First video game I ever played. I was eleven or twelve, it was in '73 or '74 and I played against my Dad. I was amazed. It seem positively space age. Dad's gone now. It's a good memory.
Yeah I remember playing Atari's "Vaguard" on the 2600 with my dad who's gone now too, those are good memories, no way those companies knew they were going to create those when they designed the titles....
Congrats on getting this bit of history restored! I was too young to even know about this cabinet, back in the day. I do recall watching the moon landings on that very model of TV, though. LOL Thanks for sharing this. :)
I'm 55, and when I was about 16, there was a Pong machine at the local YMCA, although I was somewhat surprised to see one because by then (1980 or so) they were considered old school and pretty rare. Pacman and such were out by then, and pong was considered pretty old school even just a few years after it was gone as it was pretty simplistic.
it's fascinating to see early era cabinets. the cabinets of the later 70s, 80's and onward are so much more refine and purpose built, these were more like proof of concept builds for testing the market, built out of off the shelf parts and appliances and bolted together.
The funny thing is the Home version came out (in the form of the Magnavox Odyssey) before the Atari arcade version. With an actual TV inside there was no way Atari could say it wasn't a TV Game, which Magnavox had the patents for. www.pong-story.com/ Magnavox made far more money from license fees than they did from the Odyssey.
i used to have one of these...bought it at an auction for 3 dollars back in 1980 or so...fiddled with it...enjoyed it..stuffed it in a shed where it rotted away to nothing..i wonder how much money i threw away
I remember playing one of those in an old Montgomory Ward store here in Abilene, Tx. No idea they used a standard B/W TV instead of a dedicated monitor! LOL!!
Be careful though. Until TVs started having dedicated video inputs many of them had a live chassis connected directly to the mains.I guess the little transformer in the video lead isolates the logic and controls from the monitor in the cabinet.
I remember seeing Pong in the arcade but not an Atari original like this. Not sure if they made it to Ireland. :) Most of the pong I played was on a dedicated home console.
Davy you'd be surprised, Atari (at least later) built cabinets in Ireland to distribute in Europe. Not sure if they built them over there this early though...
@@LyonsArcade They had a factory in County Tipperary as far as I know. But as you say that might have been later - they built classics like Asteroids and Centipede there I think.
I'm working on one in The National Videogame Museum in the Netherlands that we've just acquired, the previous owner said he imported it from the US himself, so there is not that many around here. The paddle controls are black on our unit, do you know if thats definitely not original or dit Atari use different knobs during production? Fun fact is that your PCB is on the right side and ours is on the left side of the cabinet, the power transformer that sits on your shelf next to the tv is mounted underneath on the left in ours. Also the tv used in ours is a Mitsubishi one and sadly only shows a grey screen. I was going to recap it but on opening found that has already been done. I really would like to use the original television but may have to put another screen in to get it playable. Black and white NTSC tv's of that size and also modded for composite signal are not easy to come by these days, especially here in what used to be PAL territory, though I'm assuming with a b/w signal it'll probably not be as difficult to get a usable picture as with a color signal. Thanks for your informative video's....
Playy, we actually have ANOTHER one in right now we're working on that is setup like the one you describe. On ours, the monitor has been removed and replaced with a Motorola XM-501.... which is up and working fine.... When you get yours going, there are 5 errors in the design of the original game, 1. when the ball hits the edges the screen jumps... 2. the paddles won't go all the way to the edges.... 3. the ball can get stuck in the top or bottom of the screen... 4. the screen will be centered slightly to the left of center no matter how you adjust it... and 5. sometimes the net on certain boards is too light. They can be repaired with some mods but it might be better to leave the original board the way it was designed.....
@@LyonsArcade Thanks for the heads up. I've hooked it unto a Commodore 1084s Monitor and I couldn't quite centre it. I did notice the paddles not quite making it to the edges, I had no idea these were all bugs... I guess we'll leave them in as that was the way it was played when it came out and we do try to go for authenticity as much as we can when we restore machines and let our visitors experience them... Really enjoyed your Asteroids repair video as well...
When I was doing arcade repair in Catalina, I had the chance to work on a Computer Space (they had 3 of them!). My first thought was, “Oh my gawd! There’s no voltage regulators on this thing!” My second thought was, “Oh my gawd! Where’s the microprocessor?” I needed therapy after that repair.
Joe's Classic Video Games, I owned a Solar Quest game for a while. I never actually paid much attention to the PCB. Processors were so poor back then that I guess manufacturers were grateful that they could perform more complicated functions with discrete ICs.
I've got a tripod, it's just a pain in the ass to set it up all the time... but it's getting to the point where it's a bigger pain in the ass to explain to people why I don't use a tripod
Syzygy | Definition of Syzygy by Merriam-Webster Definition of syzygy. : the nearly straight-line configuration of three celestial bodies (such as the sun, moon, and earth during a solar or lunar eclipse) in a gravitational system.
