What Was the First Handheld Video Game? The Complicated Answer

No Single "First"—It Depends on Your Definition

Pinpointing the very first handheld video game is surprisingly difficult because the answer changes based on how you define "video game," "handheld," and "commercial release." Here are the leading contenders, each significant in its own right.

Major Contenders

• Texas Instruments Pocket Computer (1971): A programmable calculator that could run simple games—arguably the earliest portable programmable gaming device.
• Mattel Auto Race (1976): The first popular handheld electronic game in the US, using simple LED lights to simulate a racing experience.
• The Brick Game (1977): Early dedicated LCD handheld featuring games like Brick Breaker and Space Invaders clones.
• Nintendo Game & Watch (1980): The first commercially successful dedicated handheld console line, establishing the form factor that dominated for decades.

Why It Matters

Each of these devices contributed crucial innovations—programmability, dedicated hardware, LCD screens, interchangeable cartridges—that collectively evolved into the Game Boy, PSP, Switch, and modern mobile gaming. Rather than a single "first," it's more accurate to view portable gaming as an evolutionary chain.