Prehistory IV: Mouse in the Maze & Tic-Tac-Toe

This is the fourth in a series of mini-articles on the early history of video games. The games featured here will not receive review scores, and thus will not appear on the Tier List. 

As the 1950s come to a close, there are two final, closely related games that I want to cover to close out the decade. Both games were developed for the same computer, and both utilise an early form of touch screen controls: the light pen. Since neither of them are playable I'll be covering them simultaneously (plus there isn't a whole lot to discuss with another tic-tac-toe game.) As a result, this article is likely to be shorter than the previous few.

Mouse in the Maze

Release Date: January, 1959

Platform: TX-0

Genre: Maze

Developer(s): Doug Ross, John Ward

Publisher(s): N/A

Tic-Tac-Toe

Release Date:  1959 (unable to find a more precise date)

Platform: TX-0

Genre: Board Game

Developer(s): Uncredited 

Publisher(s): N/A

Both Mouse in the Maze and Tic-Tac-Toe were developed for the TX-0 ("Transistorized Experimental computer zero") stationed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). This was an experimental computer, one of the first to make full use of transistors. Basically all previous computers utilised vacuum tubes, but the TX-0 was the first to do away with these tubes in favour of transistors. It's also one of the earliest adopters of magnetic-core memory. Thanks to this form of memory storage, the TX-0 boasted a huge memory capacity of... 64K! Well, it was huge for 1950s computer standards... The TX-0 was also quite important in the grander scheme of computing and gaming, as it is the direct ancestor of the PDP-1 minicomputer, the computer which the legendary Spacewar! was originally developed for. The whole PDP series of computers saw a significant amount of game development throughout the 60s, as we shall see later on in the Prehistory series.

But I digress, to the games at hand. What makes these two games worth mentioning? The most noteworthy feature is the utilisation of the light pen, a device that could be considered an ancestor of the modern stylus used for the touch screens of devices such as the Nintendo DS and 3DS. The fact we have what are effectively touch screen controls in 1959 is rather shocking to me. I would not have expected to see such technology appear this early in computing history. 

For Tic-Tac-Toe, the implementation is rather simple: playing against the computer, you would select the square you wanted to claim by touching it with the light pen. There's little information available for this game other than that. We don't know how the computer played, if it was perfect like OXO or dynamic like Relay Moe. We also don't even know who developed the program. I simply couldn't find any information beyond what I've presented here.

For Mouse in the Maze, the light pen implementation is a little different. Rather than filling in squares, you're removing them. Mouse in the Maze initially presents you with an 8x8 grid, and you create a maze by removing lines from the grid with the light pen. Once you've created a sufficiently devious maze, you'd place cheese somewhere in the maze and let the mouse loose to find it. The mouse automatically moves about the maze, checking for paths each square. Eventually, if it doesn't find the cheese it tires out, but it will remember the information from its first attempt for later expeditions through the maze. Amusingly, later versions of the game would replace the cheese with martinis, resulting in the mouse becoming progressively more drunk as its maze travels went on. Speaking of, this little mouse also technically features some frames of animation, too, with its little tail wagging behind it as it moves about. Cute. Technically, this would make Mouse in the Maze the first game to feature animation. 

But really, what Mouse in the Maze is is a sort of level creating software for testing artificial intelligence and less so a proper game. Granted, many games over the years have included level building tools, and level creation games would become quite popular in more recent years. Just ask the Super Mario Maker community (hey, that game used a touch screen too!) So perhaps Mouse in the Maze could be called the grand-daddy of all make-your-own-level tools / games. Regardless, it and the computer it was created on still stand as important footnotes in video game development.

Prehistory III: Tennis for Two

This is the third in a series of mini-articles on the early history of video games. The games featured here will not receive review scores, and thus will not appear on the Tier List. 