...Some of the very first experimental videogames from the late 1950s and early 60s used vector graphics on something like an oscilloscope monitor, like "Tennis for Two" and "Spacewar!" Wikipedia claims the first vector arcade game was Cinematronics' 1977 "Space Wars", which was basically a "Spacewar!" clone. correction: I guess the original PDP-1 Spacewar! wasn't really a vector game, since the monitor could only display dots, not lines.
Hom many of these have been retrofitted with LCD? Any idea? My first touch to Pong was actually a shady multi game box htat you wired to the TV, that imitated it... not sure if it was a legitimate and licensed port or just ripoff.
I love that it's literally just a TV sitting on a shelf inside the cabinet.
Hey if it works, it works :)
First video game I ever played. I was eleven or twelve, it was in '73 or '74 and I played against my Dad. I was amazed. It seem positively space age. Dad's gone now. It's a good memory.
Yeah I remember playing Atari's "Vaguard" on the 2600 with my dad who's gone now too, those are good memories, no way those companies knew they were going to create those when they designed the titles....
I remember one of these kicking around in the bar on a campsite in DeHaan Belgium around 1980.
Very cool, i'm glad they made it overseas so everybody could see one....
Congrats on getting this bit of history restored! I was too young to even know about this cabinet, back in the day. I do recall watching the moon landings on that very model of TV, though. LOL Thanks for sharing this. :)
Gotta say kudos to you for not removing the schematic and getting the original TV in there to work. You’re aces in my book.
Thanks B we appreciate that, see you on the next video!
wow that is a rare gem you're fixing
Definitely something special!
I'm 55, and when I was about 16, there was a Pong machine at the local YMCA, although I was somewhat surprised to see one because by then (1980 or so) they were considered old school and pretty rare. Pacman and such were out by then, and pong was considered pretty old school even just a few years after it was gone as it was pretty simplistic.
Yeah it had a short little time there where it was the only thing out but they jumped by leaps and bounds soon after....
Your videos are some of the top Pong Arcade results on the Internet, man!
Very cool , we're making it big :)
@@LyonsArcade Your're making a big pong!
it's fascinating to see early era cabinets. the cabinets of the later 70s, 80's and onward are so much more refine and purpose built, these were more like proof of concept builds for testing the market, built out of off the shelf parts and appliances and bolted together.
Yeah I agree, it's like proof of concept stuff that's a good way to put it.
The funny thing is the Home version came out (in the form of the Magnavox Odyssey) before the Atari arcade version. With an actual TV inside there was no way Atari could say it wasn't a TV Game, which Magnavox had the patents for. www.pong-story.com/ Magnavox made far more money from license fees than they did from the Odyssey.
AWESOME JOB! I played pong my first game ever if I recall correctly.
Long Live Pong!
Thumbs up for taking the time to film this
No problem, glad you enjoyed it!
In 1976, my friend and I used to sneak into the bar at Herrill Lanes on Long Island to play Pong. We were only 7 and got kicked out several times.
Great! Well done for getting it all working good as new! cool!
Thanks Kieron, we appreciate you watching!
I was young when it was out, if I played without shoes on I would get a light shock from the game back in the day.
Whoops they had some stray voltage in there somewhere!
It's funny you say the pan to catch the quarter's lol more like nickels and dimes 😀
It takes quarters, so there wouldn't be any dimes or nickels in this one, only quarters....
i used to have one of these...bought it at an auction for 3 dollars back in 1980 or so...fiddled with it...enjoyed it..stuffed it in a shed where it rotted away to nothing..i wonder how much money i threw away
They're worth about 3 grand now in decent shape :)
that, is a beautiful PCB
It definitely is... and one of the first arcade PCB's!
I remember playing one of those in an old Montgomory Ward store here in Abilene, Tx. No idea they used a standard B/W TV instead of a dedicated monitor! LOL!!
Isn't that crazy? In the Montgomery Ward, did it just have the one machine or was there an area with several?
Joe's Classic Video Games it was just the one game if I remember right.
The modification on the monitor is simple, you can convert any old crt TV to use as a monitor by tapping into the RGB wires on the CRT.
I figured it was but I've never really tracked down what I need to tap into so I was happy to get the original one back in there...
kpanic23 right! The video format will be different but can be located on the main board. All crt’s need conversion prior to the crt.
Be careful though. Until TVs started having dedicated video inputs many of them had a live chassis connected directly to the mains.I guess the little transformer in the video lead isolates the logic and controls from the monitor in the cabinet.
I remember seeing Pong in the arcade but not an Atari original like this. Not sure if they made it to Ireland. :) Most of the pong I played was on a dedicated home console.
Davy you'd be surprised, Atari (at least later) built cabinets in Ireland to distribute in Europe. Not sure if they built them over there this early though...
@@LyonsArcade They had a factory in County Tipperary as far as I know. But as you say that might have been later - they built classics like Asteroids and Centipede there I think.
