Video Games

Hello there. I am a video game. I am a special kind of game that you can play on a screen. My screen is full of bright lights and fun sounds. Before I was born, children played games outside, like tag, or inside with little pieces on a board. But I was something brand new and super exciting. People wanted a new way to play and have fun right in their own homes, especially on rainy days. I was the perfect idea. I was a game made of pictures that could move and sounds that could beep and boop. I was ready to help everyone play in a whole new way, and I couldn't wait to begin my big adventure.

My very first adventure started a long, long time ago. A very clever man named Allan Alcorn helped bring me to life. He worked at a place called Atari. My first popular name was Pong, and I was a simple tennis game. I wasn't fancy like the games today. I was just a little white dot that bounced back and forth between two white lines. When the line hit the dot, I would make a happy sound. It went 'blip' and 'bloop'. Blip. Bloop. Blip. Bloop. It was so much fun. This all happened on a special day, November 29th, 1972. At first, you could only find me in a big room with lots of other games, called an arcade. People would line up, so excited to be the next one to make me go 'blip' and 'bloop'.

Soon, I wanted to play with everyone, not just in the arcade. So, I changed. I went from being a huge machine to a little box that could plug right into a TV in your living room. Now, families and friends could sit on the couch together and play with me. They would laugh and cheer as my little white dot bounced across the screen. I loved making people happy. Today, I am everywhere. I am on your phones, on your computers, and still on your TVs. I have grown so much. Now I can help you build amazing worlds, solve tricky puzzles, and go on magical adventures. I am so proud that I get to help people all over the world have fun and use their imaginations every single day.