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25 January 1947 (patent filed)Primary source · 2 sourcesWell documented

Physicists build the Cathode-Ray Tube Amusement Device

A missile game controlled by an Etch A Sketch beam, built by radar engineers

On the timeline · around 25 January 1947 (patent filed) · Before the IndustryBefore the IndustryPhysicists build the Cathode-Ray Tube Amusement Device1950195519601965

Quick facts

Inventors
Thomas T. Goldsmith Jr. and Estle Ray Mann
Employer
Allen B. DuMont Laboratories
Patent number
US 2,455,992
Patent granted
14 December 1948

What happened

Thomas T. Goldsmith Jr. and Estle Ray Mann, engineers at Allen B. DuMont Laboratories in Passaic, New Jersey, filed a patent on 25 January 1947 for a 'cathode-ray tube amusement device.' The player turned two knobs to steer a dot of light, standing in for a missile, across an oscilloscope screen toward a fixed target pattern held over the glass, mimicking the radar displays Goldsmith had worked on during the war. The patent, US 2,455,992, was granted 14 December 1948, the first ever issued for an electronic game. DuMont never manufactured it beyond a handmade prototype, and the device was never sold.

Why it matters

No video signal and no software were involved, so it is not a video game by later definitions, but it establishes that the idea of aiming an electron beam for entertainment predates any computer built to run a game. It shows the medium growing directly out of Second World War radar and vacuum-tube engineering rather than being invented from nothing.

How we know

The patent itself, US 2,455,992, is a public federal document viewable in full through Google Patents, naming the inventors, the assignee, and the exact filing and grant dates.

Sources

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Part of a timelineHistory of Video Games32 events · From a radar-lab curiosity to the biggest entertainment medium on EarthView all →
Physicists build the Cathode-Ray Tube Amusement Device · History of Video Games · SourcedStory