Games · 1959
Mainframe Dawn: Transistors and Interactive Display Experiments
In 1959, digital entertainment was confined to high-tech university laboratories and military research facilities. Transistorized computers and cathode-ray tube displays set the stage for early human-computer interactive games.
- Oct 1959 / Oscilloscope / USA
Tennis for Two (1959 Revision)
William Higinbotham upgrades his iconic interactive tennis game with a larger five-inch CRT display and adjustable gravity settings for Brookhaven visitors.
- 1959 / TX-0 Mainframe / MIT, USA
Mouse in the Maze
MIT researchers program the TX-0 computer to simulate a maze-navigating mouse that users configure using an interactive light pen.
- July 1959 / IBM 704 / USA
Samuel's Checkers Program
Arthur Samuel publishes his landmark paper on machine learning after training an IBM 704 mainframe to play and learn complete games of checkers.
- 1959 / Mainframe Hardware / USA
TX-0 Mainframe at MIT RLE
The fully operational TX-0 mainframe at MIT becomes a famous sandbox for student hacker culture, CRT graphics, and interactive software.
- Dec 1959 / Minicomputer / DEC, USA
DEC PDP-1 Debut
Digital Equipment Corporation unveils the PDP-1, an interactive computer featuring a CRT display that would later host the game Spacewar!.
- Oct 1959 / Mainframe Hardware / USA
IBM 1401 System Announcement
IBM announces the highly influential 1401 transistorized computer, which later hosts early logic games and text-based simulations in academia.
- 1959 / CRT Display / MIT, USA
TX-0 Light-Pen Visual Routines
MIT programmers write interactive graphical routines using a light pen and CRT screen, establishing basic UI principles for computer games.
- 1959 / TX-0 Mainframe / MIT, USA
TX-0 Tic-Tac-Toe
Engineers build an interactive Tic-Tac-Toe program on the TX-0 using digital screen output and input toggle switches for player moves.
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