From: bcasper@eos.ncsu.edu (Brian Casper)
Subject: Re: Getting things straight
Followup-To: rec.games.pinball
Originator: bcasper@c00100-100lez.eos.ncsu.edu
Reply-To: bcasper@eos.ncsu.edu
Organization: North Carolina State University
Date: Wed, 30 Sep 1992 15:24:57 GMT


jecoleb@eos.ncsu.edu (have clue, will travel) writes:
|>mcbride@cs.arizona.edu (Chris M. McBride) writes:
|>>Now the good stuff:
|>
|>>Space Wars has been recognized as the first Computer Game(in graphics)
|>>and was developed at MIT on a pdp 8. For the first decade of the
|>>arcade generation, almost EVERY game had something from that very
|>>first game.
|>PDP-1. Steve "Slug" Russell and the usual gang of idiots at MIT.
|> (Just being picky.)  :-P
|>This does clear up the Spacewar-Space Wars thing--I referred to Pong as
|>being the first video ARCADE (read as: quarter-operated) game, and have
|>since been corrected to Computer Space.  Spacewar ran on a PDP oscilloscope.
|>
|>>I was also under the impression that Pong is credited with being the
|>>first coin-op video game(or was it the first wide use?) But what is
|>>the first pinball?
|>
|>See above for vids--maybe this should be crossposted to rec.games.pinball! ;)
|>
|>(Hey, CASPER!  Talk to me.)

Ok ok ok... Stop shouting ;-)

I thought I would let you guys hash out the details on the Space war/ Computer
Space, PDP 1/8/11 thing because my memory fades as I grow older.  I do remember
reading the history of this stuff somewhere, and you've got the part about the
oscilloscope right.

As for the first pinball, depending on your definition of pinball, the machine
and date varies.  Pinballs started showing up as early as the 1920's with
table top machines called 'bagatelles'.  You would launch a ball and have it
roll around until it fell into a hole which counted for some point value.
There were no such thing as flippers back then.  These machines were like
horizontal pachinko...  David Gottlieb had built a name for himself by
creating mechanical arcade machines, like the strength testers, etc., but in
the early thirties, he had a really big hit that was called something like
"Bozo Ball".

Sometime during the mid 30's, Harry Williams invented the first battery powered
pinball that had a solenoid which would kick the ball out of a hole on the
playfield, light some lights, and rin some bells.  Many of the modern devices
found on pins came from the mind of HW, including the first tilt (originally
known as a "stool pigeon" BTW).

It wasnt until the late 40's that the first flipper appeared.  As the story
goes, a serviceman working with for Gottlieb was repairing a baseball machine.
It had one of those bats that would give you one swing for each ball that was
pitched.  Well, he had jumpered the unit so that it would swing each time he
hit the button rather than just once, and a new idea came to mind.  I think
the first pinball to use flippers was called "Humpty Dumpty", and it had 6
flippers - two at the bottom, two somewhere near the middle and two closeer
to the top.  The solenoids were so weak that you had to pass the ball up from
the bottom to the top.  They were smaller than regular flippers - like the
"Thing" flipper on The Addams Family.

There's _lots_ more to be said about the history of pinball...  I would
recommend reading "The Lure of the Silver Ball" by Flower and Kurtz if you
haven't already.

NOTE:  I crossposted this to r.g.pinball and r.g.v.arcade because I can see
a few followups coming down the pipe and this discussion probably belongs
there...

-- 
-- 
Brian Casper                |   "I like to study psychologists.  It gives
bcasper@eos.ncsu.edu        |    good insight into what rats are thinking."
  Pinball Consultant        |     -  Dr. Oscar Wesler
Newsgroups: rec.games.video.arcade