When it comes to home Atari game consoles, many people know and treasure the Atari 2600—and a few may even remember home Pong. But between the launches of those two pioneering gadgets, Atari created several interesting dedicated video game consoles that few people remember today. Predictably, many of those obscure consoles were variations on Pong, but a few others will no doubt surprise and delight anyone not familiar with this early period of home video game history.

First, a little background. Atari first released Pong in the arcade in late 1972, and it spawned dozens of imitators, launching Atari and the coin-op video game industry in a big way. Meanwhile, Pong itself had been modeled upon the earlier Magnavox Odyssey (1972), the first home video game console, which played a similar but more primitive game of video ping pong.

After the modest success of the Odyssey (which, aside from pioneering the video sports concept, had proven the home video game market was viable) and the breakthrough success of arcade Pong, Atari developed its own home console version of Pong that first launched in December 1975 through Sears.

After the success of home Pong, dozens of home console ball-and-paddle clones came on the market. That kept Atari on its toes as the firm tried to continually outdo its earlier versions of the game—and to create entirely new home consoles, some of which were based on Atari's other landmark arcade titles like Breakout, Video Pinball, and Stunt Cycle.

In the slides ahead, we'll take a look at some of these classic but mostly forgotten consoles from Atari's early era.

(This story was originally published on April 8, 2016.)

For Further Reading: If you're interested in the history of Atari computers, check out ExtremeTech EIC Jamie Lendino's new book Breakout: How Atari 8-Bit Computers Defined a Generation, which is now available in paperback and Kindle for $17.99 and $14.99, respectively.


1. Sears Tele-Games Pong (1975), Atari Pong (1976) Here's the console that started Atari's home video game business, Pong. First launched under the Sears Tele-Games brand in December 1975, Atari also released its own self-branded model the following year. As the name implies, the console could only play one game: Pong. Controls consisted of two built-in potentiometer knobs that controlled two paddles on screen -- and like the arcade, it's two-player only. Best of all, unlike the Odyssey, it kept score on-screen.



(Photos: Evan Amos, Atari)

2. Super Pong (1976) Atari followed up Pong with Pong Doubles (1976), which added four-player support to the traditional Pong game. After that was Super Pong, seen here, which played four variations of Pong: Pong, Catch Game (a sort of inverse Pong where players had to guide a slot in a wall to receive the bouncing ball), Solitaire (a one-player variation where you had to hit a hole at the top of a wall), Super Pong (where each player controlled two paddles), and regular 'ole Pong. Sadly, the console could not fly.



(Photos: Jeff Keyzer, Atari)

3. Atari Video Music (1976) After the stunning success of Pong at home, Atari was hungry to apply its video console know-how to new product categories. Along the way, it invented the world's first commercial video light synthesizer, Atari Video Music. Much like the music visualizer in iTunes, the Atari Video Music generated colored shapes (when plugged into a TV set) that pulsed in time with music piped into its electronics. It wasn't a game by any stretch of the imagination, but it was a very unique video console.



(Photo: Sears)

4. Atari Super Pong Pro-Am Ten (1977) We last left off at Super Pong, and after that, Atari released even more home Pong console variations such as Super Pong Ten, Super Pong Pro-Am, and then Super Pong Pro-Am Ten -- seen here -- which included 10 variations on pong with two difficulty levels and support for four players. Phew. It also came with a stylish new base console redesign.



(Photo: Atari)

5. Atari Ultra Pong Doubles (1977) After Super Pong Pro-Am Ten, Atari released Ultra Pong (1977), which included 16 game variations and a new rainbow color field game background. Ultra Pong Doubles upped the ante once again with all the features of Ultra Pong plus four-player support. By this point, cartridge-based systems like the Fairchild Channel F, RCA Studio II, and even the Atari VCS (2600) were beginning to make dedicated Pong consoles obsolete and, quite frankly, look a little silly. If they had never come out, "Super Ultra Awesome Pong Pro-Am Ten for Doubles" would have likely emerged in the late 1970s.



(Photo: Atari)

6. Atari Video Pinball (1977) Video Pinball started as an Atari arcade pinball simulation game, then made its way home into this neat dedicated console (seen here in its second version) that also included several game variations and the popular Atari arcade game Breakout. Accordingly, the Video Pinball console included a Pong-style potentiometer knob and two flipper buttons on the side of its plastic case. It's a very entertaining release, all around.



(Photo: Atari)

7. Atari Stunt Cycle (1977) Around the height of Evel Knievel mania, Atari released an arcade came called Stunt Cycle where the player controlled a tiny man on a motorcycle (from a side-view perspective) attempting to jump over increasing amounts of cars and buses. The following year, Atari released a novel home version of this game that included a built-in handlebar controller. Amazingly, the only way you can play the game is by rotating the right-hand grip varying amounts (like the accelerator on a motorcycle) -- there is no steering involved. It's a tricky game, and it makes a neat collectible today.



(Photo: Atari)

Further Reading

Gaming System Reviews