I had an early home version of this. If you took the time you can get the ball to bounce back and forth endlessly and it would stay like that until you move one of the knobs.
I tried that on this one and it does it for a little while, and then after about the tenth hit it bounces off in a different direction, they must have knew people were going to try that :)
Player’s Choice is one of my favorite game stores and I go there every year when I visit Myrtle Beach. I decided to look for some gameplay of the original pong machine, and when you mentioned Players Choice, I was thinking, “oh my gosh! That’s the exact same machine that’s always on display!” That place is awesome!
Articles I've seen elsewhere claim that original Pongs during the craze often pulled in $40 a day, so this one may have been in a pretty dead location, which would also explain how it's in such good shape. The original sales price was $900, raised to $1200 before very long. I have to keep reminding myself that these are 1973 dollars, multiply everything by about 4 or 5 to get modern equivalents.
Yes I think this one wasn't in a very good location (or two).... but all we have to go on are the numbers which are interesting. I worked for an operator in 2005-2009 or so, and often talked with older operators, in the early 80's games routinely made $200 a week, with games like Defender making $600 when they first were released!
Interesting, historical machine :) I'm born in '74 so wasn't even alive when this particular Pong machine was made. Never played this kind of original Pong arcade game, but I have a Conic TV-game home console from late 70's, which is a Pong clone. Have played also Atari Anniversary Edition game with PS3, which has the original Atari Pong, among other classic games. It's pretty hard to play though with regular Playstation 3 controller.
Like they say, oldies but goodies. But damm I wish I had the PONG console so I can play on my B/W tv that coincidentally was made the same year as this particular PONG unit was.
I have, this year! Played against my daughter at the American Classic Arcade Museum, Funspot, Weirs Beach NH. The monitor on theirs had gone a little wobbly with a lot of overscan, and I lost some points by missing the ball through the famous gap at the top, but only realized after later study that that was what had happened. The thing that surprised me the most was that there was no "start" or "serve" button; the game just started automatically when you put in the coin.
(This, by the way, is a thing that the Atari Flashback Classics collection I have on my XBox One fudges a bit, in their alleged reconstruction of the original arcade Pong; they make it behave more like the Atari 2600 version (which is also on there), with a serve button.)
As cool as seeing an original Pong machine in such wonderful condition is, at 9:54 am I seeing a somewhat rare Sears Arcade II on the bottom shelf of that cabinet? If so, do you still have it?
I played the original "Pong" game at the local mall; and Idora Park had a similar game known as "Playtime". The only difference with that game is that it had a little stick control that you could move in all directions. I have not seen another "Playtime" stand up arcade game since then. I wonder if there is another one around; or perhaps someone bought the one from Idora Park and kept it running. It looked like a 19" black & white television monitor from its size and the tube face was sort of brown from age but the game still worked last time I was at the park in the arcade; which was back in 1984 before the park closed permanently due to a major fire. Hopefully there's still a working "Playtime" (Pong) game functioning that can be found and a video made.
Wow I never saw the Grandstand before, very cool. When I was a kid we had something like that but I don't remember which version or anything and don't still have it... I never saw a Pong cabinet before either besides this one, I have another one in for repair now though.
@@LyonsArcade I remembered the odd coloured buttons and the controllers so managed to track down which it was, I don't still have it unfortunately. I love your channel, you have my dream job. Keep orn keeping orn Ron. 😉
Great video, & classic game. I never played a actual original Pong. I played Pong on my Atari 2600. You had a unknown caller during the video, BE CAREFUL. It might have been the IRS suing you for back taxes, or Microsoft calling to let you know your computer has a virus. LOL!
It was some dude from Nigeria, something about he was a prince and needs me to help him get his inheritance... I told him I'd be happy to help out, he just needed a couple thousand to get started... good news is though, I'm SOON GOING TO BE A MILLIONAIRE!!!
Too young to have played an original Pong. I have never even laid a hand one one! I've been toying with an Atari 2600 version of the original Arcade Pong over the years. Thanks for your video since there aren't many good ones on TH-cam. This will help me tune my version. atariage.com/forums/topic/90158-arcade-pong/
It's hard to explain Don because i'm not a engineer but basically the entire game is created just from transistor gates, there's no software, no processor, no rom, and no ram. So they're literally just making boxes appear on the screen by making voltages run this way and that way it's a really marvelous creation, but it also meant they didn't have much ability to make the screen change much!
