Pong Dance

Early on I became friends with David, the son of my dads friend and sometimes we would all go out for dinner. Around 1972 at one of these dinners I was introduced to video games for the first time.  

For the life of me I can’t remember the name of the restaurant but I can still see in my head the dark lighting and wood paneling that was popular at the time. Far in the back of the place there was this strange little machine called “Pong” and was perhaps coolest amazing new thing I had ever seen.

In 1972 you didn’t just run into new technology that often, digital watches were not even mainstream then and a bit of technology like seeing video games for the 
first time was a fucking amazing sight. The idea that you could do more than watch tv was too cool for words and we took to it within seconds.

The only problem we had was the device was on the far side of a dance floor that was teeming with dancers.

To cross this strange territory required us to blend in so we grabbed hands and
began an exaggerated and sarcastic tango across the dance floor.

This is how the night progressed:

   1) Eat some food.
   2) Beg for quarters.
   3) Tango across dance floor with great sarcasm.
   4) Play Pong.
   5) Dance Back.

This was perhaps the first major bit of electronics I ever got to play with and was the beginning of a lifetime of technology obsession.  

Thankfully, I don’t have to dance for it anymore.