Before the days of Mario, Pac-Man, and immersive VR experiences, there was a much simpler, but no less groundbreaking, form of electronic entertainment: Tennis for Two. Created in 1958 by physicist William Higinbotham, this game is widely considered to be the first video game. This wasn’t a commercial venture, but a display designed to make science engaging for the public.
William Higinbotham, a nuclear physicist at Brookhaven National Laboratory, wanted to create an interactive exhibit for the lab’s annual visitors’ day. He felt that the existing science exhibits were “static and non-interactive”. He aimed to show the public how scientific endeavors were relevant to society. Higinbotham, who was born on October 25, 1910, had experience working with cathode ray tube displays for radar systems during his time at MIT and Los Alamos. This background proved invaluable in his creation of Tennis for Two.
Using an analog computer, which had the capability to display various curves like the path of a bouncing ball on an oscilloscope, Higinbotham conceived the idea for a tennis game. The game’s “brain” was this analog computer, which used resistors, capacitors, and relays. He designed the game in just a couple of hours, and with the help of technician Robert Dvorak, it was built in about three weeks.
Tennis for Two was first introduced on October 18, 1958. The game used an oscilloscope as a screen, displaying a side view of a tennis court, including a net. Players used separate controllers with buttons and rotating dials to control the angle of an invisible tennis racquet and hit the ball. The ball was represented by a moving dot that left trails as it bounced, and the game even simulated the ball bouncing off the ground and net. The game was not just for show; players could actually serve and volley, although there were no complex graphics as seen in modern games.
The game was an immediate hit, with hundreds of visitors lining up for a chance to play. It proved to be the most popular exhibit at the open house. The initial display was only five inches in diameter, but it was later improved with a larger screen. The game was even modified to simulate different gravitational conditions, allowing players to play on the moon or Jupiter.
Despite its popularity, Higinbotham didn’t think his creation was particularly innovative. He had already patented 20 inventions, and the technology used in Tennis for Two was similar to a bouncing ball circuit in an instruction book, in his opinion. He didn’t seek a patent, and even if he had, the patent would have belonged to the federal government.
While Tennis for Two isn’t technically the absolute first “video game” (as it didn’t use a raster video signal like modern games), it is a crucial part of the video game lineage. Earlier devices, like the 1948 “Cathode-Ray Tube Amusement Device” and the 1951 Nimrod computer, existed, but were not quite the same experience. The 1952 “OXO” game was also created for a different purpose, as a research tool rather than for entertainment. The innovative use of transistors in Tennis for Two, which allowed for fast switching between the three outputs displayed on the screen, contributed to the game’s visual effect.
Although Tennis for Two was retired after two years, it had planted the seeds for the future of video games. It would be decades before Higinbotham received credit for his work in the video game industry. He was called to testify in a legal battle regarding the first video game patent in the 1970s. His story became better known after an article in Creative Computing magazine in 1982. Though his work on radar and nuclear non-proliferation was his main focus, William Higinbotham is now also remembered as a pioneer of gaming.
Today, the video game industry is worth hundreds of billions of dollars, a testament to the impact of Higinbotham’s early work. Tennis for Two showed that science and technology could be not just tools for research, but also sources of fun and entertainment.
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