{"id":2092,"date":"2026-06-14T14:08:26","date_gmt":"2026-06-14T14:08:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=2092"},"modified":"2026-06-14T14:08:26","modified_gmt":"2026-06-14T14:08:26","slug":"sunnyvale-historical-society-commemorates-site-of-first-pong-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=2092","title":{"rendered":"Sunnyvale Historical Society commemorates site of first Pong game"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The man who designed Pong was 24 years old when he installed the first arcade version of the video game at a bar in Sunnyvale in 1972. Allan Alcorn returned to the same spot on June 10 after the city\u2019s historical society unveiled a plaque to commemorate the installation of Atari\u2019s flagship video game.<\/p>\n

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Alcorn was Atari\u2019s third employee when the company released Pong, which has cemented its place in Silicon Valley history and the digital cultural zeitgeist as one of the first video games.<\/p>\n

According to Alcorn, Pong was supposed to be a \u201cthrowaway\u201d game. He told the dozen or so community members who turned out for the unveiling that Atari founder Nolan Bushnell assigned him the \u201csimplest game he could think of, as an exercise.\u201d But the game became so popular that the machine in Sunnyvale broke because the bucket inside had overflowed with quarters, causing the wire to disengage.<\/p>\n

\u201cNext day, I went back to work, and I said, \u2018Nolan, I found the problem: Goddamn thing\u2019s making too much money,’\u201d Alcorn recalled.<\/p>\n

A Sunnyvale Heritage Park Museum board member led the charge to commemorate Pong\u2019s placement at what is now Rooster T. Feathers comedy club.<\/p>\n

\u201cMargaret Lawson raises her hand and starts to talk about her daughter, who played Pong, and that we needed to signify where Pong had first been placed, and it had been placed right here in Sunnyvale,\u201d said museum president Tiffany Anderson.<\/p>\n

Heather Barbieri, owner of Rooster T. Feathers, said proudly that she comes from a family of \u201cAtari people,\u201d adding that her younger brother \u201chad to have one\u201d when the first Atari console came out. She recalled her father developing blisters on his hand from using the joystick to play a later Atari game.<\/p>\n

Barbieri was too young to enter Andy Capp\u2019s Tavern,\u00a0the bar where Pong was first installed, and she said she was surprised to find out the history behind the building she acquired 25 years ago.<\/p>\n

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\u201cHow great that the very first beta test of a video game, which is such a huge industry, was here at the club that I bought,\u201d Barbieri said.<\/p>\n

The first Pong game machine is now in the Computer History Museum in Mountain View. Although Alcorn didn\u2019t anticipate the game\u2019s success, he noted its widespread appeal.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think one of the reasons it was successful was because, unlike many other pinball machines and stuff, you could participate in athletics while maintaining a firm grip on a can of beer; you could be drunk off your ass and still play it,\u201d Alcorn said. \u201cAnd women could play it, whereas the pinball machines in those days were really graphic\u2026and this was done to be acceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since Atari, Alcorn went on to start a slot machine company called Silicon Gaming, which manufactured slot machines in Palo Alto before licensing, approving and shipping them to Las Vegas. He also started a company that used technology to identify television and radio consumption. He expressed pride at being called a disruptor in the industry.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI was one of the troublemakers, and I kind of like that, because I basically take an existing industry and apply new technology to that industry and change the whole industry,\u201d Alcorn said.<\/p>\n

As one of the pioneers of Silicon Valley, Alcorn said the path Silicon Valley is on now is \u201ca little disturbing.\u201d He\u2019s wary of the many companies pursuing artificial intelligence.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the venture capital stuff has gotten to out of hand, too much greed,\u201d Alcorn said. \u201cI mean, there can\u2019t be that many companies all pursuing artificial intelligence for them all to succeed.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Designer of Atari’s flagship arcade game says it was supposed to be a ‘throwaway.’<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2091,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2092","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news"],"yoast_head":"\nSunnyvale Historical Society commemorates site of first Pong game - Next City Digest<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=2092\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Sunnyvale Historical Society commemorates site of first Pong game - Next City Digest\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Designer of Atari's flagship arcade game says it was supposed to be a 'throwaway.'\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=2092\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Next City Digest\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-14T14:08:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=2092#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=2092\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/13065d40d633843429ac57d4e5c06f9b\"},\"headline\":\"Sunnyvale Historical Society commemorates site of first Pong game\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-14T14:08:26+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=2092\"},\"wordCount\":667,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=2092#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/7014a790e821baae01034aae0687030c.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"Local News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=2092#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=2092\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=2092\",\"name\":\"Sunnyvale Historical Society commemorates site of first Pong game - 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