Pong
A table-tennis table set in the corner of a bar. Drop in a coin, and two players trade points. This is what turned video games into a business. The prehistory is covered in the myth note above, but his own words are worth adding. Bushnell later described the day he saw the Odyssey demonstration this way: he thought it was junk, and it was junk, and he signed the visitor list and has never denied it — but he came away with the idea that if the table-tennis concept were built properly, it might make for a good game (a statement said to have been posted to a forum). He admits he saw it, and also says he made it himself. This game stands somewhere that doesn't resolve into a simple choice between imitation and invention. Magnavox sued in 1974 and the case settled in 1976. ⚠️ Sources disagree on the settlement amount — one account says a $1.5 million license agreement, another says a $700,000 license fee. This map will not print a number until a confirmed figure can be found.
The myth, corrected
Pong invented the video game
The first commercial arcade game was Computer Space (1971); the first home console was the Odyssey (1972). And before releasing Pong, Bushnell saw the Odyssey's table-tennis game — at a Magnavox showcase in Burlingame on May 24, 1972. His signature remained on the visitor list, and it became evidence in the later lawsuit. Pong is less the side that invented the pattern than the side that proved it worked. What's interesting is that Bushnell himself has never hidden this.