Release Date: October 18, 1958

Platform: Donner Model 30 analog computer

Genre: Sports

Developer(s): William Higinbotham

Publisher(s): N/A

When arguments about what the first video game is arise, William Higinbotham's Tennis for Two is often put forward as a contender. As I've shown in this Prehistory series, I don't ascribe to that line of thinking, but I will say that Tennis for Two is certainly one of the most famous early video games, and certainly the most well-known from the 1950s. Only 1962's Spacewar! would be more famous from this prehistory era, and is also by far the more influential of the two. 

In fact, Tennis for Two would not be known or spoken of for almost 20 years after its initial launch at the annual exhibition of Brookhaven National Laboratory and subsequent disassembling a mere three days later (although it did return the following year due to its popularity.) Tennis for Two only came onto the radar of gamers in the late 1970s on account of a series of infamous lawsuits instigated by Magnavox against what seemed like literally every video game company in existence at the time. Even Higinbotham himself was dragged into some of the proceedings upon the game's discovery!

While we may look back in derision at those lawsuits, they did cause the profile of Tennis for Two to rise dramatically, much like the mythical phoenix rising from the ashes. Higinbotham's creation for years after was lauded as the first video game and a significant ancestor to Ralph Baer's Brown Box prototype, which would become the first home console: the Magnavox Odyssey, and the game that launched the arcade industry, Pong. Despite Tennis for Two bearing no influence on them, one cannot help but marvel at the similarities.

On that topic, let's now have a look at Tennis for Two. Once again, a simulator has been created by Retrogame Deconstruction Zone, so that all can see what Tennis for Two would have played like.

Tennis for Two presents a game of tennis from a side view, unlike the top-down view of the Magnavox Table Tennis game or Pong. This also means that it uses gravity to determine the ball's trajectory. I would say the game screen and gameplay more resembles a later Atari game, Rebound from 1974. The controllers only featured a dial, which adjusts the angle of the player's shots, and the button to serve and return. That's one button more than Pong, and a few dials less than the Odyssey's controller. The switch for 2-player or vs. cpu is an addition for the simulator exclusively (CPU plays right-side), you needed two players for the original game. It's also important to note that Tennis for Two has no score display, players must keep track of match progress themselves. Whether you play a Table Tennis-style first to 11 game, or a traditional tennis match, it's up to you and whoever you're playing with. Or make up your own rules!

CPU returned serve well. It doesn't always.

You'll rotate the dial anti-clockwise for a more obtuse angle, and clockwise for more acute. There's not much reason to go anti-clockwise as your shot will end up out of bounds quickly. Going for sharp angles closer to the net usually works well. Rotating the dial is actually quite simple on the simulator, clicking the dial will lock it onto the mouse movement, making sudden angle adjustments possible, while serving is done with the S key. Alternatively you could use the Z and X keys for incremental adjustments. 2-player mode does not use the mouse, but only the S/Z/X keys for player 1 and ;, ., and / for player 2 (those are rather awkward to format...)

Well that's definitely out.

Just from playing the simulator, one can understand why the original display was so popular. It's a simple game, but one with strong basic mechanics, making it a darn good bit of fun. Heck, that was the entire point, making Tennis for Two at least the first video game designed purely for entertainment and not merely as a scientific experiment or education tool. It certainly would have been good fun for all who sampled the display back in 1958, likely not having seen anything like this before. Tennis for Two was so popular, in fact, that an upgraded version of it returned for the 1959 exhibition that featured adjustable gravity. The game was also rebuilt in 1997, and has occasionally been displayed at Brookhaven ever since.

So, despite its disappearance from history for roughly 20 years, Tennis for Two is - while not the first video game - arguably the first to leave a real legacy.

Prehistory II: Pool & Relay Moe

This is the second in a series of mini-articles on the early history of video games. The games featured here will not receive review scores, and thus will not appear on the Tier List. The first article in the series can be found here.

For this second article in my prehistory series we're jumping across the pond to the United States, as that's where the overwhelming majority of significant video game developments take place from hereon. I will also be skipping years with regularity, as not every year during this period has anything of interest for me. For instance, in this article I will be completely skipping over 1953 and 1955, as there are no noteworthy items to cover.

