On this day, in 1972, Atari introduced PONG. What first video games did you like to play?
Posted by Leather-Highlight150@reddit | GenX | View on Reddit | 183 comments
Remember Pitfall? That was my favorite.
itgoesineasy@reddit
Pong was the first video game I ever saw or played. My aunt and uncle had it.
PuzzleheadedAbies678@reddit
Loved my Atari 2600
AtomicHurricaneBob@reddit
Tank
zeldasusername@reddit
I fucking loved pong
1Pip1Der@reddit
River Raid and Kaboom! were among my favorites.
Iko87iko@reddit
Me and my brother got it Christmas 75. We played for hours
RawGrit4Ever@reddit
Pong
MirSydney@reddit
Definitely Pong in the seventies.
Plus a pool game. I played for years before ever playing real pool on a pool table. I was pretty good too, because I had a decent eye for all the angles by then.
In the eighties my brother got Donkey Kong for his birthday, that was our next obsession.
Aveeye@reddit
I mean... Ya. We're GenX. We had the first one. Fuckin' Pong.
cricket_bacon@reddit
Exactly. I thought this might have been a trick question.
Tasitch@reddit
Yup. Still have my Magnavox pong that can run on 6 D cell batteries. Broke it out a couple years ago, picked up a rf/hdmi converter and got it hooked up to a projector, all the young uns at that party had a blast playing it on a 72 inch screen.
Authoritaye@reddit
That is amazing! Graphics are so overrated.
revchewie@reddit
Yup. On a cocktail table machine in Round Table Pizza.
bglaros@reddit
Came here to say this exact sentence.
revchewie@reddit
Same
grigiri@reddit
Me too. Dad bought Pong in '74 or '75. He wouldn't let me play, though. I was only 5 and he worried I'd break it.
pocketdare@reddit
I've seen you animals play with things. Do you know how much this cost? We're waiting until you're 12.
Phog_of_War@reddit
Yeah, it was this one.
QuoteHaunting@reddit
Pong is still the greatest 2 player game ever!
LetheSystem@reddit
What's she doing with her hand off the controller!?
Sh0ckValu3@reddit
Junior_Lavishness_96@reddit
Junior_Lavishness_96@reddit
Junior_Lavishness_96@reddit
TheTwinSet02@reddit
Pong
deflorist@reddit
Fast Eddie on a VIC-20. My mom was way better than me at the time
wizard3232@reddit
Warlord with 4 players on atari2600 was amazing
Flashy-Carpenter7760@reddit
Atari 2600 Adventure and Asteroids
johndoe3471111@reddit
I had that exact console! It was awesome at the time. The fact that you could control what was on the TV was such a foreign concept at the time.
Panem-et-circenses25@reddit
Some game on Odyssey. Can’t remember
W4d3w1ls@reddit
The Legend of Zelda
sdbatman66@reddit
Pong
Individual-Trick3310@reddit
There was a Pong of some sort but I just remember seeing it in a pile. For actual games, I loved playing Pitfall! and watching my cousin play Pac Man on the Atari 2600 (which was Sears branded I think, not Atari). She burned the board into the screen one summer.
silverbullionbug@reddit
Pong
wstone5594@reddit
Combat and Space Invaders on my Atari 2600.
4_Dogs_Dad@reddit
Asteroids
Space Invaders
Pitfall
HighSideSurvivor@reddit
Pitfall was such a standout for me among early games. I could play for hours.
notashroom@reddit
My first video game was the snake game on the WANG terminals at the university computer lab for the department where my dad taught. I was playing that from 1975 or so.
My brother and I saved up for quite a while and bought an Atari 2600 in 1979 or so. I think he liked all the games except Jill of the Jungle. I didn't (still don't) like any of the platformers, though I was fine watching my brother or sister climb ladders, shove barrels, swing from vines, etc.
I liked moving and shooting, so Space Invaders, Asteroids, Galaga, Centipede, Missile Command, Pong, Breakout, all those, plus Adventure (we also played the Apple ][e Adventure game) and Frogger.
Those are still most of my favorite video games, just adding Tetris, Tyrian, and some match-threes.
nottodaysatan317@reddit
Had it
hdroadking@reddit
Pong. And I worked with the guy whose dad invented it. He had the original one in his closet for years.
promibro@reddit
I don't remember the name, but it had very simple early graphics and you would run people over in your car. Was it Death Match or something like that? That early game caused a lot of controversy, but then later, Mortal Kombat came out and made everything we previously considered "violent" look like child's play.
Shartfer_brains@reddit
No mentions of "Surround" or "Kaboom"?
