

A 1938 subway ride led to the invention of the video game console - danso
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2014/12/08/the-subway-ride-that-led-to-the-invention-of-video-games/

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rmason
Six years after Odyssey I bought a 'pong' game that was the size of maybe the
size of two packs of cigarettes with two sets of paddles.

I was living in a singles apartment complex and one very pleasant side effect
was that within days of getting the game I had every young woman in the
building coming over to play it with me. Quite possibly the greatest
investment I ever made ;<).

~~~
jonifico
How much did you pay for it? With inflation it might be a bit tough but, an
approximate? Must've been expensive at the time!

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lectrick
3 days earlier was this article on him

[http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-
science/ralph-...](http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-
science/ralph-h-baer-a-father-of-video-gaming-dies-
at-92/2014/12/07/a24c8964-7e6e-11e4-8882-03cf08410beb_story.html)

I see a pattern here with creative engineers:

1) Creative engineer comes up with an off-the-wall idea, it keeps bugging him,
he makes a demo using spare resources

2) Shows demo to managers and superiors, they scoff and tell him to stop
wasting his time

3) A couple of people he demoes it to, "get it"

4) Suddenly, thing catches on like wildfire

One thing he did differently is document and patent everything.