Pool (1954)

Always shoot-a pool, Giuseppe gonna flunk-a school

Quite the technological step-up from Draughts and OXO, isn't it? This pool simulator was developed by William Brown and Ted Lewis on the University of Michigan's MIDSAC computer. Much like those previous games, Pool was intended as a technical showcase to display the capabilities of MIDSAC. Unlike those previous games, however, Pool displays real-time motion, and is also the first instance of what could be called a more conventional control system. Fortunately, there is a simulator of the game available online, courtesy of Retrogame Deconstruction Zone, so I'm able to show off what Pool would have played like:

One of the things you may notice immediately is the control panel on the left. Pool's main controls are a dial to change the cue direction, and an analog joystick to position the cue. Buttons are used to shoot the cue ball, rack up and reset the cue ball position. How interesting it is that Pool uses such a conventional control scheme. A dial would be the precursor to the rotary paddle controls seen in arcade classics like Pong and Breakout, and analog joysticks are still in use to this very day. Why change something that works so well? 

It's surprising to see how early this control scheme was figured out in all honesty. And you'd know it works full well for Pool, as it makes the game very easy to play. However, it needs to be mentioned that the position of the cue is completely irrelevant to gameplay, only the direction matters. It helps a little to move the cue near the cue ball for visual reference, but the game can be played perfectly well without even touching the joystick. I wouldn't be surprised if it was impossible to program in the necessity for the cue stick to need to touch the cue ball in order to shoot. 

A good break is always the most satisfying part of playing pool

Otherwise, Pool is actually decent fun to play. The easy controls make it simple to play and physics are satisfying and feel somewhat analogous to the real thing. There is no power control for shooting, and the default power is quite strong, but I always found it entertaining to shoot as hard as I could when playing pool anyway. I struggle to nail angles for pocketing balls here the same as in real life as well. Good fun, it's worth a try on the simulator.

Relay Moe (1956)

Tic-Tac-Toe, Relay Moe

This next entry is an odd footnote in gaming history, but nevertheless one I find quite interesting, hence my making mention of it. Relay Moe is a standalone electronic device, developed by Edmund C. Berkeley, that simply plays Tic-Tac-Toe. Now it may on the surface seem odd to make mention of another tic-tac-toe machine (and this won't even be the last one), seeing as I've already covered OXO in the previous Prehistory article, but there are elements of this device that are of enough interest to me to bring it to attention.

As can be seen from the above magazine cover featuring Relay Moe, it appears to be a rather small device for the time. When computers took up entire sheds and rooms, Relay Moe can, based on that picture, sit neatly on your dining table. This would make it a form of portable device, and it brings to mind early 1970s handheld electronic games such as Mattel's Auto Race and others of their devices, even if those games are much smaller than Relay Moe. 

The magazine had a full feature article on Relay Moe

What also drives home the similarity to those early handhelds for me is Relay Moe's display method. It doesn't use any form of TV or CRT display system, instead opting for a system of coloured lights, somewhat akin to the LED displays used in Mattel's early handheld games. Squares you select light up green, and the computer's selections appear red. 

What is also quite fascinating about Relay Moe is its implementation of a form of dynamic difficulty, called "variable intelligence" by Berkeley in his magazine article, who also claims that Relay Moe is the first tic-tac-toe playing machine to implement such variability. The machine has 4 different "conditions" that the computer will set itself to run by which affect how the computer plays. All in all, it would allow the human player to win roughly 50% of the time. It's fascinating to see these nascent sort of video game developers already thinking about mechanics that would eventually become essential components of video game design.

I am unsure whether Relay Moe ever saw a commercial release, or was even intended for one. Berkeley's article suggests that it was part of a study on "the behavior of intelligent machines," and that it could only be played at his laboratory in New York. Therefore I assume it did not release publicly, nor was it intended to. Meaning, once again, that another early video game was intended not for entertainment purposes, but as a scientific experiment. 

Regardless, if I've piqued your interest on this odd little device, the full article written by Edmund Berkeley in the December 1956 issue of Radio-Electronics magazine can be found here.