Was there only one rocket ship or square as the case might be on the screen at a time?

A. Well, at what point in tine are you talking about?

Q. Prior to the January 26th, 1971 date.

A. Yes. It was just one object. Just a second, I'm going to ~ take that back. There was only one independently moving object. In developing the objects youcan gate them in and out and there were, you know--during the first gating, you know, there could have been 48 objects and then you gate it out again and it turns--or I guess it would be 64 and then it goes down to 32 and the more gating that you do the fewer things until you finally get down to just one object. But we had beaucoup objects on the screen many times.

Q. As I understand it, even though you may have had many objects on the screen at the same time, if one moved they all moved with--

A. Correct.

Q. I show you a document which has been marked 39-3 and 39-4 and ask if you can identify that?

A. That's a listing that came from one of the trade journals, and I don't remember which one it was, which listed all the mini computers that were on the market at that time, their approximate costs and how fast the cycle time was and what the architecture of the machine was. It was sort of a thing that we went through to see if there wasn't a cheaper system that we could buy that would do essentially the same thing.

Q. Essentially the same thing as what?

A. The same thing as the Data General unit that we felt probably was as good a buy on the market at the time for what we wanted.

Q. I notice that those two documents bear the dates August 1970. Were these documents that you were considering after the date of January 26, 1971 or prior to that time?

A. Well, it was prior because, you know, obviously we had made a decision at the time this letter was written as to which computer we wanted and we had been looking at this quite a bit before August 1970 and was very happy when they published this because it made us evaluate a lot more units.

Q. You said you were looking into it quite a bit before August of 1970. I gather from your prior testimony that all of your activities were during the year of 1970 with respect to the building of this?

A. That is true, in terms of actually putting any hardware together or, you know, drawings.

Q. ·I will hand you Exhibit 39-5 and ask if you can identify that?

A. It's just basically a little further detail on the Nova computer series.

Q. This was the computer series that you were considering using in your system?

A. That's correct.

Q. Was that the Nova 1200 as described in this exhibit?

A. Correct.

Q. I show you Exhibit 39-6 and ask you if you can identify that?

A, It's an OEM blanket quantity and cumulative discount agreement. That was the thing that we were planning to I really buy a bunch of these things so we wanted to get the price out of the chute that we could.

Q. Can you identify Exhibit 39-7?

A. It's a Super Nova pricelist and it goes through the options and the things that you want. It's essentially the source document that allowed us to write this other letter.

Q. That is Document 39-2?

A. Right.

Q. 39-2 appears to include a list of various components and associated prices. I ~ender if you might go through this list and tell us which each one of the items identified by a number is, such as 3101, 8102, et cetera.

A. It's been a long time. I would just have to go through these things. They are essentially parts to a mini computer.

Q. So far as you know the identifications given in 39-7 of the various type numbers I believe are the same type numbers referred to in 39-2?

A. Right, yes.

Q. Is the description given in Document 39-7 of each of those type numbers accurately reflective of the description of the items listed in the letter of 39-2?

A. I think so, unless we made a mistake.  

MR. HERBERT: I object. I don't think there is any description of an item on 39-2, nothing more than a type number. 

THE WITNESS: But the description is in here. 

MR. WILLIAMS: Q. Do the descriptions of the type numbers shown in document 39- 7 accurately describe the units listed in 39-2?

A. Yes.

Q. Are the prices shown in 39-2 opposite the corresponding units a unit price?

A. I think that was an OEM discount based on the quantity, discount price.

Q. That was the price you expected to pay for the units if you had actually purchased them from Data General at the time?

A. Right.

Q. So that, for example, one 8101 would have been $1,617?

[NOTE – the 8101 was a “Nova 1200 central processor with six additional subassembly slots”  In the pricelist linked here, it has a price of $2400.]

A. Right.

Q. At the time of the preparation of the letter 39-2 did you have an estimate of what the cost per game would be in the system you were constructing?

A. Yes.

Q. Do you know wb.at that estimate was?

A. I think it was around $1,000.

[NOTE – This price, if accurate, makes more sense to me. At the prices that are quoted for the Nova in most sources, I don’t think Nolan’s idea would have been practical. Wikipedia claims that the base price was 3995 price (ca $27,000 in 1913 dollars, depending on which method you use), which I think is still far too expensive for a practical arcade game (not to mention Wikipedia’s claim that the base unit was all but useless without adding core memory, which added another $4,000 to the price).