You think you know what you're talking about, and that I don't know what I'm talking about, except you're not even fucking here. This particular cabinet had the build date inside of it still stapled to the back, and this one was built in 1973. So go correct somebody else.... and next time, you might want to be sure you're not full of shit when you go around telling others they're wrong. Anything about the video you DID like, asshole?
Looking at the back panel and listening to your commentary is like a time capsule from 1973
I remember playing Pong in machines like this one when I was a kid. Now I'm 50... Damm...
Time flies, Juan!
@Augustine Dean Cool!
I remember seeing them as a kid 😊😊
I had an early home version of this. If you took the time you can get the ball to bounce back and forth endlessly and it would stay like that until you move one of the knobs.
I tried that on this one and it does it for a little while, and then after about the tenth hit it bounces off in a different direction, they must have knew people were going to try that :)
That's REALLY great!.. Thanks for sharing the history with us. Love videogames from Pong and afterwards..
Thanks for watching we have more pong videos coming soon...
Best retro game ever... and spacewar...
Player’s Choice is one of my favorite game stores and I go there every year when I visit Myrtle Beach. I decided to look for some gameplay of the original pong machine, and when you mentioned Players Choice, I was thinking, “oh my gosh! That’s the exact same machine that’s always on display!” That place is awesome!
Articles I've seen elsewhere claim that original Pongs during the craze often pulled in $40 a day, so this one may have been in a pretty dead location, which would also explain how it's in such good shape. The original sales price was $900, raised to $1200 before very long. I have to keep reminding myself that these are 1973 dollars, multiply everything by about 4 or 5 to get modern equivalents.
Yes I think this one wasn't in a very good location (or two).... but all we have to go on are the numbers which are interesting. I worked for an operator in 2005-2009 or so, and often talked with older operators, in the early 80's games routinely made $200 a week, with games like Defender making $600 when they first were released!
Interesting, historical machine :)
I'm born in '74 so wasn't even alive when this particular Pong machine was made. Never played this kind of original Pong arcade game, but I have a Conic TV-game home console from late 70's, which is a Pong clone.
Have played also Atari Anniversary Edition game with PS3, which has the original Atari Pong, among other classic games. It's pretty hard to play though with regular Playstation 3 controller.
Yeah it kind of loses something when it’s not in the big wood box 😀
No pun intended that they “ping ponged back and forth” (4:55) between serial number ID’s 😆
This is definitely a piece of arcade history right here :D
Yup! We've got another one in the building we're going to be working on soon, video coming later :)
Awesome video Ron, I'll probably never get to see or play one in real life so I'll have to keep playing it on the switch!
Yup I wonder how many are left?
Like they say, oldies but goodies. But damm I wish I had the PONG console so I can play on my B/W tv that coincidentally was made the same year as this particular PONG unit was.
I think you can still pick them up fairly inexpensively!
I played those when they came out, it was the start of it all
Very cool, maybe this is the one you played???
WOW!!! How many people here can say that they've played an original Pong any time in the past 40 years? Nice, Joe!
I can :)
I have, this year! Played against my daughter at the American Classic Arcade Museum, Funspot, Weirs Beach NH. The monitor on theirs had gone a little wobbly with a lot of overscan, and I lost some points by missing the ball through the famous gap at the top, but only realized after later study that that was what had happened. The thing that surprised me the most was that there was no "start" or "serve" button; the game just started automatically when you put in the coin.
@@MattMcIrvin So your daughter beat a seasoned Pong player, then? ;)
(This, by the way, is a thing that the Atari Flashback Classics collection I have on my XBox One fudges a bit, in their alleged reconstruction of the original arcade Pong; they make it behave more like the Atari 2600 version (which is also on there), with a serve button.)
Me! plus, I own a Quadrapong.
This for me is the best best version i have seen an original cab of this quality!
Yeah I couldn't believe the condition, considering it's 45 years old. Holy Moly.
cool pong arcade!
Thank you Tomy Power!
@@LyonsArcade you're welceone!
As cool as seeing an original Pong machine in such wonderful condition is, at 9:54 am I seeing a somewhat rare Sears Arcade II on the bottom shelf of that cabinet? If so, do you still have it?
Yes sir, we still have it in. Very cool little machine!
