''Tennis'' is a

sports video game A sports video game is a video game that simulates the practice of sports. Most sports have been recreated with video games, including team sports, track and field, extreme sports, and combat sports. Some games emphasize playing the sport (such ...

for the

Atari VCS The Atari 2600 is a home video game console developed and produced by Atari, Inc. Released in September 1977 as the Atari Video Computer System (Atari VCS), it popularized microprocessor-based hardware and games stored on swappable ROM cartridg ...

(later called the Atari 2600) which was written by

Activision Activision Publishing, Inc. is an American video game publisher based in Santa Monica, California. It serves as the publishing business for its parent company, Activision Blizzard, and consists of several subsidiary studios. Activision is one o ...

co-founder Alan Miller and published by Activision in 1981.

Gameplay

''Tennis'' offers

singles matches Many types of wrestling matches, sometimes called "gimmick matches" in the jargon of the business, are performed in professional wrestling. Some gimmick matches are more common than others and are often used to advance or conclude a storyline. ...

for one or two players; one player is colored pink, the other blue. The game has two user-selectable speed levels. When serving and returning shots, the tennis players automatically swing

forehand The forehand is a shot used in most racket sports, such as tennis, table tennis and pickleball, where the palm of the hand precedes the back of the hand when swinging the racket. In tennis, except in the context of the phrase ''forehand volley ...

backhand The backhand is a shot used in most racket sports, such as tennis, table tennis and pickleball, where the back of the hand precedes the palm when swinging the racket. Except in the phrase ''backhand volley'', the term refers to a groundstr ...

depending on the situation, and all shots automatically clear the net and land in bounds. The first player to win one six-game

set Set, The Set, SET or SETS may refer to: Science, technology, and mathematics Mathematics *Set (mathematics), a collection of elements *Category of sets, the category whose objects and morphisms are sets and total functions, respectively Electro ...

is declared the winner of the match (if the set ends in a 6-6 tie, the set restarts from 0-0). This differs from professional tennis, where players must win at least two out of three six-game sets.

Reception

''Tennis'' received an award for "Best Competitive Game" and an

honorable mention An award, sometimes called a distinction, is given to a recipient as a token of recognition of excellence in a certain field. When the token is a medal, ribbon or other item designed for wearing, it is known as a decoration. An award may be d ...

for "Best Sports Game" at the 3rd annual

Arkie Awards ''Electronic Games'' was the first dedicated video game magazine published in the United States and ran from October 15, 1981, to 1997 under different titles. It was co-founded by Bill Kunkel, Joyce Worley, and Arnie Katz. History The h ...

. Arkie Award judges stated "''Tennis'' is as far removed from the primitive ''

Pong ''Pong'' is a 1972 sports video game developed and published by Atari for arcades. It is one of the earliest arcade video games; it was created by Allan Alcorn as a training exercise assigned to him by Atari co-founder Nolan Bushnell, but B ...

''-style games from which it derives as

gasoline Gasoline ( North American English) or petrol ( Commonwealth English) is a petrochemical product characterized as a transparent, yellowish, and flammable liquid normally used as a fuel for spark-ignited internal combustion engines. When for ...

is from the dinosaurs", and specific praise was given to the game's "realistic illusion of depth" and its competitive aspects which allow for "hard fought contest and "glorious comebacks from the brink of defeat" and which give "more methodical players a chance to taste victory against the kings and queens of hand-eye coordination". Covered in ''Video'' magazine's 1982 Guide to Electronic Games, ''Tennis'' was characterized by critics as "not terribly complicated", but also as "one of the few very good sports games for the

Reviews

* ''

Games A game is a Structure, structured type of play (activity), play usually undertaken for entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an Educational game, educational tool. Many games are also considered to be Work (human activity), work (such as p ...

References

{{Reflist, refs= {{cite web, title=Activision Tennis Manual, url=https://archive.org/details/Tennis_1981_Activision, website=archive.org, year=1981 {{cite web, title=The Giant List of Classic Game Programmers, url=https://dadgum.com/giantlist/ , last1=Hague , first1=James

External links

''Tennis''
at Atari Mania 1981 video games Activision games Atari 2600 games Atari 2600-only games Multiplayer and single-player video games Tennis video games Video games developed in the United States

Gameplay

Reception

Reviews

See also

References

External links