I am not sure what model the $3,995 price referred to. From the pricelist above, it might have been for the 4001, which was more expensive than the 8101 that Nolan was apparently considering.]

If Nolan could have got a volume discount that lowered the price to $1,000 per game, it would make for a much more practical product. Whether or not he could really have gotten that price I can’t say.]

Q. At that time were you considering using six games on each system?

A. It was either six or eight. I think I started out with eight and then backed into six as I started running out of tir.ie on the computer.

Q. Did you ever order any computers from Data General for this system?

A. No, I didn't.

Q. Did you order computers from anybody else for this system?

A. No, I didn’t.

Q. Did you ever complete building this system?

A. No, I didn't.

Q. I hand you Atari Exhibit 40 and ask you if you can identify Document 40-1?

A. This is a letter from Bob Washburn who was the sales engineer in the area for Data General. We had kind of been stringing him along because we weren't ready to commit the dollars and we had sort of told him, "Yes, the order is coming. The order is coming." I think this letter is to just sort of jack us up and trying to push us into a close. It was during this period that I had pretty much decided that I was not going to go the direct computer route but was going to go to a single stand-alone unit.

[NOTE – so it seems that sometime between these two letters [i.e. between January 26 and February 16], Nolan and Ted had decided to go with a single computer.]

Q. During what period was this that you just referred to?

A. Between I got that. the time of composing that letter to the time that Because it was--I was almost ready to go but I just wanted to go back and check to make sure that the system as I had configured it made sense. I wanted to make sure the thing was doable, and so I wanted to get closer-- I had found a place where I could rent a Data General computer and I had gotten a little bit closer to a guy that was there who wastrying to sell me some time on the machine. He pointed out something that I had failed to take into consideration on my initial calculations and it scared me into thinking that maybe I wasn't even going to be able to get four monitors to go. So at that point I decided that I really needed to change one of my design at that time and that pushed me into the thinking of just doing it all hardware and not doing it software with the computer.

NOTE – I am not sure what the “something” was that Nolan had failed to take into consideration. Perhaps it was the fact that the system needed extra memory to be useful. That is pure speculation, of course, and I really don’t know the actual issue was.]

Q. And the period during which this occurred that you are referring to was the period between the dates of 39-2 and 40-1?

A. Right.

Q. What was the date on 40-1?

A. February 16, 1971.

Q. I show you a document 40-2 and ask if you can identify that, please.

A. This was the interface unit that took the data from the computer and displayed it on the TV screen, part of the interface unit.

Q. Was that part of the monitor which you were considering?

A. Right.

Q. Was that apparatus ever built?

A. No, it wasn't. well, parts of it were. This part was never built (indicating).

Q. Which part is that?

A. That is 40-7.

Q. What is shown on 40-7?

A. This was basically the part that made the monitor talk to the computer.

Q. Was there a name for that part?

A. I didn't put it on. I think I always called that the interface card. This other one would probably be called the address card.

Q. What document are you referring to?

A. Oh. 40-2

MR. HERBERT: It would be called what?

THE WITNESS: The address card. I'll be darned if I know what 40-3 is. I would have to think about it for a minute.

MR. WILLIAMS: Q. Is 40-3 another diagram associated with the monitor of a diagram of a portion of the monitor?

A. Yes. All of these have to do with the monitor.

Q. By "all of these”, you are including--

A. 40-6, 40-8, 40-10, 40-11, 40-14, 40-15, 40-17. Portions that were built were the sync generator and the--

Q. Do you know which diagram the sync generator is?

A. I'm not sure. Frankly, I don't see the sync generator   diagram here. I think the only reason that we have these documents are these are the parts that ended up not being used in the ultimate system and the other stuff got reworked and  used and ultimately in the filing system and where they are heaven only knows. I was actually surprised I even found these things.

