1973 in video games

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1973 saw a substantial increase in the amount of video games created and distributed in multiple sectors. In coin-operated games, a craze for Pong-style games ignited the first fad for video games both in the United States and other countries. Time-sharing networks saw greater proliferation of popular programs through type-in listings. The PLATO network played host to some of the earliest massively multiplayer games.

Events

January – Pong is licensed to Midway Mfg, subsidiary of Bally, for release as Winner (1973).
April – Atari Inc. launches Pong nationally to distributors of coin-operated games across the United States.^[1]
August 26–28 – The fourth U.S. American Computer Chess Championship is won by Chess 3.5, successor to the undefeated champion from the prior three years.
September – The Japanese Amusement Association show is held in Tokyo. The company Kansai Seiki displays the prototype game Playtron, among the first games utilizing color graphics – though it is never released.^[2]^[3]
November 9–11 – The Music Operators of America show is held in Chicago, IL. Over a dozen companies exhibit video games at the show, almost all clones or variants of Pong.^[4]

Best-selling arcade video games in the United States

The following titles were the best-selling arcade video games of 1973 in the United States, according to annual arcade cabinet sales estimates provided by Ralph H. Baer.^[5]

Rank	Title	Arcade cabinet sales	Manufacturer	Genre
1	Pong	8,000	Atari, Inc.	Pong
2	Pro Tennis	7,000	Williams Electronics
2	Winner	7,000	Midway Manufacturing
4	Super Soccer	5,000	Allied Leisure
	Tennis Tourney	5,000	Allied Leisure
	TV Tennis	5,000	Chicago Coin
7	Gotcha	3,000	Atari, Inc.	Maze
8	Asteroid (Space Race)	2,000	Midway Manufacturing	Racing
9	Space Race	1,500	Atari, Inc.	Racing
10	Hockey	1,000	Ramtek	Pong
	TV Hockey	1,000	Chicago Coin
	Volley	1,000	Ramtek

Notable releases

Arcade games

Midway Manufacturing Co. licenses Pong from Atari to produce Winner,^[6] their first video game arcade game.^[7]
Atari releases Gotcha, the first commercial maze game, to video arcades.^[7]
Atari releases Pong Doubles to video arcades. A variation on the wildly successful Pong, Pong Doubles is the first video arcade game to include four-player gameplay.^[8]
Atari releases Space Race, the first Arcade Racing game ever.
Williams Electronics releases Paddle Ball, an unlicensed duplicate of Pong, as their first arcade game.^[9]

Computer games

Steve Colley, Howard Palmer, and Greg Johnson develop Maze War on the Imlac PDS-1 at the NASA Ames Research Center in California.^[10] It is recognized as an ancestor of the first-person shooter genre.
BASIC Computer Games was first published. It included 101 games written in BASIC.

Business

March 19 – Konami Industry Co., Ltd. is formerly incorporated in Japan by Kagemasa Kōzuki, Yoshinobu Naka, Tatsuo Miyasako.^[11]
May – The company Hudson is established in Sapporo, Japan as the business arm of the radio shop CQ Hudson. The company later changed its name to Hudson Soft when it began selling computers and associated software.^[12]^[13]
August – Atari opens their Atari Japan subsidiary to import games for the domestic market.^[14]
September 25 – Kee Games Inc. is founded in California. The company is majority owned by the principals of Atari but is presented as a competitor.^[14]
October 19 – Exidy Inc. is founded by former Ramtek engineer Pete Kauffman and Samuel Hawes. Their first product was a Pong clone.
Taito Co Ltd. – in the business of coin-operated amusements as well as general import and export – opens its office Taito America in Illinois, the first Japanese company involved with video games to do so.^[15]
The toy company Nintendo Co. Ltd. establishes the label Nintendo Leisure System to release coin-operated games, starting with the electro-mechanical Laser Clay Shooting Range.
Videomaster of the UK is established to distribute coin-operated Pong games throughout the nation.^[16]

