Lesson 1 of 8
The First Video Games
Discover how scientists turned giant research computers into the very first playful interactive games.
Learn it
Imagine a time before games consoles existed, when computers filled entire rooms and were only used by top scientists. In the 1950s and 1960s, clever researchers realised these massive machines could do more than calculate maths problems. They could play games!
One of the earliest creations was Tennis for Two in 1958, built on an oscilloscope screen using glowing green lines. A few years later in 1962, university students made Spacewar!, letting two players duel with spaceships around a dangerous gravitational star.
These early experiments proved that screens were not just for reading data. They could create magical interactive worlds where players could control the action with knobs, switches, and buttons.
Key terms
- Mainframe
- A massive, high-powered computer used by universities and institutions in the mid-twentieth century.
- Oscilloscope
- An electronic test instrument that displays changing signal voltages as a visible wave or line on a screen.
- Human-Computer Interaction (HCI)
- The study of how people design, interact with, and experience computer systems and software.
- Vector Display
- A display system that draws images directly using glowing lines rather than a grid of pixels.
Inside the PDP-1 Mainframe
Step back into 1962 and explore how MIT students programmed Spacewar! on their prized computer.
- 1Paper Tape Boot: Load the Spacewar! source code into the computer using long strips of punched paper tape.
- 2Cathode Ray Tube: Power on the circular CRT monitor, which draws sharp phosphor lines in real time.
- 3Custom Controllers: Connect custom wooden switchboxes so players do not wear out the delicate mainframe switches.
- 4Physics Loop: Watch the computer calculate gravitational pull towards the central star thirty times every second.
Simulating a Tennis for Two Ball Bounce
pythonball_x = 0
ball_y = 100
velocity_x = 5
velocity_y = -2
gravity = -0.5
for frame in range(5):
velocity_y += gravity
ball_x += velocity_x
ball_y += velocity_y
print(f'Frame {frame}: Ball position is ({ball_x}, {ball_y})')Early games like Tennis for Two calculated ball position frame by frame using basic maths and physics formulas just like this loop.
Try it
Place these early computing and gaming milestones in chronological order from earliest to latest:
- 1Spacewar! is programmed on the PDP-1 at MIT (1962)
- 2Ralph Baer develops the Brown Box prototype (1968)
- 3Tennis for Two is created on an oscilloscope (1958)
- 4Magnavox Odyssey launches as the first home console (1972)
Challenge
Design your own concept for a 1960s laboratory game using only simple geometric shapes on an oscilloscope.
Pick whichever way suits you — every mode earns the same bonus XP.
Write at least 40 more characters to submit.
Mark your own work
Guided walkthrough — 0/5 clues revealed
- Clue 1 locked — reveal it only if you get stuck.
- Clue 2 locked — reveal it only if you get stuck.
- Clue 3 locked — reveal it only if you get stuck.
- Clue 4 locked — reveal it only if you get stuck.
- Clue 5 locked — reveal it only if you get stuck.
Each clue costs 3 XP (never below 13 XP). You'd earn 25 XP right now.
Extension: Write down three rules your game would enforce and how players would score points.