Nolan Bushnell

Nolan Bushnell (February 5, 1943–) is the founder of Atari, Inc. (now owned by Infogrames) and the Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza-Time Theaters chain. He, along with Ralph Baer, are widely recognized as leading pioneers of the video game industry.

Related Topics:
February 5 - 1943 - Atari, Inc. - Infogrames - Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza-Time Theaters - Ralph Baer - Video game

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Bushnell graduated from the University of Utah electrical engineering program in 1968, and was a member of the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity. Bushnell was one of many computer science students of the 1960s that played the now-famous Spacewar game on DEC mainframe computers. In 1971, Bushnell and colleague Ted Dabney created the Spacewar clone Computer Space in a self-contained cabinet manufactured and distributed Nutting Associates. Computer Space proved to be too far ahead of its time and was a commercial failure.

Related Topics:
University of Utah - Electrical engineering - 1968 - Pi Kappa Alpha - Fraternity - Computer science - 1960s - Spacewar - DEC - 1971 - Nutting Associates

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Nonetheless, Bushnell was determined to make a video game that could be played by anyone. In 1972, he and Dabney formed Atari and experienced an epiphany that spring at a computer electronics show in Burlingame, California, where he saw the Magnavox Odyssey for the first time and played its version of ping-pong. He realized that the game could use some improvements and a reduction in complexity. After Atari engineer Al Alcorn perfected the easier to play PONG video game, Bushnell had it installed at a bar in Grass Valley,California and a tavern in Sunnyvale, California called Andy Capp's (which has since become Rooster T. Feathers). Pong proved to be popular but imitators helped keep Atari from dominating the fledgling coin-operated videogame market.

Related Topics:
Spring - Burlingame, California - Magnavox Odyssey - Ping-pong - PONG - Sunnyvale, California

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Bushnell later bought out Dabney. In 1974, Bushnell and Atari decided to develop a home version of PONG. Thanks to a marketing and distribution agreement with Sears, PONG sales soared by 1975. In 1977, Atari introduced the Atari 2600 VCS (Video Computer System), which revolutionized the home video game market, and began a new era in video game consoles. Demand for the unit was so great that Atari executives manned the production lines to help with the assembly and packaging during that first Christmas after its release. In 1976, Warner Communications (now Time Warner) bought Atari, and Bushnell was forced out of the company in 1978.

Related Topics:
1974 - Sears - 1975 - 1977 - Atari 2600 - Video game console - Time Warner - 1978

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While still at Atari in 1977, he purchased Pizza Time Theaters back from Warner Communications (as Pizza Time was originally developed at Atari), a place where kids could go and eat pizza and play video games. The Pizza Time / Chuck E. Cheese's Theaters also had animatronic animals that played music as entertainment (Bushnell had always wanted to work for Walt Disney, but was continually turned down for employment when he was first starting out after graduation - Chuck E. Cheese's was his homage to Disney and the technology developed there). In 1984, Bushnell resigned from Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza Time Theaters (now named after its famous mouse mascot) as it entered bankruptcy. Chuck E. Cheese's emerged from bankruptcy and it survives today as a successful entertainment and restaurant chain.

Related Topics:
Pizza - Video game - Chuck E. Cheese's - 1984

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In addition to his animatronic entertainment at Chuck E. Cheese's, Bushnell was also involved in the 1982 founding of Androbot, Inc, a company that introduced personal robots for entertainment purposes. However, the company stopped production in 1984.

Related Topics:
1982 - Androbot

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Androbot was one of several companies in Catalyst Technologies Venture Capital Group, one of the first incubators. Other companies in that group in the group included Etak, Cumma, and Axlon (others, too).

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Axlon launched many consumer and consumer electronic products successfully, most notably AG Bear, a bear that mumbled / echoed a child's word's back to them. Axlon was largely sold to Hasbro.

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In 1984, Bushnell once again entered the video game business, when he founded Sente Games. (Sente is the Japanese term for checkmate in Go, Bushnell's favourite game). Bally-Midway agreed to be Sente's distributor; the list of published Sente titles includes the popular one-on-one hockey game, Hat Trick (1984).

Related Topics:
Sente - Japanese - Go - Bally-Midway

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Bushnell has started over 20 companies (his most recent being uWink, which he founded in 1999). He has been inducted into the "Video Game Hall of Fame" and the Consumer Electronics Association "Hall of Fame." In 2005 he served as a judge on the USA Network reality series Made in the USA.

Related Topics:
Consumer Electronics Association - 2005 - USA Network - Reality series - Made in the USA

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