Ted Dabney

All you folks have shown such an interest in the early days of Atari that I can only be thankful that I was a part of it. Marty, Curt, Lenny and Roberto have written so much about this subject that there is nothing that I could write that could be any more informative. I have a lot of fun working with these guys. Remember, it was Bushnell that created Atari. My main contribution was to invent the motion circuit that made it possible and my savings account allowed us to build the first 62 Pongs. Bushnell's character is such that he has to take all the credit for everything even though none of this would have happend without Steve Bristow, Al Alcorn and me. It's very sad that money and fame run his life. He was a fun guy to be with before he had these things. The Skype interview was a real hoot. Being able to see and talk to someone on my computer was a very new experiance for me.

Hi Algus, Our focus was strickly on coin-op. The consumer market was not within our reach. The Odyssey was pretty primitive and wasn't destined to last. It was specific to Magnavox TV's. We did start to give this some serious thought after the success of PONG. The first two PONG prototypes had RF outputs (could connect to any TV) so Al Alcorn had a place to start. Al built a demo unit to show Sears. They liked it and gave Atari a big order for these things and they would get exclusive rights to it. Sears cancelled the order well after Atari spent big bucks on production. They probably figured that they would be able to cut a better deal if Atari was getting desperate. All the cancellation did was cost Sears its exclusivity. Atari just took off the Sears logo and went with another retail chain. Sears came back later on. Now, all of this happend after I left so I'm going on what I heard from Nolan and Al.

those are the stories we love to read! jahfish, I like telling these stories. If there is something in particular you would like to know,just tell me. Remember that I left before the 2600 so I don't know much about that one. Ted

There are a lot of brilliant people here at AA that can understand the technology behind your accomplishments creating the first video games. I am not one of them. If it were up to me to create the world's first video game, it never would have happened. Therefore, I really appreciate your work in getting things started. It's obvious that without your help Atari never would have happened, so thank you! :thumbsup: accousticguitar, That's a nice thought but isn't quite true!! The Video Game Industry was an "idea whose time had come". If it wasn't me, it would have been somebody else. I'm very glad it was me. If Bally hadn't rejected PONG this site would be called "BallyAge" or maybe "MidwayAge". You are right about Atari though. I was key there. If I didn't have enough personal money to buy the first 50 Hitaci TV's then Atari wouldn't have been able to build the first PONG's. The only thing we could have done is patent my digital motion circuit and watch for fast everybody could get around it.

Metal Ghost - thanks for the welcome... Nobody cared about my involvement in Atari until you guys came along. AtariAge is a concept that I would have never imagined. You folks have treated me like a "rock star" and I have enjoyed it tremendously. Thank you so much.

My pleasure SoCal Mike. That was a lot of fun.

Hi Reverend, Everybody was talking and not asking questions. The one question that was asked, I couldn't answer at the time. I was only in on the very early days. It was all coin-op. I don't even know what a 2600 is.

jaybird3rd, Thanks so much. I loved those clips of George "Gabby" Hayes. I haven't seen anything like that since I was a young whippersnapper. Ted

carmel_andrews, No input. I tried every way I could find to contact them. No reply at all. Nolan is the "big kahoona". A movie about me would even be boring me. Ted Ted you should insist Tom Cruise play your role in the movie. He would get top billing over Leonardo I think Gabby Hayes would have been a better fit...

carmel_andrews, No input. I tried every way I could find to contact them. No reply at all. Nolan is the "big kahoona". A movie about me would even be boring me. Ted

Dastari Creel, No. I don't stay up on the industry at all. I've heard a lot of stories that didn't include me. Al Alcorn gave a two hour interview about the Syzygy/Atari startup and I wasn't mentioned even once. Nolan seems to come up with truths based on what he wants to be true. Other than Leonard Herman, nobody seemed to care very much about my participation. On a very few occasions I've been given too much credit. I didn't invent Computer Space. I developed the cicuits that Nolan used to invent it. I did coin the phrase "Hyperspace" for when Computer Space flipped to black-on-white. I designed the sound cicuit that used a zener diode selected for how noisy it was. Those were some fun times. Ted

No. It's not a touchy subject. It's just that I'm trying work some stuff out with Nolan right now and I don't want to say anything, either positive or negative, until I do.