Was Pac-Man the First Video Game? No — Tennis for Two (1958) Predates It

Pac-Man (1980) was not the first video game.

Earlier Milestones

• Tennis for Two (1958): William Higinbotham, Brookhaven National Lab. Oscilloscope display, analog computer. Two-player tennis.
• Spacewar! (1962): Steve Russell, MIT PDP-1. Two ships, gravity star, vector graphics. First influential computer game.
• Computer Space (1971): Nolan Bushnell/Nutting Associates. First commercial arcade cabinet. Spacewar derivative.
• Galaxy Game (1971): Stanford students. Coin-op Spacewar clone. Two months before Computer Space.
• PONG (1972): Atari. First mass-market arcade hit. Simple, addictive, profitable.

Pac-Man's Actual Significance

• First gaming mascot / character IP.
• First game with broad demographic appeal (women, non-gamers).
• Power-up mechanic (energizers).
• Cutscenes (intermissions).
• $1B+ in quarters by 1981 — cultural phenomenon.

Pac-Man defined the arcade golden age — but stood on 22 years of predecessors.