What Was the First Video Game Ever? (Milestones from 1947 to 1972)

There is no single "first" — the definition of "video game" (electronic, display, interaction, program) evolved. Here are the milestone candidates:

1. Earliest Electronic Game Device (1947)

Cathode-Ray Tube Amusement Device (Thomas T. Goldsmith Jr. & Estle Ray Mann, Patent US 2,455,992). Analog circuits, CRT beam, overlay targets. Knobs control "missile." Not a computer program.

2. First Computer Game (1950–1952)

• Bertie the Brain (1950): Tic-Tac-Toe on vacuum tube computer (CNE, Toronto). 4m tall. Playable.
• Nimrod (1951): Nim (math game) on custom Ferranti computer (Festival of Britain).
• OXO / Noughts and Crosses (1952): A.S. Douglas, EDSAC (Cambridge). CRT display. First graphical computer game.

3. First "Video" Game (Raster Display + Real-Time) (1958)

Tennis for Two (William Higinbotham, Brookhaven National Lab). Oscilloscope (analog computer). Side-view tennis, gravity, wind. Public demo. First action game, first physics, first controller (knob+button).

4. First Digital Computer Game for General Use (1962)

Spacewar! (Steve Russell et al., MIT, PDP-1). Two ships, gravity star, hyperspace, multiplayer. Distributed via DECUS. First influential, portable, hackable game.

5. First Commercial Arcade Video Game (1971)

Computer Space (Nolan Bushnell / Ted Dabney, Nutting Associates). Spacewar clone, fiberglass cabinet, TV monitor. Commercial failure (too complex).

6. First Successful Commercial Arcade Game (1972)

Pong (Atari, Allan Alcorn). Simple, fun, profitable. Launched industry.

7. First Home Video Game Console (1972)

Magnavox Odyssey (Ralph Baer). Analog, overlays, cartridges = jumper boards. No CPU. 350k sold.

Summary

Consensus: Tennis for Two (1958) = First "video game" (raster, real-time, physical interaction). Spacewar! (1962) = First *digital* video game culture.