History of video games/Platforms/Pong consoles

History

Due to the popularity of Pong as an arcade game, a number of official and clone consoles were made to play Pong and similar games at home. While some of these were officially licensed, and while some simply played a number of built in sports games, these first generation dedicated consoles are commonly simply referred to as "Pong Clones".

A notable early attempt at a home pong console was the 1974 release of the Video Action II. However it would be Atari's own release of Home Pong in 1975 that would help popularize the model of dedicated home video game consoles.

While many of these are well documented, there are many examples, potentially with interesting history of their own, that are not well documented. This page catalogues these consoles, should they be of interest. In particular, a number of consoles from the Eastern Bloc feature innovative or unique designs not seen in the Western Bloc and non aligned countries.

Gallery

Eastern Bloc Consoles

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  Турнир, an example of a dedicated pong console from the Soviet Union.

Эврика

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  Эврика (Eureka) console from the Soviet Union with controllers deployed.
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  Эврика (Eureka) with controllers stowed.

Электроника Экси-Видео 01

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Видеоспорт-М

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  Видеоспорт-М
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Videosport 3

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Other Consoles

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  Sears TeleGames Pong, an officially licensed pong console.
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  Tomy Blip, an electromechanical self contained pong console that used LEDs instead of a screen.
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  Videomaster Rally