Object Details
maker
Atari, Inc.
Maker
Sears, Roebuck and Co.
Description
Pong is an electronic game that simulates on a two-dimensional screen the play in table tennis (Ping Pong). The California firm of Atari originally introduced it in 1972 as an arcade game (see 1984.0890.01). Seeking a larger market, Atari designers soon were working on a smaller device that could be played at home, with a television set as screen. A home version of the game was distributed from late 1975 by Sears, Roebuck and Company. This is a slightly later version of that game, sold as "Super Pong" from 1976.
Two gray controllers fit into the brown plastic game unit. Each controller is marked: Sears. The unit played four games. Text at the center top of the game unit reads: SUPER PONGTM (/) TELE-GAMESTM. Atari filed for a trademark for PONG in 1975, and it was registered November 28, 1978. Sears applied for a trademark for TELE-GAMES in 1977, and it was registered April 11, 1978. A Sears catalog from 1976 and 1977 advertised Tele-games Super Pong (indicating trademarks). Hence it seems likely that the game dates from between 1976 and 1977. By 1978, Super Pong was offered on cartridge.
.
References:
[Advertisement], Hartford Courant, April 5, 1978, p. 30
[Advertisement], Los Angeles Times, Apr 6, 1978, p. G25.
[Advertisement], New York Times, March 29, 1978, p. C4.
Henry Lowood, “Videogames in Computer Space: The Complex History of Pong,” IEEE Annals of the History of Computing, vol. 31 #3, July-September 2009, pp. 5-19.
Sears, Roebuck and Company, Wish Book for the 1976 Christmas Season, pp. 390-391.
Sears, Roebuck, and Company, Catalog, Spring, 1977, p. 1044. The game is priced at $78.95. Games played include electronic versions of catch, basketball, handball, and (as with the original Pong) table tennis.
Sears, Roebuck, and Company, Catalog, Fall, 1977, p. 1262. The game costs $39.95.
Sears, Roebuck, and Company, Catalog, Spring, 1978, p. 1060. Doesn't include this form of Super Pong.
Location
Currently not on view
Credit Line
Collected by Jon Eklund
Date made
1976
date made
1976-1977
ID Number
2006.0132.31
catalog number
2006.0132.31
accession number
2006.0132
Object Name
Electronic Game
Physical Description
plastic (overall material)
metal (overall material)
Measurements
overall: 7 in x 11 in x 6 in; 17.78 cm x 27.94 cm x 15.24 cm
See more items in
Medicine and Science: Computers
Computers & Business Machines
Data Source
National Museum of American History
Subject
Entertainment
Link to Original Record
Record ID
nmah_1303665