Cathode ray tube amusement device

The cathode ray tube amusement device is the earliest known interactive electronic game. Thomas T. Goldsmith Jr. and Estle Ray Mann constructed the game from analog electronics and a cathode ray tube (CRT) in 1947.^[1]

Goldsmith and Mann's patent application describes a game of skill in which a player sits or stands facing a cathode ray tube (CRT) video screen mounted in a cabinet. Goldsmith and Mann designed the game to resemble a World War II radar display, but with airplanes or some other targets painted onto a transparent overlay (since this invention preceded the era of computer graphics).

The player turns a control knob to position the CRT beam on the screen; to the player, the beam appears as a dot, which represents a reticle or scope. The player has a restricted amount of time in which to maneuver the dot so that it overlaps an airplane, and then to fire at the airplane by pressing a button. If the beam falls within the preprogrammed coordinates of a target when the user presses the button, then the CRT beam defocuses, simulating an explosion.

OXO, a version of Tic-Tac-Toe, ran on the EDSAC computer, a CRT amusement device.^[2]

See also

• First video game
• History of video games

References

1. ^ http://www.pong-story.com/2455992.pdf U.S. Patent #2,455,992
2. ^ http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blcomputer_videogames.htm

External links

• Ralph H. Baer Papers, 1943-1953, 1966-1972, 2006 - Ralph Baer's prototypes and documentation housed at the Smithsonian Lemelson Center.