Electronic Games

What was the first video game?

Posted November 25, 2020 by Jon-Paul Dyson

Vice President for Exhibits and Director of the International Center for the History of Electronic Games

One of the most frequently asked questions about video game history is perhaps the simplest: what was the first video game? It’s a logical question to ask. After all, we’re always curious about these questions of primacy. Who was the first man on the moon? Neil Armstrong. Who was the first woman to fly across the Atlantic? Amelia Earhart. Who was the first person to climb Mount Everest? Well, in this case it was actually two people: Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay. So what was the first video game?

A Brief History of Online Games

Posted August 27, 2020 by Jon-Paul Dyson

Vice President for Exhibits and Director of the International Center for the History of Electronic Games

For most of human existence our ability to play together has been circumscribed by our physical connection with others in our immediate vicinity, a radiating circle of family, friends, and neighbors, spiced with an occasional get together with more distant associates. As I write this blog, we are in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic that has mandated new social distancing rules greatly limiting our ability to gather with others. And yet the play must go on.

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