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.

Cebus Capucinis, Thanx for the question. The only thing that I'll say about that right now is that, at the time, Nolan and I both thought it was a good idea. I'm pretty sure you wanted more but this will have to do for now.

But what does that have to do with pizza or giant mice? Please stay on topic! That's your topic, not mine. Mine is the early days of Atari. Ted - he was just joking (hence the smiley face at the end), making fun of how the topic got derailed from asking you questions. Sorry 'Random Terrain'. My bad. Thanks Marty

But what does that have to do with pizza or giant mice? Please stay on topic! That's your topic, not mine. Mine is the early days of Atari.

I'm think it was probably a franchise owner that improved their pizza. The original Pizza Time never did. You're right, if all you're doing is "drinking cheap beer and playing fun video games" then mediocre pizza is fine. If you're an adult that wants to eat something while your kids are playing around, it's a different story. I wrote a solitare game for my computer. That's the only thing I play. My wife likes "Hoyle Classic Games 2.0" but my mind is a little too slow for some of those. The one coin-op that I liked was a territory game. I think it was called QUIX or something like that. My hands and eyes are as old as I am so we don't do much in electronics any more. My hobby now is writing Visual Basic programs. I'm not real good at it but I can get it to do anything I want. Real VB programmers would probably not be impressed with my stuff but I am.

Here is a prime example of how selective Nolans memory can be... Here is part of the email I got from my daughter after I told her that Nolan said that she dosen't exist: Dad, I can believe Nolan forget you had two daughters. He has probably told the same story over and over, leaving all of us out. Once you start telling lies, you believe them. . . . Nolan, Nancy, Zak and I took a trip to Atlanta, where I babysat Zak. Nolan's favorite food was Apple pie a la mode. We all got to go the the Peach Tree Hotel and there was a convention. We all had a blast, Nolan can be fun. I spent many days at the Folgers Mansion, eating ice cream at the parlor, watching movies in the movie theater, playing games in the Arcade upstairs, swimming in his pool the the fountains, meeting his maid and butler Margo and I can't remember the other name but I think they were married. Having a BBQ at the pool with Erica. I can go on and on. Nolan spent many days at out home in Cupertino, hours and hours in your study, finally you had to add on to the house. I have the original Go Board that you and Nolan played on, the one that you carved. ' ' ' I Love You Dad!!! Terri The Termite

I had designed and built a cabinet to hold the prototype but Nolan had had the fiberglass cabinet built before the prototype was ready so we used that. I don't know how many prototypes there were. Nutting's salesman had a few pinball locations so he put one or two out. Nolan built and tested all of the circuitry and it was my job to do the mechanical stuff. The most challenging was the coin collection scheme. I designed a bracket that would allow the operator to get to the can by removing the control panel. Remember, this was Nutting's game. He had been building "Computer Quiz" so we had access to gate and counter ic's through his normal suppliers. All aspects of the game came from Nolan. I just helped him come up with ways to accomplish them. It sounds like you were in the back of the cabinet. The design that I did, the coin box was accessed with the control panel removed. Some changes must have been made later.

I had designed and built a cabinet to hold the prototype but Nolan had had the fiberglass cabinet built before the prototype was ready so we used that. I don't know how many prototypes there were. Nutting's salesman had a few pinball locations so he put one or two out. Nolan built and tested all of the circuitry and it was my job to do the mechanical stuff. The most challenging was the coin collection scheme. I designed a bracket that would allow the operator to get to the can by removing the control panel. Remember, this was Nutting's game. He had been building "Computer Quiz" so we had access to gate and counter ic's through his normal suppliers. All aspects of the game came from Nolan. I just helped him come up with ways to accomplish them.

We both worked for Ampex in Sunnyvale. We shared an office and he taught me how to play "GO". He was a great friend when he had more debt than money. The arcade route never suited me. I finally had to give it up. We had outgrown the roller rink and were looking for a new place. We found the Cadre Building in Los Gatos which we both liked. Nolan said that it would be hard to justify moving out so far. I reminded him that we didn't have to justify anything to anybody. That's when I felt some changes coming over him.

I for one would be interested in knowing what you did after leaving the industry, and why. I wanted to learn more about semiconductors so I went to work as an applications engineer at Ratheon.

Actually it was the best thing to do. CEC wasn't looking for business men to bring clients to - it was looking to bring kids in to play video games and eat. Chef Boyardee wont be found in any top restaurants but kids dont seem to mind. If Spaghettios could play space invaders while you ate it, well jackpot! As long as it didnt make you ill, kids would beg their parents to go - and they still do today though its marketed to a much younger crowd. Ted - great simple solution to a problem none seemed wanting to address! Dear Mr. Goochman, My father was an auditor for several hotels during my youth. The food business was the most difficult. The cost of food and preperation was the big problem. Kids don't buy food, parents do. They would take the kids to play the games but, afterwords, go to Jack-in-the-Box for pizza. I know this is true from my own experience. Selling plays on games cannot make for the losses in the food business.

When Nolan first started Pizza Time, he asked me to join him. I said that I would rather be his friend then his partner. He was honest enough to tell that he would probable to the same thing to me that he did at Atari. Instead, he asked me to, at least, check out his place. When I went there, I found the place dirty, the pizza was not very good and the place was so noisy that I couldn't tell when my pizza was ready. I told him all this. He said that he would take care of the dirtiness but that the noise was essential to the operation. He also said that his standard for the pizza had to no better than mediocre. I told him that that was a very dangerous standard because anything less is unacceptable. He didn't agree. As far as not knowing when my pizza was ready, he said I had to come up with a way to fix that. So I did. I came up with a TV monitor that hung high on a wall and console that sat on the counter. The employee would enter the customers number on the console and that number would flash several times, full screen, on the monitor. After that, the flashing would stop and the number would go to the end of a list of numbers on the monitor. The employee would remove the number after the customer picked up their pizza. I called this thing "Notalog".

I am humbled by the reception I've received. Thank you so much. First, I want to say I am not an inovator, I'm just a very capable engineer. Nolan Busnell had the visions and I had the way to accomplish them. My only complaint is that he gave me no recognition for what I did. He said that I had no digital skills yet I designed and manufactured the "Number Callout System" (Notalog) for Pizza Time. I designed and manufactured the "Isaac Asimov Presents Super Quiz" for Pizza Time. He still owes me $40,000 for that one. He said that I didn't have a daughter because he always pretended that he worked in HIS daughters bedroom. He told me that Paula (his first wife) would not allow it. All in all, you wouldn't be interested anything I have to say except for my involvement with Nolan. And I thank him for that.

I don't know if I'm doing this right but I want to get one thing clear, "NolanB" is real. He has a very selective memory but he is the real guy. The "slip counter" as he calls it was a joint venture between us. I breadboarded it and controlled it with toggle switches but Nolan engineered it into the game so it could be controlled digitaly.