The Atari Origin Story

The American Avocet is a small bird with long legs and a slender, upturned bill that is used to catch water invertebrates for food. Primarily black and white, avocets have a rust-colored head in summer that turns to grayish-white in winter. They forage and nest out in the open, and protect their eggs from overheating by dipping their belly feathers in water. Chicks leave the nest within a day, having already mastered the ability to swim, dive, and walk. Keep an eye out in the morning and at dusk for this native waterfowl.

Originally developed by Namco in Japan, Dig Dug was licensed by Atari in 1985. The object of the game was to either drop rocks on fire-breathing monsters or inflate them with air until they exploded. Dig Dug was one of the ten most popular pay-to-play games ever developed.

Designed by Lyle Rains, Ed Logg and Dominic Walsh in Sunnyvale in 1979, this iconic game allows a player to control a spaceship within an asteroid field which is periodically traversed by flying saucers. Asteroids was wildly influential in the popularity of the video game industry.

Released in 1982, Submarine commander was “an extremely sophisticated simulation” of naval combat. Players took the controls of a World War II German U-Boat and launched torpedoes in hopes of sinking enemy ships on the waters of the Mediterranean.

When Konami launched Frogger in 1981 – and eventually licensed it to Atari – they could never have guessed that players helping frogs navigate roadside hazards would culminate in the sale of twenty million copies of their game, making it a significant contributor to the golden age of the video arcade era.

There are a hundred reasons to love this game designed by Ed Logg and Dona Bailey in 1980. Here’s one: Bailey was one of the few female game programmers in the industry at the time. Centipede requires players to successfully navigate between a variety of scary insects and arthropods.

Originally slated to be named “Snots and Boogers,” this lovable character game was developed by Jeff Lee and Warren Davis in 1982. Players directed “Q*bert” to change the color of blocks in a pyramid by jumping on them, while avoiding obstacles and enemies.

Lunar Lander, an early entry into the Atari gaming world in 1979, offered players the chance to navigate a landing craft onto the surface of the moon. Although the graphics were basic and unsophisticated, the game captivated early adopters of the Atari system.

Allen Alcorn created Pong as a training exercise while working at Atari. It was released in 1972 as the first sports-themed arcade game. The game became an important driver for the fast-moving arcade game industry. Pong featured two players engaged in a two-dimensional game of ping pong.

Designed and programmed by Dave Theurer in 1981, Tempest was the first Atari game that allowed each player to choose their starting level. This breakthrough in user input led to many innovations centered around the user’s experience – a critical component of successful games that followed.

Bally Midway developed the arcade game Rampage in 1986. Players took control of enormous monsters and defended themselves against an assortment of military forces trying to destroy them. Entire cities were the collateral damage as the battles raged.

In 1977, Joe Decuir and Larry Wagner developed Combat for the Atari 2600 platform. Combat offered twenty-seven game playing scenarios featuring tanks, biplanes, and jet fighters. Combat was known for its innovative sound effects.