Q. By "the ultimate system" you mean the stand-alone games?

A. Right.

Q. Do you think that the drawings that were reworked into the stand-alone game still exist?

A. I just have no way of speculating on that.

Q. Did you look for them?

A. Yes, I have.

MR. HERBERT:· These are among the things that I have asked Mr. Bushnell's secretary to go through and try to find and she has indicated that for all of the games there may be the files of 20 different engineers. She is going to try to get the beginning ones for those two games tomorrow and try to zero in on this particular one after that.

MR. WILLIAMS: Q. You started saying that you had built the sync generator?

A. Yes.

Q. Which other portions did you build?

A. Some motion circuits and a scanning matrix, video amplifier.

Q. What was the purpose of the sync generator?

A. Well, to get the scans going. You have to have a frame of reference.

Q. This was to generate the scan for the cathode-ray tube display?

A. Right.

Q. What was the purpose of the motion circuits?

[NOTE – the issue of who designed the motion circuit for Computer Space is one of the major bones of contention between Bushnell and Dabney. Ted claims the design was entirely his while Nolan says it was his. I will not get into the merits of the claims here.]

A. To put the objects on the screen and move them around. Actually, the motion circuits that we used at that time were more exercisers to take the place of the computer because the way we had it was that the computer would put out an address word that would tell the monitor where to display the object and by putting in counters you could simulate that address word and move objects around the screen. That turned out to be the essence of the way it was instead of being an exerciser ultimately taking the place of the computer it replaced the computer. Did I make sense en that?

Q. What do you mean by the term exerciser?

A. Well, to get your hardware working a lot of times you need a very predictable signal so that you know that your hardware is working so that if you get information out of the computer you can make sure that it's not--you know, you have a problem sometimes whether it's the computer that's fouling up or whether it's your hardware. So you develop a little very simple computer, you would say, which we call an exerciser which would essentially be partitioned outside of the system, but to the system would look like a computer but without all the bells and whistles as far as the capability that the computer would have.

Q. Was an exerciser to be used with the monitor when the monitor was attached to the computer as you intended in your system?

A. Initially, no. The exerciser would be taken off and the computer would be hooked where the exerciser was.

Q. But at some later time it was to be used with the monitor as it was attached to the computer?

A. When I decided to not go with the computer system the exerciser was modified so that it did more things. What essentially happened is I made a very sophisticated exerciser which ended up playing the whole game instead of the computer doing it.

Q. What as the purpose of the scanning matrix circuit?

A. It's relatively easy to just put square blobs on the screen. The matrix was to turn the blob into a rocket ship.

Q. That the diode matrix?

A. Correct.

Q. What was the purpose of the video amplifier?

A. To make it talk to the television set at levels it could see.

Q. To make what?

A. The signal, the output of the computer.

MR. WILLIAMS: Let's take a brief recess.

(Short recess.)

To be continued.

Sine I didn't have many photos for this one, here are a couple of Atari-related ones I came across recently.

This one is from Atari's 1978 distributor meeting. This one had an old west theme. Unfortunately it doesn't identify who the people are. Front and center (in the loud pants) is Frank Ballouz. Behind him, I think, is Steve Bristow. I think that's Gene Lipkin in the sombrero. One of the females may be Lenore Sayers or Sue Elliot.

This one appeared in the February 1974 issue of Oui.
 

 

Video Game Genealogies - Ralph Baer

January 30, 2015, 5:04 pm

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For this post, I thought I’d take a break from my Atari depositions series and try something a little different. One of my hobbies is genealogy, so I have access to a good deal of genealogical info. So I was thinking about doing a series of posts on the genealogy of some of the key figures in the video game industry. I have no idea if there is any interest in this kind of thing, as it gets into some information that really isn’t directly relevant to video games and that general hasn’t been covered in video game history.

Since Ralph Baer recently passed away and since I don’t have a tremendous amount of information on his ancestors, I thought it would be easier to start with him.

Maternal Ancestors - The Kirschbaums

On his mother's side, I basically have just names and dates, so I'll start there.

Ralph's mother was Charlotte Lauren Kirschbaum, born 15 December 1899 in Guben, Germany. I'll talk more about her later, but for now, here's what I have on her ancestry.

Her father was James Kirschbaum, born 24 November 1869 in Bremerhaven, Germany and died 26 May 1931 in Guben. He married Adele Davidson on 1 June 1868.