These things are so cool
Damn this is a piece of history. It would be cool to recreate the Pong arcade cabinet with the exact, accurate gameplay.
The grandfather of video games!
Nice olddchool Pong 👍
Thank you Danijel, we appreciate you watching!
I played the original "Pong" game at the local mall; and Idora Park had a similar game known as "Playtime". The only difference with that game is that it had a little stick control that you could move in all directions. I have not seen another "Playtime" stand up arcade game since then. I wonder if there is another one around; or perhaps someone bought the one from Idora Park and kept it running. It looked like a 19" black & white television monitor from its size and the tube face was sort of brown from age but the game still worked last time I was at the park in the arcade; which was back in 1984 before the park closed permanently due to a major fire. Hopefully there's still a working "Playtime" (Pong) game functioning that can be found and a video made.
Gary there are indeed still Playtime games still working out there... check out this page : www.arcade-museum.com/game_detail.php?game_id=13623
I'm almost as old as Pong. The Grandstand 2600 MK II was my fist taste of video games, I never saw an actual Pong cabinet.
Wow I never saw the Grandstand before, very cool. When I was a kid we had something like that but I don't remember which version or anything and don't still have it... I never saw a Pong cabinet before either besides this one, I have another one in for repair now though.
@@LyonsArcade I remembered the odd coloured buttons and the controllers so managed to track down which it was, I don't still have it unfortunately. I love your channel, you have my dream job. Keep orn keeping orn Ron. 😉
Awesome
We think so too!
"The only way I'm going to win is if I outsmart myself... This could go on all night". LOL.
I finally beat me.
NICE!
Thanks Charles!
Great video, & classic game. I never played a actual original Pong. I played Pong on my Atari 2600. You had a unknown caller during the video, BE CAREFUL. It might have been the IRS suing you for back taxes, or Microsoft calling to let you know your computer has a virus. LOL!
It was some dude from Nigeria, something about he was a prince and needs me to help him get his inheritance... I told him I'd be happy to help out, he just needed a couple thousand to get started... good news is though, I'm SOON GOING TO BE A MILLIONAIRE!!!
@@LyonsArcade- The Nigerian inheritance, or Lottery scam I completely forgot about that one. Good call!
Played the crap out of this as a kid,. Damn I’m old..
Hey we're all getting older right behind you or in front of you :)
The 00919 was probably 00616 which is why when they read it reversed it was 91900
Too young to have played an original Pong. I have never even laid a hand one one! I've been toying with an Atari 2600 version of the original Arcade Pong over the years. Thanks for your video since there aren't many good ones on TH-cam. This will help me tune my version.
atariage.com/forums/topic/90158-arcade-pong/
Glad to help, Djmips!
I think Syzygy is pronounced Sizz-a-gee
I saw that from final nights 4
3-24-73 date looks like it was read upside down. Probably was 000616. LOL
Probably!
I think that 753 is actually a 953. Sometimes 9's can look like 7's.
I think you may be correct!
91900 was 00616 for the previous entry
Interesting there is no ending screen. When the score of 15 is reached, the game just stops
It's hard to explain Don because i'm not a engineer but basically the entire game is created just from transistor gates, there's no software, no processor, no rom, and no ram. So they're literally just making boxes appear on the screen by making voltages run this way and that way it's a really marvelous creation, but it also meant they didn't have much ability to make the screen change much!
I saw that on American Pickers! According to the show, it retails at $60,000!!!
I don't think it's worth quite that much but one in this condition is probably worth $2500 or so.
Pong was a two player only game. One quarter, two players. I think your earnings numbers are off.
Could be....
True story: It was designed to look like a nun so people would feel like they were in church instead of wasting their time.
Out of curiosity. What is the price of such a collector in such a preservation (not that specific one)? Don't sell it. Keep it some more decade.
I didn't own it, but I would think the value was about 3,000 dollars, something like that.
It’s from 1972 not 73
You think you know what you're talking about, and that I don't know what I'm talking about, except you're not even fucking here. This particular cabinet had the build date inside of it still stapled to the back, and this one was built in 1973. So go correct somebody else.... and next time, you might want to be sure you're not full of shit when you go around telling others they're wrong. Anything about the video you DID like, asshole?
Lol 😂
Great! Hi. ***God made all. He had a son named Jesus. Jesus deceased to pardon us of all wrong*** Inhale O2