[Alcorn is presenting about Atari in front of over 100 Sunnyvale residents. Photo Credit: Yujun Lee]

On February 9, 2026, the Sunnyvale Heritage Park Museum in Sunnyvale, California, hosted a guest speaker event, “History of Atari 1972 - 1982,” featuring Al Alcorn.

Al Alcorn, a computer scientist and video game designer, is best known for creating the classic video game Pong under the famous video game company, Atari. 

Pong, released in 1972, is considered the very first commercially successful arcade video game and was instrumental in launching the video game industry into the mainstream.

It is a two-player game similar to table tennis, where players control their paddles to hit a ball back and forth. 

Besides being an important figure in the video game industry, he is also considered a notable Silicon Valley engineer.

He hired Steve Jobs to Atari in 1974, Jobs’ first legitimate job in the tech industry before founding Apple.

The guest speaking event began with Alcorn’s time before being hired by Atari.

Alcorn was exposed to electronics from a young age, with the abundance of electronic parts of the early post-World War 2 setting allowing him to teach himself how circuitry works.

He then talked about his time studying electrical engineering at UC Berkeley in the 1960s. 

The 1960s were a time of protests due to the Vietnam War, and Alcorn was involved in the movement as well. 

He was once featured in the school’s newspaper for getting a free haircut as part of his involvement.

While many people of his age were drafted to the war, he was able to stay since he was a college student. 

Instead, he worked at a lab for Ampex’s video file division, where he met the founders of Atari.

The story then moved on to the founding of Atari.

One of the two cofounders, Nolan Bushnell, had access to his university’s Programmed Data Processor (PDP), an earlier form of computer, where he was able to play Steve Russell’s 1962 game Spacewar!.

Bushnell’s experience working part-time at an arcade, learning about game distribution and ways to profit, led him and Ted Dabney to decide to build and distribute a smaller device for the game, but it wasn’t very successful.

Their business, Atari, was founded in 1972 and had its first office in Sunnyvale, California.

Bushnell gave Alcorn a training project of making a game after Alcorn was hired.

Alcorn transformed Bushnell’s minimal instructions into a well-developed game, saying, “It really wasn’t a game, but I figured out how to make a game out of it.” 

“For example, if the ball started bouncing at a certain speed so you could start the game, it would be too easy, so as you got a few volleys, it was sped up,” Alcorn added.

The outcome, Pong, was unexpectedly good, leading Atari to shift gears and produce Pong.

However, there were many issues and conflicts in the early days.

Initial hardship regarding cost was solved using cheap Hitachi monitors, and issues in durability were solved by developing durable control knobs for arcade use.

Their immense success also led to copying and piracy, which was combated through custom chips and new variations.

With capital investments that followed, Atari created consumer pong in 1975, which was one of the first video game consoles.

In 1977, Atari released the Atari 2600, one of the first video game platforms that had swappable cartridges.

Alcorn wrapped up his talk by explaining how Atari died, starting from Warner Communications’ acquisition of Atari in 1976. 

Bushnell was replaced in 1979, and no new products were introduced. Poor management led to the downfall, and Alcorn left Atari in 1981.

The guest speaking event concluded with a question-and-answer session.

In response to a comment about a cocktail table version of Pong that the questioner experienced in New York in 1978, Alcorn said that is how the family restaurant chain Chuck E. Cheese came about.

Chuck E. Cheese was the first family restaurant chain to integrate restaurant and arcade games, and was created by Bushnell in 1977, which soon became a popular business model.

When asked what his favorite game is besides Pong, Alcorn answered, “I would have to say it was Pong.”

He then shared an episode about a gaming convention he attended later in his career, where he saw a 10-year-old boy playing Pong and told him, “At one time, I was the best Pong player in the world.”