James's father was Adolph Kirschbaum, born 24 July 1834 in Bremerhaven and died in Guben on 29 October 1920. He married Laura Cohen.
In 1902 (probably after Laura died) he came to the U.S. to stay with his son Alfons in New York. On the 1910 census, they were living on 113th street in New York City. Alfons was a butcher and the family had a personal servant, so they appear to have been doing well. Adolph was listed as a widower. They also had a cousin living with them who was a treasurer in a theatre. At some point, Adolph must have returned to Germany.

Adolph and Laura (photo taken from Ancesty.com page of one of Ralph's sons.

Guben is a city in Brandenburg located (today) on the Polish border. The population was 23,704 in 1875 and grew to 40,602 by 1925. In the 19th century, Guben was known for its textile industry. In 1822, it supplied 65% of the hats in Germany. In the last half of the century, Guben became well-known for its leather gloves. After World War II, the city was divided between Germany and Poland.

Paternal Ancestors - The Baers

I have a bit more info about Ralph's father's side, but not much. Here, I only went back to his grandfather, Joseph Baer. Joseph was born 1 February 1848 in Germany and died 10 May 1922 in Germany. He married Henrietta.

Ralph's parents, Charlotte ("Lotte") and Leo

Ralph's father was Leo Baer, born 1 March 1894 in Rodalben, a city in southwest Germany near the French border in the Alsace-Lorraine region. Rodalben was known for its shoe and at one time there were over 60 shoe factories in town. Leo also served in World War I. It appears that he served in the Bavarian Ersatz Division (a division originally made up entirely of Bavarians) in the 18th infantry regiment. The Division fought in the Battle of Verdun and the 2nd Battle of Aisne. In 1917 it was transferred to the Romanian front and then to the Ukraine before returning to the western front in April, 1918. It looks like he also served in the 2nd Landstrum Infantry Battalion. Two of Leo's brothers, Hugo and Otto, were both killed in action during the war (it appears they were his only two brothers).

Personnel Roster entry for Leo Baer

2nd Landstraum Infantry Battalion (I don't think Leo is in the picture)

After the war, he returned home. At some point (before or after the war), he moved to Pirmasens, a town about 5 km from Rodalben. Leo ran a tannery that supplied leather to the town's many shoemakers (like Rodalben, Pirmasens was known for its shoes). Ralph Henry Baer was born Rudolf Heinrich Baer on 8 March 1922 in Pirmasens. By then, however, there likely wasn't much shoemaking going on. The town had been devastated by World War I, food was scarce, French Moroccan troops occupied the area, and inflation was rampant, causing many (including Baer's father) to go bankrupt. When Baer was one-and-a-half, his family moved to Cologne, where things became even worse following the Nazi's rise to power. At 14, the Nazi's kicked all Jewish students out of school, including Baer, who was forced to go to work typing, taking shorthand, and collecting money from local bars. By 1938, things had become unbearable and in August, Baer's family fled the country, just three months before the Kristallnacht of “Night or Broken Glass” when Jewish businesses throughout the country were destroyed. The Baer's had relatives in New York. They went to Stuttgart and met with the American consul, who got them on the short list of people allowed to leave the country (there was a tight quota). The Baer's (Leo, Charlotte, Ralph, and Isle) sailed from Rotterdam on the SS Nieuw Amsterdam and arrived in New York on 12 August 1938. The SS Nieuw Amsterdam was the pride of the Holland America Line. It had its maiden voyage earlier in 1938 and dubbed by some the “ship of tomorrow” with features like a first-class restaurant with a Moroccan leather ceiling and ivory walls. While Leo managed to escape Germany, his siblings weren't so lucky. Three of his sisters died in concentration camps: Louise, Augusta (who die in Kaiserwald), and Eugenie (who died in Jungfernhof).

Passenger list for the Nieuw Amsteram, showing the Baer family (note that Ralph is listed as Rudolf Heinrich)

The SS Nieuw Amsterdam

After arriving, the Baers settled in the Bronx, where Ralph worked in a factory attaching buttons to cosmetics cases for $12 a week. On the 1940 census, the family was living on Marmion Avenue in the Bronx where Leo was listed as a manufacturer in the leather goods industry while Ralph was working as a shipping clerk in the leather novelties industry. Leo died in January, 1967 in Flushing and it looks Charlotte died 4 March 1899 in Manchester, New Hampshire (if true, she would have been 99).

