pong
Games
5:20AM Mark Wilson | After the first Pong cabinet was placed in Andy Capp’s Cavern in 1972, video games exploded, reaching their full stride by the late ’70s. Here are some of the notable games/systems you played (or would have played) back then: More »
Electronic Games 1979: Addictive, Exciting, Primitive As Hell
5:20AM Mark Wilson | After the first Pong cabinet was placed in Andy Capp’s Cavern in 1972, video games exploded, reaching their full stride by the late ’70s. Here are some of the notable games/systems you played (or would have played) back then: More » 
Design
Vintage Gaming Ties Futilely Subvert Corporate Authority
8:00AM Mark Wilson | If a red tie is considered to exude power and authority at some business lunch, then an Asteroids tie must allude to nothing less than intergalactic domination. More »
Robots
Autonomous Cyclops Robot Will School You At Pong Every Time
2:10AM John Mahoney | Using a cyclopean webcam mounted on a telescoping neck and two solenoid fingers, this robot will dutifully and adorably Pong you into oblivion. More »
Games
Electronic Beer Pong Table Probably a Big Hit at the Engineering Frat House
3:30AM Gizmodo US Edition | Giz reader and beer pong enthusiast Dan Dayon constructed a beer pong table with glowing LEDs, cup sensors, and a wireless module. It’s one of the most advanced tables you could ever puke on. More »
Games
Retromodo: Tennis for Two, the World’s First Graphical Videogame
2:00AM Gizmodo US Edition | In 1958, Dr. William Higinbotham was working at the Brookhaven National Laboratory on a simulation of bouncing balls and missile trajectories that could predict the paths objects could take. Suddenly, it hit him: why not apply this to tennis? He created Tennis for Two, which depending on your definition could be considered the world’s first videogame, in October of that year. Video after the jump. More »
Games
Interactive Pong May be Most Fun You Can Have With a Whiteboard
1:45AM Kit Eaton | Pong exerts a vicious grip on the minds of designers—it pops up in hundreds of reincarnations. But this one is sweet: a live “drawing on whiteboard” version, mixing electronics with the joy of drawing on, wiping off and repositioning your playing bat. Check it out, thrill to the high-speed action and grin at the ultimate use of a whiteboard: so much better than the usual business drivel that gets drawn on them. There’s no more info apart from it’s a live demo of a “physics based engine responding to it’s real life surroundings,” so we’re imagining it’s powered by frantic behind-the scenes action by Dilbert and Dogbert. [Electronicmiracles] More »
Design
LED Coffee Table Plays Four-Way Pong (Can Surface Do That?)
3:30AM John Mahoney | Well, yes, it probably could, but as yet it’s only there for picking the interior colour for your new BMW and the like. So for now, this DIY coffee table with a matrix of 4,092 LEDs is what I want in my living room. Using 65 microcontrollers and four Atari 2600 joysticks, the circuit wizards at Sparkfun have loaded their LED table with four-way cooperative Pong, which actually looks like a lot of fun in action. More »
Design
Dining Table Recreates Pong With 2,400 LEDs and 2 Trackpads
9:30AM Sean Fallon | The game that started a phenomenon in the 70’s is back (albeit in slightly different form) thanks to the design work of one Moritz Waldemeyer. This new version takes the classic game and embeds it into a fairly plain looking dining table using 2400 LEDs and 2 trackpads. When the table is on, the trackpads allow users to take full control of the paddles. When the table is off, the game completely disappears. More »
Gadgets
The Most Ridiculous Beer Pong Table Ever Automatically Washes Your Balls
4:30AM Adam Frucci | A group of electrical engineering students at West Virginia University has built the most insane beer pong table ever. It’s got lights all around that react to the music playing as well as a pair of built-in swirling ball washers. It’s incredible. They’re taking orders for them now if you want one of your own, but be warned: this first one cost them US$1,000 and 400 hours of work to complete, so it won’t be cheap. Hit the jump for a video of it in action, and be sure to skip to 2:30 unless you think still photos of electrical engineering majors and circuit boards are suddenly cool when set to Linkin Park. More »
Games