References

^ "PONG Into National Distribution; Success for Atari, Inc". Cash Box. 34 (40): 104. April 7, 1973.
^ Akagi, Masumi (2005). Soreha "Pon" Kara Hajimatta - Ākēdo TV Gēmu no Naritachi それは「ポン」から始まった-アーケードTVゲームの成り立ち [In the Beginning, There was "Pong" - The Origins of Arcade TV Games]. Amusement News Agency. p. 89. ISBN 978-4990251208.
^ shmuplations (December 29, 2021). "Kasco and the Electro-Mechanical Golden Age - shmuplations.com". Retrieved July 21, 2024.
^ "Focus on MOA's 25th Anniversary Expo". Cash Box. 35 (21): 50–51. November 24, 1973.
^ Baer, Ralph H. (2005). Videogames: In the Beginning. Rolenta Press. pp. 10–3. ISBN 978-0-9643848-1-1.
^ "WINNER from Midway" (PDF). The International Arcade Museum. 1973. Archived (PDF) from the original on September 23, 2015. Retrieved April 17, 2015.
^ ^a ^b Thomas, Donald A. Jr (2005). "-1973-". ICWhen.com. Archived from the original on October 26, 2002. Retrieved February 15, 2006.
^ Winters, David. "Atari PONG –The first steps–". PONG-Story. Archived from the original on February 13, 2006. Retrieved February 15, 2006.
^ Kurtz, Bill (1997). Slot Machines and Coin-Op Games. New Jersey: Chartwell Books. p. 125. ISBN 978-1-55521-731-0.
^ "The Maze War 30 Year Retrospective". DigiBarn Games. 2004. Archived from the original on July 17, 2017. Retrieved February 25, 2012.
^ "Corporate Info / Corporate History". Konami. Archived from the original on February 10, 2006. Retrieved February 15, 2006.
^ Carlston, Douglas G. (1985). Software people: an insider's look at the personal computer software industry. New York: Computer Book Division, Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-0-671-50971-2.
^ "Corporate Info. / History". Hudson. Archived from the original on November 24, 2005. Retrieved February 15, 2006.
^ ^a ^b Goldberg, Marty; Vendel, Curt (2012). Atari Inc.: Business is Fun. Syzygy Press. ISBN 978-0985597405.
^ Smith, Alexander (2020). They create worlds: the story of the people and companies that shaped the video game industry. Boca Raton: CRC Press, Taylor & Francis Group. ISBN 978-0-429-42364-2.
^ Eglin, Roger (June 26, 1977). "Big shots with a small screen". Sunday Times. p. 63.

[1] "PONG Into National Distribution; Success for Atari, Inc". Cash Box. 34 (40): 104. April 7, 1973.

[Akagi-2] Akagi, Masumi (2005). Soreha "Pon" Kara Hajimatta - Ākēdo TV Gēmu no Naritachi それは「ポン」から始まった-アーケードTVゲームの成り立ち [In the Beginning, There was "Pong" - The Origins of Arcade TV Games]. Amusement News Agency. p. 89. ISBN 978-4990251208.

[3] shmuplations (December 29, 2021). "Kasco and the Electro-Mechanical Golden Age - shmuplations.com". Retrieved July 21, 2024.

[4] "Focus on MOA's 25th Anniversary Expo". Cash Box. 35 (21): 50–51. November 24, 1973.

[5] Baer, Ralph H. (2005). Videogames: In the Beginning. Rolenta Press. pp. 10–3. ISBN 978-0-9643848-1-1.

[winner-6] "WINNER from Midway" (PDF). The International Arcade Museum. 1973. Archived (PDF) from the original on September 23, 2015. Retrieved April 17, 2015.

[icwhen-7] Thomas, Donald A. Jr (2005). "-1973-". ICWhen.com. Archived from the original on October 26, 2002. Retrieved February 15, 2006.

[doubles-8] Winters, David. "Atari PONG –The first steps–". PONG-Story. Archived from the original on February 13, 2006. Retrieved February 15, 2006.

[williams-9] Kurtz, Bill (1997). Slot Machines and Coin-Op Games. New Jersey: Chartwell Books. p. 125. ISBN 978-1-55521-731-0.

[mazewar-10] "The Maze War 30 Year Retrospective". DigiBarn Games. 2004. Archived from the original on July 17, 2017. Retrieved February 25, 2012.

[konami-11] "Corporate Info / Corporate History". Konami. Archived from the original on February 10, 2006. Retrieved February 15, 2006.

[12] Carlston, Douglas G. (1985). Software people: an insider's look at the personal computer software industry. New York: Computer Book Division, Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-0-671-50971-2.

[hudson-13] "Corporate Info. / History". Hudson. Archived from the original on November 24, 2005. Retrieved February 15, 2006.

[:0-14] Goldberg, Marty; Vendel, Curt (2012). Atari Inc.: Business is Fun. Syzygy Press. ISBN 978-0985597405.

[:2-15] Smith, Alexander (2020). They create worlds: the story of the people and companies that shaped the video game industry. Boca Raton: CRC Press, Taylor & Francis Group. ISBN 978-0-429-42364-2.

[16] Eglin, Roger (June 26, 1977). "Big shots with a small screen". Sunday Times. p. 63.

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