The Baers on the 1940 Census

Leo's Certificate of Naturalization

 

 

Ralph's Pre-Video Game Career

The event that led Ralph to a career in electronics occurred one day when he was riding the subway and noticed someone across the aisle reading a magazine with an ad on the back reading “Make Big Money in Radio and Television Servicing” .The ad was for a mail-order course in radio repair by the National Radio Institute in Washington DC.  Intrigued, Baer paid about $1.25 a week out of his meager salary to take the course and followed up by taking the advanced course. He then quit his factory job and went to work servicing radios at a store on Lexington Avenue in Manhattan. In 1943, Baer was drafted into the Army and sent to Fort Dix to train as a combat engineer. After two months, he was reassigned to Camp Ritchie, Maryland, where he learned how to interrogate prisoners of war. Before long, Baer was shipped overseas where he served in England and France, training American troops in subjects like weapons handling and recognizing enemy uniforms. In his spare time, Baer taught himself algebra and also collected foreign weapons and turned them into a makeshift museum (Baer's collection later served as the basis for the official military small arms exhibit in Fort Riley, Kansas). He even wrote a book on the history of machine guns.

            Baer left the Army in March, 1946 and took a job with Emerson Radio in Queens, but quickly grew bored and quit after about three months. Realizing he needed more training, he moved to Chicago (the New York schools were full of veterans) and attended the American Television Institute of Technology[1] on the G.I. Bill, where, in 1949, he received what he claims was the first ever degree in Television engineering[2].  He then returned to New York where he landed a job as chief (and only – the company had just four employees) engineer for Wappler, Inc. – a manufacturer of electro-medical equipment. After about a year and a half, he moved on to Loral Electronics, where he worked on an early attempt at a projection screen TV, a ground position indicator for a radar system, and tone paging equipment used by IBM to synchronize the clocks in its factories. He then spent about four years at Transitron Electronics, a high tech firm in New York City that built test equipment for the Army and Navy. In 1958, Baer took a job at Sanders Associates, (another defense contractor) in Nashua, New Hampshire, starting out as a staff engineer working on electronic counter measure equipment like the AN/ALQ-51 “Shoehorn” radar jammer used in the F-4 Phantom. It was the start of a 30 year career at Sanders, where Baer worked until 1988. In 1980, he received the New York Patent Law Association’s Inventor of the Year award and during his life was awarded over 150 patents.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[1] Baer refers to it as the "American Television Lab of Technology" but I found no record of it under that name.  I did find several ads referring to it as the "American Television Institute", a division of "American Television Laboratories, Inc." or as the "American Institute of Technology."

[2] Baer does not mean that he was the first person to receive a television engineering degree, but rather that the Institute was the first to offer such a degree.

More on the American Video Athletic Association

February 8, 2015, 9:51 am

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A few months back, I posted about the American Video Athletic Association. Since, I have exchanged e-mails with its founder so I thought I’d do a follow-up post with more details.

In January 1982, Time magazine ran a cover story on the video game phenomenon that was then sweeping the country. The article featured a sidebar on a teenager Steve Juraszek, who had played a single game of Defender for over 16 hours. Walter Day considers the issue’s cover date (January 18, 1982) to be the birthdate of the golden age of video arcades. It was also a key date in the history of eSports, if for no other reason than that it indirectly lead Day to establish his Twin Galaxies Video Scoreboard, one of the earliest serious attempts to make video gaming a sport.

While Day’s efforts are well known, however, and many consider him the father of eSports, he was not the only person to think of the concept. At least two others were making similar efforts in 1982. One of them was an entrepreneur in Madison, Wisconsin named Dennis de Nure.

According to his autobiography, Dennis was born John Michael DeNure in 1956 in Platteville, WI (“home of the world’s largest M symbol”) and changed his name to Dennis Amadeus de Nure after seeing the film “Amadeus[1].” In 1982, around the time Walter Day was starting his famous scoreboard, DeNure was playing Pac-Man at bars in the Madison area and thought, “how neat it would be to turn video game playing into a sport that I trademarked.” While Walter Day wanted to bring glory to the players, however, DeNure had another motive. He wanted to get rich, and he thought that the way to do so was to secure the intellectual property rights to the concept of video gaming as a sport.

