Where Did Video Games REALLY Start?

So, way back when I started the blog, I made the assertion that I believed that Christopher Strachey's Draughts was the first video game ever. My stance on that solidified as a result of watching Stuart Brown's (Ahoy) video essay on the subject of the definition of a "video game", and what, based on that definition, ought to be classified as the first "true" video game. Incidentally, I don't think you should really read those early posts - my writing and research was quite lazy. Putting multiple games in a single post was a mistake - a mistake I may potentially look to rectify in the near future.

I still agree with Ahoy's assessment that Draughts is the first true video game ever made. However, that's not a consensus opinion. Plenty of people would disagree with me. There's plenty of other takes on the "first video game", and games that predate Draughts that could be argued as the first. Some say it's OXO, others Tennis for Two, and some would even say Spacewar! or Pong is the first. Ralph Baer, of course, argued that his "Brown Box" that would become the Magnavox Odyssey was the first. Here in this article, I'm going to discuss those other contenders (except Pong and the Odyssey, because ignoring 25 years of prior history to them is absurd), and attempt to settle on a definite date for when the concept of the "video game" was born.

#037 - Cube: 3D Minesweeper (Except Not Really)

Release Date: July 1973

Platform: Mainframe (BASIC type-in)

Genre: Puzzle

Developer(s): Jerimac Ratliff

Publisher(s): Digital Equipment Corporation

We're back to playing actual games now, and here's one that's entirely original. It bears some similarity to the prototype text-based adventures I've played before, like Hunt the Wumpus and Lost in the Caves, but Cube, today's game, possesses its own identity.

#036 - Chief: Indian Boomerang Puzzle

Release Date: July 1973

Platform: Mainframe (Basic Type-In)

Genre: Educational, Non-Game

Developer(s): John Graham

Publisher(s): Digital Equipment Corporation

Alrighty, folks - this is a weird one. Immediately I'm going to make a call on it being not a game. What we have is essentially another Boomerang Puzzle, but this time with some casual racism inserted into it. Fun! This one will, as a result, be much shorter than the last couple of articles.

#035 - Checkers: King Me! (Forever)

Realised thumbnails might help the videos... bear with me as I figure out a style I like.

Release Date: July 1973

Platform: Mainframe (BASIC Type-In)

Genre: Board Game

Developer(s): Alan J. Segal

Publisher(s): Digital Equipment Corporation

It's been a while since since I talked about the board game Checkers... or Draughts, if you prefer. In fact, it was one of the first games I ever wrote about - what I consider to be the first true video game ever created - back when computers were the size of houses and programming then was akin to the dark arts.

#034 - Bullseye: Never Tell Me the Odds

Release Date: July 1973

Platform: Mainframe (BASIC Type-In)

Genre: Sports

Developer(s): David H. Ahl

Publisher(s): Digital Equipment Corporation

We are staying in the sports arena this week. This time it's a slightly less-flashy and far less dangerous sport compared to bullfighting. Darts is... an odd sport to me, to say the least, but one that has a cult following (as far as I can tell,) particularly in the United Kingdom. While odd, I have come to appreciate it, through my research for this article, as a neat sport that combines a physical skill (throwing) with a mental skill (speed arithmetic) that also doesn't require you to have a perfectly sculpted athlete's body to be good at. My beanpole figure certainly appreciates that - it's the throwing that worries me.