Leather-Highlight150@reddit (OP)
Kaboom!
Authoritaye@reddit
Empire Strikes Back on the Atari 2600.
FunboyFrags@reddit
Yar’s Revenge was the first cartridge I bought with my own money. I loved that game!
TimeIntern957@reddit
Wizard of Wor on Commodore 64.
Designer-Mirror-7995@reddit
Pong was it, and I was very young. My dad wanted to be "among the first" for EVERY new system up to the PS 2, lol. I'm older now than he was when he passed on, and I'm STILL a gamer because of the love of it he instilled in me early.
fuzznudkins@reddit
Combat.
EddieIsNotMyRealName@reddit
Night Driver
Ok-Cup6020@reddit
Combat for Atari
GothScottiedog16@reddit
Kaboom
Dry-Luck-8336@reddit
PONG was definitely the first video game I played.
mylocker15@reddit
Instead of an atari we had a TI 99/4a so I played munch man instead of pac man and T. i. Invaders and some of their more odd games like Hunt the Wumpus and Tombstone Valley (name might be wrong)
Also played a lot of Burger Time, frogger, Q-bert, centipede, dig dug, and Ms. Pac Man. Never got that into pitfall it was okay but I kept falling into pits.
Word1_Word2_4Numbers@reddit
Zaxxon, Galaga, BattleZone, Spy Hunter, Pac Man, Donkey Kong, Asteroids, Centipede, Joust, Gauntlet, 1942, Spy Hunter, Tempest, Xevious, Ikari Warriors in Arcade.
Lode Runner, Choplifter, Rescue Raiders, Wizardry I/II/III, Ultima II/III/IV/V on Apple ][.
Dungeon on the Commodore PET.
amused101870@reddit
Pitfall and the Kool aid man adventures
ResidueAtInfinity@reddit
Ahh... I remember saving Kool-Aid UPCs to get the Kool-Aid man game. We also got the Chuck Wagon Roundup game for the Atari 2600 in the same way.
kc581977@reddit
My uncle was at MIT in the mid 70s & passed on a pong console. So pong was the first, but That said, for Atari 2600 games River Raid, Enduro, Pitfall, Joust
sleight42@reddit
Ha!
The first that addicted me was Laser Blast. I learned what "Atari thumb" was thanks to that game!
ArcadianDelSol@reddit
I post on reddit all the time that I was there for every single video game ever made. Ive seen all of them and played most of them.
They cant even comprehend. Its like saying you were alive to see every single movie ever made.
Aries9teen7eight@reddit
That
Flufnstuf@reddit
Had a pong.
klown013@reddit
Yars Revenge
Suspicious-Repeat-21@reddit
Pong = Awesome
Don’t know if anyone else found the sweet spot on this game where if you placed the “paddle” just right it and left it there the dot would always hit it. You could literally set down the controller and walk away and the game would continuously play never missing.
My in-laws did not know of it. So without telling them, I played, they cheered, set it in the sweet spot and walked away, they continued to cheer, when I returned everyone was laughing cheering and shocked. LOL
BlurryBigfoot74@reddit
Table top Pac Man
Realist_Prime@reddit
Was wondering if I'd see this or be the first to post. I played the shit outta this little noisy box as a kid.
BlurryBigfoot74@reddit
Me too. There was a pattern you could use over and over and the ghosts would never touch you, I rolled the score over back to zero
brian428@reddit
ADVENTURE
DanJuandeSiga@reddit
Space Invaders and Defender!
drifter3026@reddit
Pitfall, Space Invaders, Pac-Man, Defender
PhilDGlass@reddit
2600 kid. Only child. Best babysitter my parents ever had. But I also have a very soft spot for pac man cocktail table sit down style my folks would let me play while they had cocktails before dinner at the local steak restaurant.
Vic-123-ma@reddit
Jolly_Grocery329@reddit
Squash!
MaximumJones@reddit
The home version of Atari pictured here was not introduced until 1975.
formykka@reddit
The one in OP's picture is the radioshack/tandy version (1976). The Atari version has two similar corded paddles and a wood paneled "docking bay".
MaximumJones@reddit
You're right. Good catch.
kvmw@reddit
I had the Sears 4 person version of PONG in 1976. Same wooden overlay that the Atari version had
macmannmemes@reddit
I got it for Christmas in '72 and played it until I got a 2600 in '77
sasquatchbrokers@reddit
Pac-Man !
IHadTacosYesterday@reddit
Yep. As bad as the Atari version was, I played the living crap out of it. I can still hear the sound effect of eating the little dots. I was a little 9 year old at the time and didn't know it was a super crappy port. I was just happy to be playing Pac-Man at my own house
glowend@reddit
Duck Hunt!