Toward that end, on April 5, 1982, DeNure incorporated a company called Video Athlete Corporation, which was located at 120 W. Mifflin Street in Madison. He persuaded his landlord, Otto Zerwick, to invest $15,000 in the company, which at that point consisted of little more than a name and a trademark on the term “Video Athlete” (though the trademark was not  filed until July 6[2]). With cash in hand, DeNure hit upon an odd publicity stunt to promote his new idea. Over drinks, he got to know the elephant keeper at the Dane County Zoo and persuaded the keeper to let him sneak into the elephant enclosure with a Defender cabinet and take pictures of the zoo’s star pachyderm, Winkie, “playing” the game. It was dangerous business. In 1966, Winkie’s predecessor, also named Winkie, had stomped a three-year old to death and the second Winkie would later send a handler to the hospital and, after being moved to an elephant sanctuary in 2000, kill another handler. Nonetheless, DeNure entered the temperamental elephant’s cage and, by placing a peanut on top of the game, got her to pick it up with her trunk, making it appear that she was moving the joystick. Another photo showed three gamers playing games in front of the Madison skyline with the logo “We Are Athletes of a Different Kind.” While the photos did not really lead to anything, they did put DeNure in touch with a local arcade owner, who had supplied the games for the photo shoots.

 

 

Now that he had a source of games, DeNure began to think of ways to promote his idea. His initial plan was to have a semi-trailer full of video games that would travel the country. First, however, he decided to stage a tournament in Madison, initially to be called the Video Athlete Festival, sponsored by the “American Video Athletic Association” (aka AVAA or ah-vah), another group DeNure had created. DeNure had an audio technician create a 60-second radio commercial for the event and booked a spot at the Dane County Forum. In addition to individual and team tournaments, the festival would have door prizes, representatives from various video game factories, a “video guru” comedy act, and over 100 video games. DeNure even paid Steve Juraszek to come to Madison to attempt to break his famous record and persuaded an AP reporter and photographer to cover the attempt. It was an impressive plan, especially for 1982. But it never came off.

 

 

 

 

 

On May 21, the day before the festival, DeNure ran an ad in the Madison Wisconsin State Journal. The tournament, sponsored by “Video Athletes Across America” (yet another DeNure creation) would feature six different games: Centipede, Defender, Tempest, Donkey Kong, Pac-Man, and Omega Race. Juraszek would be on hand, where he would be challenged by Robert Crocker, an 11-year-old local video game “expert.” At the last minute, however, the arcade owner pulled out and rather than trying to salvage the situation, the now-bitter DeNure cancelled the event. In the end, it may not have mattered, since by his own admission, DeNure did not really know what he was doing at the time.

 

He did not give up on video athletes, however and instead began thinking of new ways to promote the concept. He created an ad for the American Video Athletic Association that ran in the July and August issues of Electronic Games featuring the likeness of Steve Juraszek and offering a one-year membership in the AVAA for $12.95. Gamers could also submit their high scores without joining the association. If they did join, they got a t-shirt, membership card, quarterly newsletter, and “handy pocket guide to Video Athletics” that included gameplay hints, comparison charts, and a rating system with five ranks: Scrambler, Defender, Commander, Invader, and Avenger.

 

Meanwhile, DeNure started writing letters seeking supporters his idea to just about anyone he could think of, getting nothing in return but rejections. George Lucas’s secretary told him the George’s daughter loved the shirt, but passed. Arthur C. Clarke suggested that DeNure read his essay “The Playing Fields of Space.” Isaac Asimov was too busy and Ted Turner said “no” multiple times. His letters to coin-op manufacturers, distributors, and operators did not fare much better, though he did get a meeting in a McDonald’s with Atari’s Joe Robbins, who suggested that he do a survey.

