Free The Ultimate History of Video Games: From Pong to Pokémon and Beyond—The Story Behind the Craze That Touched Our Lives and Changed the World by Steven Kent Page A

like a revelation.
    Surprised by
Pong’
s success, Bushnell decided that he should manufacture the game himself rather than sell it to an established game maker. The problem was, he had discussed the game with executives at Bally and Midway and stirred up some interest. Now he had to find a way to steer them away from
Pong
while keeping the door open for future projects. In the end, Bushnell played one side against the other.
    Nolan decided he didn’t really want Bally to take
Pong
because he knew it was too good. So he met with Bally and Midway and decided to tell Bally that the Midway guys didn’t want it. And so the Bally guys decided that they didn’t want it.
    Then he told the Midway guys that the Bally guys didn’t want it. He got them convinced that it was no good. [Once they heard Bally didn’t want it] it … didn’t take much convincing.
    —Al Alcorn
     

The Big Debate
     
    There are unanswered questions in the history of video games. One question involves Ralph Baer, the designer of the Magnavox Odyssey, and Nolan Bushnell. It is a question of ownership.
    In 1972, while Nutting Associates tried to market
Computer Space
as the beginning of a new generation of arcade games, Magnavox quietly circulated the Odyssey television game around the country in special demonstrations for dealers and distributors. Most demonstrations took place in private showings, but the new device was also displayed at a few trade shows.
    The first show began on May 3, 1972, in Phoenix, Arizona. Three weeks later, Odyssey came to the San Francisco Bay area in a large trade show held in the town of Burlingame. According to Magnavox, a Nutting Associates employee named Nolan Bushnell attended the show on May 24. Depositions taken from Magnavox witnesses claimed that while at the show, Bushnell tested Odyssey.
    Some time after Atari began marketing
Pong
, in 1972, Magnavox took the California start-up to court.
Pong
, Magnavox argued, violated several of Baer’s patents. It infringed upon his patents for projecting electronic games on a television screen, and, more important, it infringed on his concept of electronic ping-pong.
    What they’ve always alleged was that there was a meeting or a distributor show somewhere in the valley, and I should have, would have, could have been there. So it’s one of those pissing matches.
    —Nolan Bushnell
     
    Atari was up against a stacked deck. First of all, the methodical Ralph Baer considered filing for patents an integral part of the invention process. During his life, Baer was awarded more than seventy patents and was once named “inventor of the year” by the state of New York. He documented everything.
    By comparison, Bushnell, with his haphazard style, allowed the mundane details of invention and legal filing to escape him. Even when he created schematics, like the one he had made for
Computer Space
, they were often illegible.
    More important, whether Bushnell attended the Magnavox show or missed it, there had been a show. * Magnavox could prove that it had demonstrated Odyssey in Burlingame prior to the creation of
Pong
and even prior to the incorporation of Atari. Magnavox also had Baer’s patents and notes, all of which clearly predated
Pong
and
Computer Space.
    Bushnell considered his options. Magnavox had more lawyers and resources than Atari could ever hope to afford. His attorney urged him to take the matter to court, claiming they would win; but when Bushnell asked how much it might cost, the lawyer thought the expenses could be as muchas $1.5 million—more money than Atari had to spend. Atari could not afford to fight, even if it won.
    In order for his company to survive, Bushnell had to find another alternative. It came in the form of a settlement. Magnavox offered Bushnell a very inexpensive settlement proposal. Bushnell followed up by asking for special terms in the agreement.
    It was all settled outside and Nolan and Atari got extremely favorable terms. They paid very