TwoAmoebasHugging@reddit
And is any game today as fun as Pong was the first time you played it?
Willing_Crazy699@reddit
Pong
stizz14@reddit
We had one, my dad was into electronics and computers growing up. It was fun I guess
Paulbac@reddit
Pong
superkapitan82@reddit
probably pong or nebulus
BionicBrainLab@reddit
I started with Pong. Miss my Ms Pac-Man
S1nnah2@reddit
Pong
TrentWashburn@reddit
Been there since the beginning (pong, Atari 2600, Vectrex, Sinclair ZX81, Commodore Vic-20, Xboxes, a PS4 and various gaming PCs)! And of course the arcades in the 70s and 80s.
Atari: Missile Command, Asteroids, Space Invaders, Adventure, Pitfall!
I appreciated the sometimes quirky early Activision cartridge games: skiing, stampede, barnstormer…but River Raid was my jam. Literally rolled over the score, sent a pic and got the see on patch from Activision lol.
That and Playing Black Ops Zombies with my daughter.
Slacking off the games over last few years post pandemic as there’s much to do and time is not infinite. Plus I was increasingly getting my ass handed to me, even on somewhat slower FPS games like Hell Let Loose (reflexes aren’t what the used to be and milliseconds count).
But still fun exploring Abzu and Subnautica etc.
BlueProcess@reddit
Pong was the first thing I played. But the first game I remember being really impressed by was Joust.
TheGroovyGhoulie@reddit
https://i.redd.it/9nw707afk74g1.gif
Beneficial-Panda-414@reddit
That Joust?!!
gdubh@reddit
Pong. At Pizza Hut.
RandyRVA@reddit
Missile Command or Adventure on the 2600.
r_u_ferserious@reddit
Adventure was great. Figuring out all the little tips and tricks to beat the game was my first rabbit hole in gaming. Lots of good hours spent on that one.
pocketdare@reddit
Amazing how many times you could run the same pattern and still be entertained. Thankfully they also had a "random" set-up mode.
oldschool_potato@reddit
Good I loved adventure. I'll never forget when I was caught by the bat and eventually flew near enough to catch a glimpse of the first Easter egg and realized something was on the other side of the wall.
IllogicalPenguin-142@reddit
I loved Missile Command!
automatedalice268@reddit
Something like this: https://www.hobbydb.com/marketplaces/hobbydb/catalog_items/donkey-kong-jr-game-watch
Donkey Kong and Green house.
bionicbhangra@reddit
It was arcades and something on 2600. I was only like 2 or 3 but I think first game I played was Tank (I think that was the name).
JingJang@reddit
On Atari, Super Breakout, Adventure, and most of the Activision Games (back then Activision was a good company). On C64, Below the Root, Ultima, and the Gold Box D&D games. At the Arcade, Arkanoid, Tron, any of the vector graphics games, Stun Runner
I still love video gaming. My reactions aren't what they used to be, but these days the games have "Story Mode", which equates to "old man mode", and it's fantastic.
Illustrious-Grl-7979@reddit
Pong for Atari then added Outlaw (gunslinger) and Indy 500, which was how I learned the mechanics/how to drive on ice. 😁
Twotricx@reddit
COMBAT !!!!
My favorite
FaustusRedux@reddit
Yeah man. I would destroy my sister with the ricochet shots.
ElderberryQuirky2497@reddit
Space invaders, Yars revenge, pitfall
Suckle_Champ@reddit
We had an Atari 2600 - my favorites were Dragonfire and Demon Attack.
LDawnBurges@reddit
Asteroids & River Raid
bzee77@reddit
And River Raid II, also known as Zaxxon
oldschool_potato@reddit
Magnavox invented electronic ping-pong and the Odyssey was the first home console. Pong by Atari came later and was a full size cabinet game.
nattymystic420@reddit
River raid
Numerous-Positions_5@reddit
Our 2600 came with Combat, and we played the crap out of it until we bought other games.
Acceptable-Ad-9464@reddit
Pong, Galaga, Astroids, breakout, Donkey Kong.
srboot@reddit
Pong
mtlaw13@reddit
Woman in picture:
Rare_Cauliflower_330@reddit
Pong Adventureland (on the Vic 20) Pac-Man Centipede (at the arcade)
Renax127@reddit
I used to put quarters in a Pong cabinet at the grocery store. Then one year we got the "Sears Entertainment Center", which was just a bunch of different versions of pong
orbit03@reddit
Magnavox Odyssey. Still have it. Lol
Certain-Ordinary8428@reddit
This was a huge purchase in our house. Had to disconnect, re-box, and put it back in the closet after each use. Practically took a papal intercession to be able to play it on the lone TV.
