Who Invented Atari?

Are you a video game fanatic, and do you want to know who invented Atari? At its peak, Atari was the fastest growing company in the history of the United States. Atari was behind some of the most popular video game technology in the seventies, including the Atari 2600. Yet, who invented Atari and what was the background of this inventor?

The brains and inventor behind Atari, and the answer to who invented Atari is Nolan Bushnell. Nolan Bushnell believed that the videogame could become extremely successful, and he believed that the public would really respond to this new form of entertainment. He incorporated Atari in California, in 1972. Bushnell was behind the creation of Pong, one of the most popular videogames of its time. However, he sold the company to Warner Communications in 1976.

The Early Life of Nolan Bushnell

Nolan Bushnell was born on February 5 in 1943. He was born in Clearfield in Utah. During high school, Nolan worked at the Lagoon Amusement Park. This experience helped inspire his later idea for the videogame. He used to watch individuals play the midway arcade games, and he liked that the games involved a combination of luck and skill to win. He also thought that the idea of a game in which the individuals paid to play it could become very successful.

He continued working at this amusement park throughout college as well. He went to the University Of Utah College Of Engineering. He decided to transfer to Utah State University. After transferring, he became a member of the Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity.

While at school, he played the Spacewar! game on the university’s computers. At the time, Utah State University was invested in computer graphics research. While at school, Bushnell took advantage of that fact, and studied some computer graphics. He graduated with a degree in electrical engineering in 1968.

Syzygy and Computer Space

In 1971, Bushnell and Ted Dabney formed a company called “Szygy.” The intention of the company was to create a game that was similar to the Spacewar! game that Bushnell played at college. The game that they produced was called Computer Space.

While the prototype of the game was being created, Bushnell and Dabney actually fixed broken pinball machines to earn extra money. After the prototype was built, the two individuals shopped around for a manufacturer to mass produce the game. They decided to enter an agreement with Nutting Associates. Nutting Associates was a manufacturer of trivia and shooting games.

Although the sales for Computer Space exceeded three million dollars, it was overall a failure. Bushnell decided the he no longer wanted to work with Nutting Associates. He felt that the company did not market the game properly. He still believed in the concept of the videogame, and he decided to sign with a company that would market the game properly.

The Formation of Atari, Incorpoarted

In 1972, Bushnell and his partner realized they had to change the name of their company. The name of Syzygy was actually already in use by another company. They decided to change the company name to something that was easier to pronounce, and that also had significance. They changed the name to Atari, which was a term from Bushnell’s favorite game, Go. In the game, the term Atari basically means that the player has won.

Bushnell hired an engineer to create a type of tennis arcade game that was based on an already existing game. However, the version that Bushnell wanted to create would improve a number of problems within the original game. For example, Bushnell changed how the game was scored, and the sound that went with the game. The finished game was Pong, which became immensely popular.

In 1976, Bushnell realized that if the company needed capital to continue to expand. He did not want to take the company public, and thus he sold it to Warner Communications.