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Questions and Answers
Who founded Atari with an initial investment of $250 each?
What was the name of the toy that Nolan Bushnell adapted into a coin machine?
What was the size of Atari's first office?
Who was Atari's first full-time employee?
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What was the role of Al Alcorn at Atari?
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What did Bushnell and Dabney do to create a steadier income base for the company?
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How fast did Atari grow into an entertainment giant?
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What did Villanueva do as Atari's first full-time employee?
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How did Alcorn learn to repair televisions?
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What did the job offer from Bushnell to Alcorn include?
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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.
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Description
Test your knowledge of the fascinating history of Atari, the pioneering video game company founded by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney in 197