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1[[quoteright:220:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/220px-Pong_2263.png]]
2[[caption-width-right:220:The Grandpappy of Video Games.]]
3
4->''"Avoid missing ball for high score."''
5-->-- The complete directions for the original arcade game.
6
7''Pong'' is a 1972 video game, the first one released by Creator/{{Atari}}. You control a paddle that goes along one line — in the classic version, up and down. Your opponent has another paddle. You bounce a square ball against the paddle. If your opponent misses, you get a point. If you miss, your opponent gets a point. First to reach 21 wins.
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9Can be played [[PlayerVersusPlayer PvP]] or against a computer AI (the original arcade machine, however, was [=PvP=] only).
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11In more detail: ''Pong'', developed by Atari co-founder Nolan Bushnell, is one of the oldest video games. Simple and intuitive, it came from Bushnell wanting to create the easiest game he could think of after the commercial failure of his previous arcade effort, ''VideoGame/ComputerSpace'', which required reading a full page of instructions. It dates from 1972, making it OlderThanTheNES. The company that was founded to publish it, Atari, became synonymous with video games for years afterwards. It was also packed with many first-generation consoles, and Atari made a separate console that only played the game.
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13''Pong'' is often thought of as "the first video game ever", [[OlderThanTheyThink but this is untrue]] — for one, the Platform/MagnavoxOdyssey debuted earlier in 1972 (and had been in development since 1968). Not to mention ''VideoGame/ComputerSpace'', also created by Bushnell, debuted a year earlier. Before that, it gets pretty complicated and still challenged due to varying opinions of what constitutes a VideoGame — the very first is either ''VideoGame/{{Spacewar}}'' (1962), ''VideoGame/TennisForTwo'' (1958), ''VideoGame/{{OXO}}'' (1952), ''Draughts'' (also 1952), or the ''VideoGame/CathodeRayTubeAmusementDevice'' (1947). What ''is'' true, though, is that ''Pong'' is the first video game to be put in mass market, as opposed to earlier attempts which were more like scientific experiments on computational power. It ''was'' probably the first video game to actually be ''called'' a "video game" in its time, and therefore it can claim to be the first video game in a semantic sense, if not a literal one.
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15The plug and play at home version of the game is notable for laying the ground work for what would go on to be the Platform/Atari2600.
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17Received an official sequel by the name of ''Pong: The Next Level'' for the [=PC=] and original Playstation with 20 stages, each containing three variations, adding [=3D=] graphics, environmental hazards, and power-ups to the gameplay. It features a one-player adventure mode and multiplayer for up to 4 players. Naturally, it has the original game as an EmbeddedPrecursor.
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19Everything aside, ''Pong'' was the [[TropeCodifier first game to be successful enough]] for people outside the (then '''extremely''' small) geek culture to know about its existence. And for those of you wondering, the Atari logo is two people playing tennis, a reference to their flagship game.
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21There were other variations that came along later, such as a hockey/soccer variety with multiple paddles per side.
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23----
24!!The original ''Pong'' arcade game provides examples of:
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26* CompilationRerelease: ''VideoGame/VideoOlympics'' for the Platform/Atari2600 is the oldest example in video game history, being one of the 2600's nine launch titles in 1977. It includes ''Pong'', ''Super Pong'', ''Pong Doubles'', and ''Quadrapong'', along with a few other of Atari's early arcade games.
27* NoPlotNoProblem: There is nothing here even resembling a plot, but the game still got wildly popular due to it being the first of its kind. Though this hasn't stopped a few devoted fans from making their own [[http://www.fanfiction.net/game/Pong/ Pong fanfiction]].
28* OneWordTitle: As it's similar to ping-'''pong'''. Also named for an onomatopoeia of one of the sound effects in the game.
29* PinballProjectile: The ball can bounce off walls to make its trajectory a little harder for your opponent to track.
30* PlayerVersusPlayer: The first iteration was exclusively PVP. Later versions allowed one player to face off against the computer.
31* ProductFacelift: Magnavox made a bunch of their own variations of Pong consoles, such as the Magnavox Odyssey 4000.
32** In Japan only, the Color TV Game 6, another Pong clone, was the first game console ever made by Creator/{{Nintendo}}. The Color TV Game series was the best-selling home video game hardware ''in the entire world'' in the 1970s, foreshadowing Nintendo's dominance in the Japanese and North American video game markets in the 1980s and early 1990s.
33* RuleOfPerception: A loud droning noise plays whenever you score in ''Pong'' to give the player a sign beyond the minimalist graphics that the score had changed.
34* ScoringPoints: Again, one of the earliest examples in video game history, with the scores being displayed at the top of the screen. You get one point every time the ball touches the side of the screen opposite your paddle. Get 11 points and you win.
35* StoryToGameplayRatio: Possibly the lowest out of any game ever made.
36* TopDownView: ''Pong'' is basically top-view tennis.
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38----
39!!The 1998 sequel ''Pong: The Next Level'' contains examples of:
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41* ArtificialStupidity: Lampshaded on the third fishing stage difficulty, where the fish outright swim ''straight for the edge'' where the shark hangs out. The difficulty title points out the fact that the fish are outright being dumb on this stage.
42* BlackoutBasement: The third and final variant of "Beach Party" leaves only a small spotlight around the ball visible.
43* TheComputerIsACheatingBastard: The AI in this game is inexplicably extremely good at redirecting the trajectory of the balls to go right for the powerups they want, even though the game doesn't provide anywhere near enough dexterity for a human player to be able to easily do it.
44* EmbeddedPrecursor: The reward for finishing all levels of a single difficulty is one of three classic ''Pong'' stages, based on the original game, soccer/football, and hockey.
45* FishingMinigame: Yes, really. There's a fishing level in a Pong game. It has just about as much connection to the source material as you think.
46* GameplayRoulette: A lot of levels bear little resemblance to ''Pong'' at all, ending the connection at using a ball and a paddle.
47* JungleJapes: Two levels take place in a jungle, with one level even bearing this exact name.
48* NoPlotNoProblem: There's no story to the game at all, which is fairly reasonable considering, well, it's a game about balls and paddles. You don't exactly need a whole lot of lore for that. [[note]]Not that it stopped this game's indirect successor done by the same development team, ''VideoGame/{{Breakout}}'' on the Platform/PlayStation, from having a storyline.[[/note]]
49%%* PinballGag: "Pongball Wizard" is this.
50* PoisonMushroom: A skull powerup item usually tends to be punishing to both players.
51* SlippySlideyIceWorld: The main gimmick of the second difficulty of "Beach Party".
52* UnexpectedGameplayChange: As if the game already wasn't enough of a GameplayRoulette, the one stage that provides almost no connection whatsoever to the original concept would have to be the FishingMinigame. Yes, really. There's a fishing level in a ''Pong'' game. In addition, Frog Follies also effectively foregoes the whole concept of ''Pong'' by being more of a labyrinth type game where you roll a ball through a maze.
53* VideoGame3DLeap: This game takes place in full 3D, though the gameplay remains unchanged.

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