DeNure also was toying with a number of other names, phrases, and concepts that he hoped to trademark, like “Video Athlete League (VAL),” “Machine Sports,” and “make sport not war.” His most ambitious idea involved something he called the Video Athletic Machine Sport, or VAMS, unit. The VAMS unit, which would be built into newly created video games, would include a “video-tac” (video tachometer) dialog board that would provide a “Universal Scoring System” to convert scores to a 100-point scale, a “Universal Time Factor System” that allowed the player to select short, medium, or long games, and a “Universal Tri-Field Setting System.” A group called the “AVAA-Control Committee” would determine how to convert the scores for different games and difficulty levels. VAMS was part of a more elaborate plan to turn video gaming into a competition along the lines of baseball or basketball. Competitions, which be played in arenas called an “Electronic Ball Parks,” would consist of a ten-inning “game” between two teams of nine players. Each team would have three forwards, three guards, two centers, and a “signal captain.” Games were divided into one of three types and could be played for one of three durations. During each inning, team members would play specific games for specific lengths of time at specific difficulty levels based on the inning and their position. Based on their score, players would be awarded a single, double, triple, home run, or grand slam, earning one to five points, which would then be converted into “conversion points” (the details here are a bit hazy).To add an element of chance, a “VAL Baseline Spinner” was created, though even DeNure no longer what it was supposed to be used for. It was an elaborate system – probably too elaborate – but DeNure hoped that once industry movers and shakers were onboard, they would simplify and improve it.

 

 

DeNure’s master plan involved more than just tournaments, however. A professional team called the Star Scorers would be formed. Gyms called “valcades” would be established where players could play against other video athletes for $5. A language called “AVAA-Talk” would be created. Playoffs, like the Crown of AVAA, would be held. Tournaments would be promoted on a TV show called Planet Play. DeNure even wrote a 108-page screenplay for a movie called “Star Scorers of the AVAA” intended to educated consumers about video athletics[3]as well as a book called “The Age of the Video Athlete.” Other ideas included a national organization for operators (which would promote tournaments), a quarterly newsletter listing everyone who achieved a high score on one of 15 selected games per month in member arcades, a syndicated comic strip, video game triathlons, and an arcade t-shirt with a special pocket for tokens.

 

 

 

 

 

Unfortunately, ideas are all DeNure had and he was never able to interest anyone in turning them into reality. Very few people joined the AVAA (the pocket guide and newsletters eventually became a booklet called “The New Peace Sign”). DeNure does seem to have published The Age of the Video Athlete, which was listed in the bibliography of a book called Reading Programs For Young Adults. It was also mentioned in the June 1, 1983 issue of Play Meter, which described it as a 98-page manual on promoting video games as a sport, with details on running sanctioned “Video Game Festivals”, including sample radio ads, and other info. By 1987, DeNure seems to have dropped the video athletics idea and moved on to other things.

 

 

In 1985, he was running a shoeshine stand in Madison. In October 1986, the Madison Capital Times reported that he was pushing to have the state motto changed to “Eat Cheese or Die.” In April 1987 the Wisconsin State Journal reported that he was running a shop called DeNure’s T-Shirt Factory and 60s Museum at 555 State Street, selling tie-dyed T-shirts and 60s memorabilia. Two months later, the Journal reported that DeNure’s “travelling cow cart” had been robbed of its entire inventory of cow-themed t-shirts, bearing slogans like “Cows are udderly cool.” The cart was mounted on a snow mobile trailer that DeNure pulled around the state with his van to various farm events.

Late in 1987 (if not earlier), DeNure launched his political career with a run for Dane County Executive. In early 1988, he pleaded no contest and was fined for hurling apples at a Richard Haas mural being painted at Olin Terrace. Later that year, he entered the race for mayor. Starting around 1993, he ran a store in Madison called Game Haven that sold Magic the Gathering and Pokémon cards, as well as board games and Beanie Babies. In 2002, he served a two-year sentence in Iowa for drunk driving. As of this writing, he is apparently still designing t-shirts and pushing for one of his other big ideas – the Museum Mile.

 

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[1] DeNure was using the name “Dennis,” however, long before the film was released.

[2] The trademark application gives a “first use in commerce” and “first use anywhere” of April 15, 1982. DeNure remembers that he had the trademark before he began planning his tournament. He also remembers that he had some ads in national magazines, but that appears to have come later.

[3] Some of these ideas may have come after 1986.