Christmas Gone Pong!

It must have been 1975. 

Christmas was coming.  

And my brother Stuart and I hatched an idea for the perfect gift for us to both give and receive. 

We had seen the commercials early in the holiday season.  They were referring to something called a “video game” that you could connect to your television set.  How cool would that be!  

Even so, we weren't confident that Mom and Dad would understand this new technology and where to even purchase it. Plus, it was going to cost upwards of $80. Being the thoughtful children that we were (he would have been 16 and me 13), we knew that price was a little $teep.  

So here was our plan: We each would save enough money to pool and purchase the "Pong" video game for Mom and Dad ... our Christmas present to them! (Yeah, right. :-) )

Usually, kids scurry out of bed on Christmas morning to run and see their presents and unwrap them.  

On Christmas Eve, our parents would have us four kids pick a place in our living room where Santa would put our presents – the couch, Dad's easy chair, the rocking chair, and the piano bench. Pretty smart idea. Our parents didn't have to wrap our gifts! They'd just put them on our designated piece of furniture, and when we would wake up and hurry to the living room, we would each be taken aback a bit – overwhelmed to see our new possessions all in one place.  

That year though Stuart and I were happy to wake up and walk in with assurance to see whatever gifts our folks had given to us.  

We did always wrap our gifts to Mom and Dad and would enjoy seeing them unwrap them, especially when we were younger. They would exclaim things like “Oh, a new apron!” or “Just what I needed!” (Dad acting surprised to get yet another water gauge to put on a fencepost ... it’s a farmer thing).  So, it wasn’t going to be much of a challenge for the Pong game to overshadow their gifts or whatever gifts they gave us that year.  

We were excited for them to open the package, but Dad always opened gifts slowly while guessing – intentionally making us wait when we were little AND when we were grown. This year when he opened their gift, he and Mom were both a bit puzzled.  

Jeopardy host Ken Jennings introduces the Final Jeopardy topic.

Jeopardy host reveals the Final Jeopardy topic as Fun & Games.

The Final Jeopardy answer is revealed.

Jeopardy recognized the 50th anniversary of the early video game, Pong.

As we excitedly started to explain the game, Stuart got it out of the box and headed to the TV to hook it up. I’m recalling seeing a bit of side eye Mom and Dad gave to each other as they tried to contain their amusement while we began to assemble our thoughtful purchase. We told them not to worry – we would show them how to play this game. We had quickly put aside whatever they had given us so we could hook up Pong. 

It was fairly simple to control that vertical dash that would ping when you turned the knob to hit the bouncing dot – whether you were a single player (handball) or against your opponent (tennis). It was new, it was novel, it was fun! ... kind of, for a while. 

We weren’t paying much attention as Mom headed to the kitchen to prepare a Christmas feast for us and our siblings and other relatives who would come over later. Dad probably just listened to his radio since we had taken over his television set.  

We did play Pong with others that day and a few days following through New Year’s Day, but the novelty of it all started to wear off.  Plus, we just had the one TV. 

All the Troutman kids gathered at Christmas (likely in 1966): Sally (me! bottom center), Stuart (left), Susan (center top), and Scott (right).

I’m not sure how long we kept playing it.  Let’s face it – it was rather boring and kind of became a joke.   But it was the start of a new frontier! 

And it’s pretty cool that my son who works for a video game company can say that 50 years ago his mom purchased one of the first home video games – and that it actually belonged to his grandma and grandpa!   We were among the pioneering Pong-ers! 

May your holidays be bright – whether you are plugged in or not! 

<Game Over> 

Who else had Pong? 

What were some of the more interesting Christmas presents you gave and received? 

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Sally Troutman Boyd hails from Ethel, Mo., and is proud of her small town roots – even pleased that her hometown’s name gets a chuckle and becomes a conversation starter. Despite living in St. Louis for the past 30+ years, much of her remembrances and writings come from growing up on a farm in the '60s and '70s. She's now retired after spending the majority of her career in nonprofit fundraising for individuals with developmental disabilities.

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