They seemed less than impressed, but The Times reported that “thousands” of other Americans were already hooked on “the space age pinball machine.”

Two years earlier, the first home video game console was released: the Magnavox Odyssey, created by Ralph Baer, above. The impetus? His frustration at having nothing good to watch on TV.

Mr. Baer is considered by many to be the father of video games, but, as with many origin stories, the title has long been in dispute. As Mr. Baer began selling the Odyssey and his game Table Tennis, Nolan Bushnell and his company, Atari, created the first arcade machine. Atari’s game, Pong, was similar to Table Tennis but quickly dwarfed the Odyssey in sales.

Mr. Bushnell admitted to knowledge of Mr. Baer’s Table Tennis, but later said he “didn’t think it was very clever.” A patent battle ensued, which Atari lost. But Pong is the game we remember.

Tim Williams contributed reporting.

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