What Was the First Video Game Ever Created?

Historians debate, but Tennis for Two (1958) is widely recognized as the first interactive, screen-based electronic game built purely for entertainment.

Key Milestones

• 1950 – Bertie the Brain: Nim-playing machine (Canadian National Exhibition). Not a "video" game (no raster display).
• 1952 – OXO (Noughts and Crosses): Tic-tac-toe on EDSAC computer (CRT display). Academic demo, not public.
• 1958 – Tennis for Two: William Higinbotham, Brookhaven Lab. Analog computer + oscilloscope. Two-player tennis with gravity physics. Public exhibit.
• 1962 – Spacewar!: MIT PDP-1. First digital computer game widely distributed (source code shared). Influenced arcade industry.
• 1971 – Computer Space: First commercial arcade video game (Nolan Bushnell).
• 1972 – Pong: First mass-market hit (Atari).

Tennis for Two stands out as the first designed-for-fun visual game with real-time physics.