The first video game and the history of gaming
What the first video game was, the first home console, how video games evolved from the 1950s to today, and how gaming reached Brazil. Polarzinho opened the museum archives.
By Polarzinho ·
What was the first video game? It depends on who you ask, because there is more than one candidate. As a modern gamer panda, I dug through the whole story: from a lab oscilloscope to games that run in your browser.
Here you will find the first electronic games, the first home console, how video games evolved decade by decade and how gaming reached Brazil.
Play Zombra Survivor Play Barrio Kick
What was the first video game
There is no single answer, because "video game" can mean different things. The main candidates:
- OXO (1952): tic-tac-toe on a University of Cambridge computer, made as part of research.
- Tennis for Two (1958): side-view tennis on an oscilloscope, created by William Higinbotham at a US lab to entertain visitors. It is the one most often called the first video game.
- Spacewar! (1962): a spaceship duel made by MIT students, one of the first games to spread between computers.
- Computer Space (1971): the first commercially sold arcade game.
The first home console
The first home video game console you could plug into a TV was the Magnavox Odyssey, released in 1972 in the United States. It was designed by Ralph Baer, often called the father of video games. It had no sound and no on-screen score: players taped colored overlays onto the TV for the scenery.
That same year Atari released Pong in arcades, a simple table tennis game that became a craze and helped create the games industry.
How video games evolved
- 1970s: arcades and the first consoles. The Atari 2600, from 1977, made cartridges popular.
- 1980s: Space Invaders and Pac-Man pack the arcades, and the Nintendo Entertainment System brings Super Mario Bros. home.
- 1990s: games go 3D, the Game Boy puts gaming in your pocket and the PlayStation makes CDs popular.
- 2000s: online play, ever more powerful consoles and the PlayStation 2, one of the best-selling consoles ever.
- 2010s: phones become game machines, indie games explode and browser games run on modern web technology.
- Today: play in the cloud, on phones, consoles, PCs and right in the browser, with nothing to install.
Gaming in Brazil
Video games reached Brazil in the late 1970s with "tennis on TV" machines like the Telejogo. In the 1980s, Atari-compatible consoles arrived, and in 1989 Tectoy launched the Master System in Brazil, where it became a huge hit.
Today Brazil has a strong indie scene, with studios making games for PC, console, mobile and the browser. Polar Games is one of them.
Yesterday’s pixel art in today’s games
The limits of early video games created a style that never died: pixel art. Many games today use it on purpose, with modern technology underneath.
PolarzinhoIn 1972 people taped overlays to their TVs. In 2026 I play pixel-art street football in my browser. Evolution is real.
FAQ
What was the first video game?
Tennis for Two, from 1958, is the most often cited. OXO, from 1952, also appears as one of the first computer games.
What was the first video game console?
The Magnavox Odyssey, released in 1972.
Who is the father of video games?
Ralph Baer, who designed the Magnavox Odyssey.
From history to your browser
After all that history, play a bit of the present: Zombra Survivor and Barrio Kick, both in pixel art, are right below.