Do you still play the legendary bowling/ basketball?
EngineersFTW@reddit
Had one too. It got replaced with a 2600 when that came out. Wound up throwing it away during a move in 1981
19Bronco93@reddit
Not gonna lie as a kid I played Pong for a long time before I put it together that it was ping pong.
vbgooroo55@reddit
Pong
cybrgigolo@reddit
That pong console was great. The one the old man bought also had a pistol for target practice. If you pointed it towards the screen you got a hit almost every time. Spent a lot of time on that.
lopix@reddit
I had a Magnavox system for Pong, which was what Atari copied for their arcade game. If you played it at home, there's a good chance it was on a Magnavox system.
Staran@reddit
I think it was either hitchhikers guide to the galaxy or poltergeist on Atari
Fulghn@reddit
We had the Radio Shack Scoreboard unit and Coleco tank 'Combat' unit before the Atari. My dad always had issues putting the tank into reverse any time he wanted to turn.
Freightshaker000@reddit
My friends got Pong, and soon after a 2600. I eventually received an Intellivision.
Suedeskin@reddit
Adventure, Tapper, Asteroids, Pitfall, Ka-Boom
Yarnest@reddit
Pong and tanks!
FortunateOrchanet@reddit
Pong
BussReplyMail@reddit
If we're talking quarter-eaters, got my start with Asteroids (I wasn't very good,) and once an arcade opened up within walking distance of the house, well...
Nearly everything at least once.
When the folks bought us a 2600, one of my jams was "Laser Blast," even hit the score required to get the patch from Activision for it (but never did get the stupid patch)
acr5978@reddit
I was 13 when pong came out. It was the bomb diggity for its time.
linkerjpatrick@reddit
The most “advanced” Pong - Breakout
Contranovae@reddit
Pong then later donkey kong on a friends atari, on an arcade machine asteroids.
But the game I put the most time into back in the 80's was Elite. The game would have not been as nearly as good for me without the novella by Andrew Holford painting a rich back story of the 8 bit wireframe universe for me and since then story is the most important aspect of every game.
epicenter69@reddit
Tank!
mburke6@reddit
The arcade version of Pong was the first. I grew up in a 68 lane bowling alley that had lots of early arcade video games. There wasn't enough room in Western Bowl for many pinball machines and a place called Pinball Rally across the street had all the pinballs anyway. Video games fit nicely though and they packed them in. By the time the Atari 2600 was released in the later 70s, I already knew most of those first games from the old worn out machines at the bowling alley. Space Invaders, Asteroids, and Lunar Lander were later favorites.
Haunting-Prior-NaN@reddit
Adventure
Warlord, but only multiplayer with close friends
Missile command
Pac-Man
classicsat@reddit
like to play, maybe Omega Race, which was the VIC-20 pack in game.
dfjdejulio@reddit
I mean, Pong. Pitfall was great, for sure.
My favorite stand-up arcade cabinets in my high school years were Tempest, Joust, and TRON.
classicsat@reddit
That's not an Atari Pong, that is one of the TV games units from Radio Shack.
Some chip company, I think General Instruments, made a one chip Pong, that all sorts of manufacturers bought for their TV games devices, including Atari.
vengefultacos@reddit
We had several various Pong machines. I think the first one was a yellow one we got from Sears with the paddle controllers built into the console instead instead of wired controllers.
My brother got an Atari 2600 right when they came out in 1977. Played tons of games. Got to the point where I could even clear a few screens of Space Invaders playing with my feet. (In retrospect, ew). Also loved Kaboom! Mini-golf, Missle Command, and so many others. We also had the BASIC programming catridge, which kinda sent me on a career path.
OkraFar1913@reddit
Aw- how nice I just pulled out my distinct and happy memory of playing this with my Grandfather in the living room.
Weird-Girl-675@reddit
I loved Frogger, but my cousins kept stealing it. I liked River Raid and Ms. PAC Man the most.
My Atari still works, but I forgot how hard the joysticks are to maneuver. So used to buttons now.
porky626@reddit
Pong was my first. But me and my friend spent endless hours playing Intellivsion hockey and baseball later.
Big-Environment-6825@reddit
Pong. Yup
External_Side_7063@reddit
Yep I was there in the beginning
GhostFour@reddit
Space Invaders. I squeezed the joystick so hard my hand was bruised the next day.
Qikslvr@reddit
Pong
HValentines25@reddit
This exact game!!
