The cathode-ray tube amusement device is the earliest-known idea for an interactive electronic game and the first game concept to use an electronic display. The device would mimic an artillery shell moving toward targets shown on a cathode-ray tube (CRT) screen. Players controlled the game by turning knobs to adjust the path of a light spot on the screen, aiming it at plastic targets placed over the display.

Thomas T. Goldsmith Jr. and Estle Ray Mann built the game using analog electronics. They applied for a patent in 1947, and the patent was approved the next year. The device was never made or sold to the public, so it did not influence the future video game industry. Many definitions of video games require a computing device to operate. Since this device did not use a computer, it is not classified as a video game. Although it is important to the early history of video games, it is not usually considered the first video game.

Gameplay

The cathode-ray tube amusement device includes a cathode-ray tube (CRT) connected to basic circuits similar to those in an oscilloscope, along with knobs and switches. The device uses simple analog circuits and does not include a digital computer, memory, or programs. The CRT sends a small light spot to the screen, which moves in a curved path when a player activates a switch. This light spot shows the path of an artillery shell. The curved path is created by the CRT, which is not a standard design, and it moves the electron beam as the spot travels across the screen. Transparent plastic targets, such as airplanes, are placed on the screen. When the spot finishes its path, the light spreads out and becomes blurry, showing the shell exploding as if a time fuze triggered it. The goal is to have the spot spread out while it is over a target. Before the spot begins its path, the player can adjust the knobs to change the direction of the spot and the timing of the explosion. The machine can be set to fire one "shell" or repeat at regular intervals, which the player can control. This allows the player to aim the explosion at a target within a set time. Players were advised to make the path of the spot curved rather than straight to increase the difficulty and require more skill.

History

The cathode-ray tube amusement device was created by physicists Thomas T. Goldsmith Jr. and Estle Ray Mann. Both worked at DuMont Laboratories in Passaic, New Jersey, where they focused on developing cathode ray tubes that used electronic signals to display images on television screens. Goldsmith had earned a Ph.D. in physics from Cornell University in 1936, with an emphasis on oscilloscope design. At the time of the invention, he was the director of research at DuMont Laboratories. The two inventors were inspired by radar displays used during World War II, which Goldsmith had worked on during the war. They filed a patent for the device on January 25, 1947, and it was officially granted on December 14, 1948. This patent, the first for an electronic game, was not used by the inventors or DuMont Laboratories, and the device was never made beyond a handmade prototype. A historian from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Alex Magoun, suggested that Goldsmith created the prototype to show the commercial possibilities for DuMont, not to develop a product for sale. Video game historian Alexander Smith noted that DuMont’s financial problems likely prevented any investment in the device. After the invention, Goldsmith did not work on games again. In 1953, he was promoted to vice president, and in 1966, he left DuMont—by then sold to other companies—to become a physics professor at Furman University. Goldsmith kept the device and brought it to Furman University. In a 2016 interview, a physics professor named Bill Brantley recalled Goldsmith showing him how the game worked.

Although the cathode-ray tube amusement device used a graphical display, it is not usually considered the first video game because it relied on analog hardware and did not operate on a computer. Some definitions may still include it as a video game, but it is often excluded because the device was never produced. However, it is recognized as the earliest known interactive electronic game to use an electronic display. Earlier games, such as the 1936 Seeburg Ray-O-Lite and Spotlight Golf, did not use electronic components that modify electrical signals. This makes the cathode-ray tube amusement device an early influence on the history of video games. Because the device was never made or widely shown, it did not directly inspire other games or affect the future video game industry. The patent was not found again until 2002, when David Winter, a French electronics collector, discovered it in a set of documents in an archival warehouse. These documents were originally collected for a 1974 lawsuit by Magnavox against several arcade game companies.