''Doctor Pong'', also known as ''Puppy Pong'', is an adaption of the original arcade

Pong ''Pong'' is a table tennis–themed twitch arcade sports video game, featuring simple two-dimensional graphics, manufactured by Atari and originally released in 1972. It was one of the earliest arcade video games; it was created by Allan A ...

for use in a non-coin-operated environment. It was conceptualized by

Nolan Bushnell Nolan Kay Bushnell (born February 5, 1943) is an American businessman and electrical engineer. He established Atari, Inc. and the Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza Time Theatre chain. He has been inducted into the Video Game Hall of Fame and the Consum ...

, Steve Bristow, and a

marketing Marketing is the process of exploring, creating, and delivering value to meet the needs of a target market in terms of goods and services; potentially including selection of a target audience; selection of certain attributes or themes to empha ...

firm to move their

arcade video game An arcade video game takes player input from its controls, processes it through electrical or computerized components, and displays output to an electronic monitor or similar display. Most arcade video games are coin-operated, housed in an ar ...

s into a non-arcade environment—in this case, to help occupy children in pediatricians'

waiting room A waiting room or waiting hall is a building, or more commonly a part of a building or a room, where people sit or stand until the event or appointment for which they are waiting begins. There are two types of waiting room. One has individuals ...

s. Originally designed to be a model of Snoopy's

doghouse A doghouse, also known as a kennel, is an outbuilding to provide shelter for a dog from various weather conditions. Background Humans and domesticated dogs have been companions for more than 15,000 years, beginning with the wolf and hunter� ...

with Pong built into the side of it, when

Charles Schulz Charles Monroe "Sparky" Schulz (; November 26, 1922 – February 12, 2000) was an American cartoonist and the creator of the comic strip ''Peanuts'', featuring what are probably his two best-known characters, Charlie Brown and Snoopy. He is wid ...

declined Atari the use of Snoopy, the model was changed to a generic doghouse with a puppy looking over the top. ''Puppy Pong'' saw a limited production run and was tested at

Chuck E. Cheese's Chuck E. Cheese (formerly known as Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza Time Theatre, Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza and simply Chuck E. Cheese's) is an American family entertainment center and pizza restaurant chain founded in 1977 by Atari's co-founder Nolan B ...

early locations.

Development

The original ''Snoopy Pong'' cabinet was designed by Regan Cheng of the Atari Industrial Design group. The follow-up ''Puppy Pong'' cabinet was designed by Regan's manager, Chas Grossman. Both cabinets consisted of a doghouse housing a Pong board modified to not use a coin drop as a start trigger. The original ''Pong'' automatically starts several seconds after a coin is inserted. In ''Doctor Pong'' and ''Puppy Pong'', a "start button" was instead wired up to start the games, set under the vertically mounted

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication Media (communication), medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of Transmission (telecommunications), television tra ...

in the dog house "roof." Instead of a traditional control panel, spinners are mounted directly on the roof, as well.

References

External links

A photograph of the original Snoopy Pong version.
* 1975 video games Arcade video games Arcade-only video games Discrete video arcade games Pong variations Video games developed in the United States {{arcade-stub