Gaming When was the first computer game made?

[CarltonNewman]

Hello everyone,
Computer games are a very popular pastime nowadays, they are used to entertain and relax people. On the market today, computer games are very rich and diverse in genres and content. I don't know how the first computer game was created? Can you tell me?
Thanks everyone.

 

[Deleted member 397813]

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[FAST6191]

That is an interesting exploration. Short version, as ever asking for the first of something is complicated -- first to be popular, first to be done as a theoretical, first to be made that might only just qualify vs first one that might be later but undoubtedly qualifies*, and always the chance someone unearths something else in a few years that may or may not also fall into one of the categories already mentioned.

*for a related one. Nobody is quite sure/can agree what the first heavy metal song is but it was certainly no later than Black Sabbath.

Historians have another one. That is they might not know when something was made, or indeed when something was destroyed. They might however be able to say it was around at least on this date and that can be somewhat valuable too.

That said I don't necessarily exclude the electro mechanical games in this which would complicate things massively more than they already are.
A modern one but a nice channel as well


With that I am certainly up for exploring the early history of such things but as maths puzzles, board games (and even what we would call game theory today) was know, electro mechanical memory and logic means for the most part I consider it an inevitability, and not a radical new notion that might have passed us by.

 

[Taleweaver]

https://bit.ly/3m1gCqO

Erm... Yes... This, indeed. Space war in the MIT is the first actual video game. It's pretty well documented, and features in more than a few documentaries on video games. Well worth googling for if you're interested in the topic.

Edit : forgot about tennis for two. Or perhaps others. Check post below...

 

[Mythical]

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lame I was expecting a rickroll, not a lmgtfy

 

[Bagel Le Stinky]

Erm... Yes... This, indeed. Space war in the MIT is the first actual video game. It's pretty well documented, and features in more than a few documentaries on video games. Well worth googling for if you're interested in the topic.

But the cathode ray tube amusement device and Bertie the brain and Oxo and tennis for two, what about those?

 

[Taleweaver]

But the cathode ray tube amusement device and Bertie the brain and Oxo and tennis for two, what about those?

Good point. It's been a while since I read it, but indeed : tennis for two (and I presume those others) predate it.

I could mention the popularity of space wars, or the massive leap in technology over the previous generation games () but in all honesty it was the first patented game.

Tennis for two is really a modded oscilloscope. But as the name suggests : it was the first programmed game with actual gameplay (meaning : pong was just a rip-off).

Can't say I'm familiar with the others you mention. From googling, I'd say that Bertie is more a mechanical tic-tac-toe game. Are you arguing it's a video game if it's shown on a screen?

 

[Deleted User]

... If the definition of Computer is a Machine that Computes and Game is an Entertainment Activity, then Automatons would be the first Computer Games.

Those have been around for centuries, on both the Western and Eastern sides of World Culture, though those from Japan originated from European Watchmaking Technology and is probably more associated with Steampunk these days.

Of course, if the definition revolves around lines of Code and a Monitor, then it started last century.

 

[Bagel Le Stinky]

Good point. It's been a while since I read it, but indeed : tennis for two (and I presume those others) predate it.

I could mention the popularity of space wars, or the massive leap in technology over the previous generation games () but in all honesty it was the first patented game.

Tennis for two is really a modded oscilloscope. But as the name suggests : it was the first programmed game with actual gameplay (meaning : pong was just a rip-off).

Can't say I'm familiar with the others you mention. From googling, I'd say that Bertie is more a mechanical tic-tac-toe game. Are you arguing it's a video game if it's shown on a screen?

I would say it's a video game if you control something on a digital display for entertainment

 

[BlazeMasterBM]

200

 

[Deleted member 42501]

Earth.