Cathode Ray Tube Amusement Device

Summary

The first fathers of interactive electronic games are physicist Thomas T. Goldsmith Jr. and Estle Ray Mann. In 1947 they invented a kind of rocket simulation game: The Cathode Ray Tube Amusement Device. On the display of a cathode ray tube (hence the name) the path of a light beam can be controlled by means of a button. This beam of light should now be directed at plastic films glued to the display, which look like airplanes. When these are hit, the light point is defocused, which is supposed to be an explosion.

Although the invention is patented in 1948, the Cathode Ray Tube Amusement Device is never built. The name of this game as the first video game is controversial because depending on the definition, programming and memory are included.