Video Games Turn 40
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Baer and Harrison racked their brains for new game ideas to improve their unit's perceived value. Chase games and gun games were already getting old. Under the recommendation of Herb Campman, Bill Rusch joined the team on August 18 to breathe new life into the project. Rusch, like a creative spigot, could pour out new ideas on command, making him invaluable to R&D. The duo was now a trio, and the stage was set for a breakthrough. Rusch started off slow by restoring color to TVG#3 and improving the unit's RF modulator design over the next few months. All the while, he laid down page after page of new game designs on paper. In October, Rusch hit upon a brilliant idea: He added a third, machine-controlled spot to the games. This simple addition proved to be a pivotal contribution to the development of videogames, one for which he later received an important patent. Rusch then took this idea one step further and treated the third spot as a "ball" that could be used in games like soccer, hockey, and Ping-Pong. The first two player-controlled spots would then function as "paddles" that could manipulate the movement of the ball. Ping-Pong was born -- a game that would later start a national craze in the form of Atari's Pong. Rusch scribbled down the design of Ping-Pong, complete with illustrations of the game field and play mechanics, on October 18, 1967.