I'm working on one in The National Videogame Museum in the Netherlands that we've just acquired, the previous owner said he imported it from the US himself, so there is not that many around here. The paddle controls are black on our unit, do you know if thats definitely not original or dit Atari use different knobs during production? Fun fact is that your PCB is on the right side and ours is on the left side of the cabinet, the power transformer that sits on your shelf next to the tv is mounted underneath on the left in ours. Also the tv used in ours is a Mitsubishi one and sadly only shows a grey screen. I was going to recap it but on opening found that has already been done. I really would like to use the original television but may have to put another screen in to get it playable. Black and white NTSC tv's of that size and also modded for composite signal are not easy to come by these days, especially here in what used to be PAL territory, though I'm assuming with a b/w signal it'll probably not be as difficult to get a usable picture as with a color signal. Thanks for your informative video's....
Playy, we actually have ANOTHER one in right now we're working on that is setup like the one you describe. On ours, the monitor has been removed and replaced with a Motorola XM-501.... which is up and working fine.... When you get yours going, there are 5 errors in the design of the original game, 1. when the ball hits the edges the screen jumps... 2. the paddles won't go all the way to the edges.... 3. the ball can get stuck in the top or bottom of the screen... 4. the screen will be centered slightly to the left of center no matter how you adjust it... and 5. sometimes the net on certain boards is too light. They can be repaired with some mods but it might be better to leave the original board the way it was designed.....
@@LyonsArcade Thanks for the heads up. I've hooked it unto a Commodore 1084s Monitor and I couldn't quite centre it. I did notice the paddles not quite making it to the edges, I had no idea these were all bugs... I guess we'll leave them in as that was the way it was played when it came out and we do try to go for authenticity as much as we can when we restore machines and let our visitors experience them... Really enjoyed your Asteroids repair video as well...
By the way it looks like Atari just grabbed whatever tv was available to put in those Pong cabinets.
When I was doing arcade repair in Catalina, I had the chance to work on a Computer Space (they had 3 of them!). My first thought was, “Oh my gawd! There’s no voltage regulators on this thing!” My second thought was, “Oh my gawd! Where’s the microprocessor?” I needed therapy after that repair.
Yeah it’s wild! Look into how they did the processor on the cinematronics stuff.... three chips create a processor....
Joe's Classic Video Games, I owned a Solar Quest game for a while. I never actually paid much attention to the PCB. Processors were so poor back then that I guess manufacturers were grateful that they could perform more complicated functions with discrete ICs.
Caps caps nice piece of history
Yes it is!
An old full tv inside, wow to think that maybe the first arcade game.
Next time use a tripod and a spot light.
you first
Holding a camera with one hand and playing two-player Pong with the other? Somebody please buy this man a tripod!! :)
I've got a tripod, it's just a pain in the ass to set it up all the time... but it's getting to the point where it's a bigger pain in the ass to explain to people why I don't use a tripod
@@LyonsArcade 🤣🤣🤣
@@LyonsArcade ROFL. I love all the Siskel & Ebert critics on lubetube.
Dude, leave it up to you to save 70s digital history!
We're trying :)
cool !
Thank you Tomy Power!
@@LyonsArcade welcome!
good video
Thank you Wilder!
The pronunciation of Syzygy is SCISSOR G.
that sounds right! Thanks Michael.
@@LyonsArcade Anytime, my friend. Love your vids.
Syzygy was the company name before they changed it to Atari...
Syzygy | Definition of Syzygy by Merriam-Webster
Definition of syzygy. : the nearly straight-line configuration of three celestial bodies (such as the sun, moon, and earth during a solar or lunar eclipse) in a gravitational system.
I was my first video game at pizza hut. A cocktail
Dose pong uses vector graphics?
And would it be the very first vector game before asteroids.
It's a raster, since it just uses a regular early 1970s TV for output (with minimal modifications), and a TV is raster scan.
...Some of the very first experimental videogames from the late 1950s and early 60s used vector graphics on something like an oscilloscope monitor, like "Tennis for Two" and "Spacewar!" Wikipedia claims the first vector arcade game was Cinematronics' 1977 "Space Wars", which was basically a "Spacewar!" clone.
correction: I guess the original PDP-1 Spacewar! wasn't really a vector game, since the monitor could only display dots, not lines.
We had one of those Space Wars Cinematronics games, it was very cool. Pretty large, too.
Me my opinion Sche coincidentally quicksilver likes pong and Pink Floyd
9:40 glitchy tv
Hom many of these have been retrofitted with LCD? Any idea?
My first touch to Pong was actually a shady multi game box htat you wired to the TV, that imitated it... not sure if it was a legitimate and licensed port or just ripoff.
couldn't you just prye the staples out carefully and tap them back in after you copied the schematics?
Probably :)
@@LyonsArcade You really are one for long monologues and short answers lol
Who gives a crap.
Perhaps next time he should get an xray camera to scan it.
Here LET me help U. IT'S BROKE.