10 Questions
Who founded Atari with an initial investment of $250 each?
Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney
What was the name of the toy that Nolan Bushnell adapted into a coin machine?
Ping-pong
What was the size of Atari's first office?
1,000 square feet
Who was Atari's first full-time employee?
Cynthia Villanueva
What was the role of Al Alcorn at Atari?
VP of Engineering
What did Bushnell and Dabney do to create a steadier income base for the company?
Started a pinball route
How fast did Atari grow into an entertainment giant?
$2 billion a year within ten years
What did Villanueva do as Atari's first full-time employee?
All of the above
How did Alcorn learn to repair televisions?
By taking an RCA correspondence course in high school
What did the job offer from Bushnell to Alcorn include?
A chance to own stock in the company and a company car.
Study Notes
- Nolan Bushnell adapted a toy for playing ping-pong on TV into a coin machine and called it Pong.
- Atari was founded in 1972 by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney with an initial investment of $250 each.
- Atari grew into a $2-billion-a-year entertainment giant within ten years, making it the fastest-growing company in US history.
- Atari's first office was a crude 1,000-square-foot space in an inexpensive concrete building, made to house start-up companies.
- Bushnell and Dabney started a pinball route to create a steadier income base for the company.
- Cynthia Villanueva, a 17-year-old who used to babysit Bushnell's children, was Atari's first full-time employee.
- Villanueva was called upon to do everything from answering telephones to building electronic components and placing parts in cabinets.
- Al Alcorn was Atari's second employee, hired as the VP of engineering or sort of, VP of R & D.
- Alcorn was gifted in electronics and had learned how to repair televisions by taking an RCA correspondence course in high school.
- Alcorn accepted the job offer from Bushnell, which included a chance to own stock in the company and a company car.
Test your knowledge of the fascinating history of Atari, the pioneering video game company founded by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney in 197
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