Allan Alcorn's original 1970 quarter recovered from an early collection of coins from the first Pong prototype, which was deployed at Andy Capp's Tavern in Sunnyvale, California. The game became so popular that the coin collection jug filled up more quickly than expected and jammed the internal switch, making the game inoperable. When Alcorn was called in to repair it, he discovered the problem-Pong was making too much money! This quarter, retrieved from the overflowing coin box, was cast into plastic by Atari co-founder Ted Dabney and presented to Alcorn in recognition of their success. In fine condition, with some age toning to the acrylic. Accompanied by a letter of provenance signed by Alcorn, discussing his history as Atari's first hired employee and the story behind his creation of Pong; of this possibly unique quarter presentation-symbolizing the 'first coin' used to play the first popular arcade video game-he notes: "There may have been other exemplars made but I don't know of any."
The Pong prototype set up at Andy Capp's was a far cry from the arcade cabinets that fill our imaginations-no flashy graphics or glowing big screens. Alcorn purchased a tiny, cheap black-and-white Hitachi television from Walgreens to use as a monitor, Ted Dabney built a wooden tabletop case for it, and they bolted a laundromat-style coin box on the side to accept quarters for gameplay.
Alcorn remembers: "Soon the bar owner called us and told us that the unit had failed so Nolan sent me out to Andy Capp's to see if I could fix it. When I got there I decided I would play a game to see what was wrong so I opened the coin box to flip the microswitch for a free game and to my surprise a whole bunch of quarters gushed out! The coin box wouldn't take any more quarters so I gave half of the coins to the bar owner and the next day dumped the quarters on Nolan's desk and told him I found the problem. Pong was making too much money! Thus began Atari."
The success of the proof-of-concept Pong prototype at Andy Capp's was important for several reasons. First, it made apparent the importance of intuitive design for new technologies like video games-even a drunk could work the machine. Few instructions were needed to understand it ("Deposit Quarter, Avoid Missing Ball for High Score"), providing a model for Silicon Valley successors like Steve Jobs. Second, it showed the potential profitability of the arcade game. The chief competition came from pinball machines-which cost 10¢ per play-while Pong cost 25¢. Where an average machine took in $10 per day, Pong was pulling in $40. At an initial price of $900 per machine, a bar or arcade owner could make back his investment in under a month. Pong was a no-brainer. The machine sold itself.
From the collection of Pong creator Allan Alcorn.
