Pong: The First Video Game

On November 29, 1972, the electronic company Atari Inc. released the first ever video game, called "Pong", a two-dimensional sports game that simulated table tennis, or Ping-Pong. In this game, the player controls an in-game paddle by moving it vertically across the left side of the screen, and can compete against either a computer controlled opponent or another player on the right side of the screen. You win by accumulating the most points at the end of the game by making the other paddle miss the square dot moving on the screen. The creator of the game, Allan Acorn, originally created this game as a training exercise for the employees of Atari. The release of this game is said to be the start of the video game industry, due to how lucrative the game was to consumers and without this huge innovation, we may not have the video games we have in today's day in age. And, according to my dad, this was the coolest thing of all time, in his day. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pong