What is the first game ever made?

The first video game ever made is a subject of debate depending on how you define a "game," but the most widely recognized first video game is "Tennis for Two" (1958), created by William Higinbotham. However, there are earlier examples of video games that had different characteristics and technological limitations. Here are the main contenders:

1. "Tennis for Two" (1958)

• Creator: William Higinbotham, a physicist at the Brookhaven National Laboratory in New York.
• Platform: The game was played on an oscilloscope, a type of early electronic display, and was designed to show off the lab's computer capabilities.
• Gameplay: It was a two-player tennis simulation, where players controlled paddles to hit a ball back and forth. The game was simple but revolutionary for its time.
• Legacy: While not intended as a commercial product, it is often credited as one of the first interactive video games and is considered a precursor to games like Pong.

2. "Spacewar!" (1962)

• Creators: Steve Russell, with the help of others at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology).
• Platform: PDP-1, one of the earliest computers used for scientific research.
• Gameplay: "Spacewar!" was a space combat game featuring two players controlling spaceships that could shoot at each other while avoiding gravity wells. The game was quite advanced for its time and featured real-time physics and two-player interaction.
• Legacy: "Spacewar!" was one of the first computer-based video games that gained popularity and was widely distributed across academic institutions, helping to inspire the gaming industry. It is often cited as one of the first arcade games in the context of video game history.

3. "Pong" (1972)

• Creator: Ralph H. Baer (developer of the first home video game console) and Nolan Bushnell (founder of Atari).
• Platform: Arcade machine, and later adapted for home consoles.
• Gameplay: Based on the concept of ping-pong (hence the name), players used paddles to bounce a ball back and forth. "Pong" was simple yet addictive and became one of the first commercially successful arcade games.
• Legacy: While not the absolute first video game ever made, "Pong" was one of the first commercially successful video games and played a crucial role in the birth of the video game industry.

4. "OXO" (1952)

• Creator: Alexander S. Douglas, a British computer scientist.
• Platform: Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer (ENIAC).
• Gameplay: "OXO" is a computer version of Tic-Tac-Toe, and it was created as part of Douglas's Ph.D. thesis on human-computer interaction.
• Legacy: While the game was relatively simple, it marked one of the earliest uses of computers for entertainment purposes and is often considered a precursor to modern video games.

5. "The Cathode Ray Tube Amusement Device" (1947)

• Creator: Thomas T. Goldsmith Jr. and Estle Ray Mann.
• Platform: It was a vacuum tube-based device that used cathode ray tubes to display simple graphics.
• Gameplay: The game involved controlling a blip (a dot) on the screen, which could be moved to simulate the targeting of objects. It was an early attempt at creating interactive entertainment.
• Legacy: This device is often considered a precursor to video games and was patented in 1948, but it did not have the widespread impact that later games like "Tennis for Two" or "Pong" did.

Conclusion:

The first video game ever made depends on the definition you use, but "Tennis for Two" (1958) and "Spacewar!" (1962) are widely regarded as pioneers in the field. If you’re looking for the first commercial video game, "Pong" (1972) is the game that helped define the modern video game industry.