1972 in video games explained

1972 marked an important landmark in the history of the video game industry with the releases of Pong and the Odyssey home console. The profile of electronic games rose substantially and companies began exploring the distribution of video games on a larger scale. Important mainframe computer games were created in this period which became the basis for early microcomputer games.

Events

May 3 – Magnavox initiates their “Magnavox Profit Caravan” series of traveling shows to demonstrate all of their 1972 product line to their dealers and public, including the Odyssey. The first showing occurs in Phoenix, Arizona.^[1]
- May 24 – At a showing in Burlingame, California, three representatives of Nutting Associates including Nolan Bushnell visit the showcase and play the Odyssey demonstration unit. Bushnell takes particular note of the Odyssey game Table Tennis.^[2] ^[3]
June 26 – Bally Manufacturing formalizes an agreement with Nolan Bushnell for the creation of one video game and one pinball table for the company. Bushnell later describes the creation of a hockey game.^[4] The term “video amusement game” is used – one of the earliest instances of the phrase “video game” in print.^[5]
August – Atari Inc. tests a prototype of Pong at Andy Capp’s Tavern (later the Rooster T. Feathers Comedy Club) in Sunnyvale, California.
August 13–15 – Chess 3.0 wins the U.S. American Computer Chess Championship in Boston, Massachusetts for the third consecutive year.^[6]
September 14–16 – The Music Operators of America show is held in Chicago, Illinois. Nutting Associates displays Computer Space for the second year and For-Play Manufacturing showcases Star Trek. Nolan Bushnell attends and fails to interest Bill Nutting in manufacturing Pong during this show.^[7]
October 19 – The Intergalactic Spacewar Olympics competition is held at the Stanford Artificial Intelligence Project facilities in California. It is the first formal video game competition and is a central story in the December 7, 1972 issue of Rolling Stone written by Stewart Brand.^[8]
November 24 – Nolan Bushnell files for US patent #3,793,483 relating to work developed for video game technology. The patent is issued in February 1974 and does not serve as an effective deterrent to video game copycats.^[9]

Financial performance

United States

Home consoles

Notable releases

Publications

October – The date of the first issue of the People’s Computer Company newsletter by Dymax Inc. They print type-in listings of games and other demonstrations in the BASIC programming language, helping to spread games originally created on time-sharing networks.

Arcade

March – The second unit of the Galaxy Game is placed at the Tresidder Student Union at Stanford University. This version features two fiberglass cabinets with two players each, which can be linked to create a four-player game.
October – Coin-operated games company For-Play Manufacturing in California releases Star Trek (1972), a presumed clone of Nutting Associates’ Computer Space.
November – Atari Inc. releases their game Pong, shipping it to local distributors in the Northern California area. The game becomes a hit in the local area and launches Atari’s business.

Consoles

September – Magnavox releases their Odyssey console in twenty-five major markets. It includes twelve games with the console. A light gun addon with additional games is sold separately. They manufacture 140,000 consoles their first year on the market.

Computer games

Empire by Reed College student Peter Langston is created for the HP2000 computer.
Louis Bloomfield of University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana creates the game Moonwar for the PLATO IV mainframe system. It becomes the most popular “big board” game on the network.^[12]

Business

June 27 – Atari Inc. is founded by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney in Sunnyvale, California. They absorb the assets of their prior partnership, Syzygy, though continue using the name Syzygy under a doing business as association.
Dymax Inc. establishes a location in Menlo Park, California. They invite interested individuals to visit the location to access time-sharing terminals at the location to create and use programs – many of which are published in the People's Computer Company newsletter.

Notes

News: 1976-11-03 . Agreed Statement of Facts . 22 March 2024 . Magnavox Company v. Chicago Dynamic Industries, et al. . 13 . US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division.
News: 1977-01-05 . Trial Transcript . 22 March 2024 . Magnavox Company v. Chicago Dynamic Industries, et al. . 1501–1505 . US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division.
Book: Baer . Ralph H. . Ralph H. Baer . Videogames: In the Beginning . 2005 . Rolenta Press . 978-0-9643848-1-1 .
News: Bushnell . Nolan K. . 1972-07-10 . "Letter to John Britz" . 22 March 2024 . Magnavox Company v. Chicago Dynamic Industries, et al. . US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division.
News: Britz . John A. . 1972-06-26 . Royalty Agreement . 22 March 2024 . Magnavox Company v. Chicago Dynamic Industries, et al. . US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division.
News: 1972-08-16 . Computer chess championship ends with '6400' winner . The Columbian . 14.
Book: Goldberg, Marty . Atari Inc.: Business is Fun . Vendel . Curt . Syzygy Press . 2012 . 978-0985597405.
Brand . Stewart . 1972-12-07 . Spacewar, Fanatic Life and Death Among Computer Bums . Rolling Stone.
US3793483A. Video image positioning control system for amusement device. 1972-11-24. 1974-02-19. Bushnell. Nolan.
Book: Smith, Alexander . They create worlds: the story of the people and companies that shaped the video game industry . 2020 . CRC Press, Taylor & Francis Group . 978-0-429-42364-2 . Boca Raton.
1974-05-13 . Magnavox will drop . Weekly Television Digest with Consumer Electronics . 14 . 19 . 9.
Book: Dear, Brian . The friendly orange glow: the untold story of the PLATO system and the dawn of cyberculture . Pantheon Books . 2017 . 978-1-101-87155-3 . New York . en.