IDunnoNuthinMr@reddit
Pong. My mom worked at Sears. She was able to get one before most other folks. I was 4-5 and thought it was magical at the time.
LocksmithGlass717@reddit
Pong
RBog80@reddit
Megamania
snoop73@reddit
Night Driver
MMB_LLMN@reddit
Our first was the 2600. I was about 4yo. The games I played the most were Spider Fighter and Enduro.
HM: Pitfall, River Raid, Barnstormer, Chopper Command
Olds1967@reddit
Pong. My folks bought us one 1975 for Christmas. We got an Intelivision when they came out.
FredGarvinMP_67@reddit
PONG, actually. (I would have been 5 years old.)
HomesteadGranny1959@reddit
Dad and I played pong for HOURS. Drove Mom crazy.
Right_Independent_71@reddit
I was over a friend‘s house, you know the type, family always had the latest, and he turned on the TV and played Pong. Instantly hooked on video games forever.
Blackstaff@reddit
One of the few good things my dad did was bring home a TV Scoreboard one Christmas. First gen console, basically a dedicated Pong machine.
In the bowling alley (before arcades were common where I lived), my brother liked Death Race and Sea Wolf. And then Space Invaders came out.
Huge.
TheLastMongo@reddit
Looks at screen, that one.
Laslo_1970@reddit
Something like Pong
DataKnotsDesks@reddit
Pong, obviously!
Hyrul3e@reddit
Mars Lander on the Commodore 64 and a 8” b&w TV
shroomcircle@reddit
Frogger
Komaisnotsalty@reddit
Pong and Tank Wars, around 1976. My older brother had a good paying job so he bought them.
50 years later. We're still gamers.
jdeeeeeez@reddit
This, Space Invaders, Asteroids, Lunar Lander... those were my first of many. My grandparents had Pong at home, which was amazing.
StOnEy333@reddit
Pong.
HourNo7028@reddit
My parents played the arcade version of Pong on their first day. My first distinct memory of playing a video game was the arcade version of Missile Command at the Pirate's Den in West Acres Mall (Fargo, N.D.).
hudahelru@reddit
Galaxian
Low-Bass2002@reddit
Pong was the first I played. Pac-Man was weird and amazing when it first came out as a tabletop style video game we could play at PIZZA HUT!!!
ImaRaginCajun@reddit
Growing up in the 70's we had a conversion van that had a TV that had pong games built in it. Buttons on the side of the portable b&w TV and slots in the front where the controllers plugged in. My younger sister and I thought we were the shit back then lmao.
GoatApprehensive9866@reddit
Pitfall was a classic for sure!
In that photo, who's the lady on the right? She looks familiar
Injustry@reddit
That’s Ms. Cervix, she taught sex ed.
Miserables-Chef@reddit
This. Yes I'm that old lmao
FremenStilgar@reddit
I remember going to my young uncle's house when I was a kid in the 70's and playing his Atari. I really liked Pac-Man and the tank one. Space Invaders was good, but it was a little frantic for me at first.
I had an old Pong game my friend gave me when they got a new Atari, so that was cool. It got old fast though because arcade games were advancing so fast. I remember playing Defender, Galaxian, Galaga, Missile Command and Moon Patrol at the cinema, and at my local gas station I played Phoenix and Asteroids, then came Donkey Kong. Wasted a lot of quarters back in the 80's.
I loved playing Aline Skiing at a family steakhouse we went to. A kid showed me how to use a butter knife to lay across two buttons and make the skier go faster. Good times.
Injustry@reddit
Yars revenge, Raiders of the Lost Arc, Defender
scarlet_hairstreak@reddit
Breakout, space invaders. I think the arthritis in my thumb is directly related to all the Atari hours I logged.
defsentenz@reddit
Pong was my first. My buddy just dug his system out and got it working on his living room tv last year. Pong on a contemporary widescreen is wild to see. It was a glorious Time Machine trip.
Duke1UP@reddit
Pong was the first one, Moon Patrol to follow.
Duke1UP@reddit
It was Pong indeed... Freaking hell, I'm old.
Captain-Pig-Card@reddit
Odyssey 2000 was my gateway Pong!
Worth-Canary-9189@reddit
I still have this and it still works.
MeanNene@reddit
Zaxxon, Pitfall, Pacman. But Pong was definitely the first on the old Black and white.
psgrue@reddit
Good lord I barely remember. My young brain could not comprehend how I made things move on a screen. And there was this transparency that “changed” the game.
On the 2600, I was dominant at Warlords from every corner, learned Bridge well enough to play with my rated parents, and could play Yars Revenge for eternity.
Expat111@reddit
Asteroids, Tempest and Galaga.