Gamification: History

Gaming has been are part of the human condition since ancient times. History of Games Above is a timeline of gaming inventions and products. Ralph Baer is considered the Father of Video Games. He invented the first game in 1967. He recently passed away in December 2014 at the age of 92. Although people have differing opinions, some say it was Nolan Bushnell who invented Atari, others say, Shigeru Miyamoto who invented Super Mario Brothers. For me looking at the history of gaming is like a trip down memory lane. In the late 1970's when my husband and I started dating. A typical date night might be spent playing games at the arcade in the King of Prussia Mall before it was the epitome of luxury shopping. It was a fun and inexpensive way to spend time together. We played Pong, Space Invaders, Asteroids, and Pacman, as they made their way into the arcade. Those machines were popular and one had to wait in line to play! Far cry from today, where electronic games are ubiquitous and can be played on a variety of devices. Our first home console that we bought was the Atari game console. It sold for $199.00, in today's money that would be $771.00. The games weren't even in color except for black, white and green. Through the years we bought more gaming consoles as time went on, for our children, we played them too. Now games are available on smart phones, tablets, computers and even in accessible through applications like Facebook. I have played my share of Angry Birds, Candy Crush Saga, and now Covet. You will find I have added links on the history of gaming. Who knew there is an Videogame History Museum? Enjoy!

Let's go to the Video Game History Museum!