Interesting video re the World's first computer game

Excellent question! The etymology of the term "video game" is a hard one to trace as it is simply two words that had been used already for a long time. The short answer is - much later! I found a suggestion that it was 1973 but with no citation. Let's look into it...

We know the early machines weren't described as such, so we know we are probably looking more at the machines that used a television set rather than an oscilloscope. So, let's look at Ralph Baer's claim that he invented the video game.

Ralph abandoned early thoughts towards a gaming system to be used with a televiison set due to lack of interest from his boss. He picked up the idea again much later. We have witnessed documentation of the concept dated 1 September 1966, but it only mentions "TV gaming". If we fast forward to 1972 and the final product, the Magnavox Odyssey, it is described as an "electronic game".

Around the same time, the first arcade machines were being introduced. These also contained regular television sets inside. If you look at the flyer for Computer Space (1971) you won't find the term video game. However, the Pong flyer from 1972 uses the term "video skill game". There is also a flyer allegedly from the same year for Barrel Pong (although the game is listed as released in 1973). Whilst it primarily credits Atari/Syzygy, the address is for Hunter Electronics. It describes the game as "a winning design from the Pioneers of Video Game Technology." I would suggest this may be a 1973 flyer, as Atari's 1973 Gotcha flyer again uses "video skill game". The Pong Doubles flyer of 1973, however, states "Atari's new video game". Similarly, Taito's UK flyer for Elepong used the term "video skill game", but their Astro Race flyer used "video game". Both games were released in 1973 in Japan, but I am unsure of the UK release dates. Their flyer for Soccer used "video reaction game". Perhaps Taito's translators referenced Atari documentation?

It is interesting to note that Williams, Midway and Sega avoided using the term video game or anything similar, often referring to the television element. Nutting similarly kept the term out of their advertising... that is until Table Tennis in 1973, which is called a "video action game". One version even stated "from Nutting Associates - Where video game technology began..."

Incidentally, if you'd rather have dated proof, Mirco released a flyer for their first video game (as it states) with a customer accolade dated 10 January 1974.

So, to sum up, I have found evidence that the term video game was in use in 1973, perhaps even 1972 - certainly in a slightly extended manner. This appears to have been coined by Atari, although Nutting picked up on it fairly quickly, as did Taito.

Here are some pictures referenced above:

Ralph Baer's 1966 document
1971 Arcade Flyers
1972 Arcade Flyers
1973 Arcade Flyers

 

wow..great that arcadeflyer archive. didn't know that one