I'm 26, and I know what Pong is. I say your editors are weird.

28, and I know what it is, despite never having played.

your editors are weird

I know what it is, even played it on a TV. But I'm getting old.

Now If I can figure out that damn Wii.

.

28, and your editors are weird.

Jesus, this makes me feel old.

Speaking of which, what about Yar's Revenge?

I know what it is, even played it on a TV. But I'm getting old.

Now If I can figure out that damn Wii.

.

Sure, I know what Pong is. It was the very first video game I ever saw and and I immediately fell in love (and am still playing games). However, I was in colege at the time and the year was roughly 1973. Or, as my faculty advisor (who was having trouble adjusting to a newly co-ed school) would have said, before your editors were a gleam in their fathers' eyes in the back seat of a parked car.

I'm also under 30, and I say they're weird.

I'm probably weird, and I'm definitely not a horde, and anyway I'm over 40, but yeah, I had no idea what Pong is.

20. They're weird. Shamefully so, actually.

You kids get off my lawn!

I'm 26. I know what it is, but have never played it.

22, I've played Pong for atari 2600, your editors are weird.

Obviously they're Out of Touch Washington Elitists.

That said not knowing pop culture makes them bad editors.

Yeah, they're not demonstrating minimal cultural literacy. I'd be curious which games you could mention before they recognize one.

They don't know Pong, but do they know, for instance, Asteroids or Space Invaders or Donkey Kong or Pacman or Legend of Zelda or Super Mario Brothers.

How recent/famous does a game need to be before they've heard of it?

27 here, and ditto. Your editors are weird. Also, isn't it strange that the 40+ year-old in the comments is the one who also doesn't know what Pong is?

I'm 24, and I've played it. My dad had a 2600 when he was in college, and he had a game called Video Olympics that had Pong, Soccer (Pong with a row of paddles and smaller goals), Quadropong (a four player version), and "Basketball," a bizarre game that seemed more like an ancient Incan game than basketball.

23 and a vote for weird. I've even played a Pong knock-off that was a hard-wired system (I think it also had "hockey", which limited the scoring area to small "goals" on each side of the screen and allowed bouncing off the rest). Admittedly, it was almost certainly older than me, but this is just crucial cultural knowledge like who Maverick and Iceman are.

I'm 48. As a kid I
had a primitive TV attachment that was a 2-person pong game. The remotes were single dials. A couple years ago I found it in my dad's attic. I was sorry I couldn't get it to work.

I call your PONG and raise you a Lunar Lander!

I'm 25 and I, somehow, GREW UP playing a lot of PONG. Does that make ME weird?

22 and i know what pong is,but that's because i am not borderline retarded

Pong, I remember. Maybe if you asked them about beer pong, they'd know what you are talking about.

I showed my kids a vinyl record the other day, told them it could play music...They said, "it's like a CD?" I'm so sad that my frame of reference has aged so much....

I'm 26 and know Pong, they're weird. I never played the original paddle version, but I played that and maybe other games on my Atari 2600 as well.

Not quite 31, never played, know what it is. My mom is a gamer, and has been since she encountered Pong... which was before I was born. She has since moved on through Zork, M.U.L.E., Warcraft, Civilization and is now mostly playing City of Heroes. (lots of others too, but I can't remember all the names since she really liked some *weird* games when I was 8)

I know what pong is but I'm old so I don't know whether your editors are weird.

Who knows what POX is? Hint: not a video game.

Your editors are very, very weird, as are the people chiming in.

My 15 and 17 year olds know what it is. The 17 year old has played it as a Flash game.

They were joking. Everyone knows what pong is.

Just today, my assistant, who will turn 22 this coming month, asked me what The Love Boat is.

But I'll bet she knows what Pong is....

I'm 26 and have vivid memories of playing Atari in the mid 1980's, back when Nintendo was barely on anyone's radar. Unless your editors are in their early 20's and lack eyes, hands, or ears, they have no excuse. Thus a vote for weird.

30s, and no idea what you're talking about. I love the political commentary on this blog, but man, the cultural references are low brow!

I just asked my seven-year-old son if he knew what Pong was, and he did. (Apparently there's a Flash version.)

ooooooooooh. pacman!

cultural history is so neglected. we almost never end up with any reasonable insight on what living in a particular age was like.

my first high tech job was in marketing for the 'new' computer division of Hewlett-Packard, a maker of 'mini-computers' that had actual 'core' memories consisting of magnetic donuts strung through in a matrix of fine wires. 4 kilobytes was the usual max memory for a computer then, with no disks. paper tape ruled. the whole division consisted of 400 people or so (including the coffee guys who brought around the coffee and goodies twice a day). HP's computer division was a lonely building in the middle of an apricot orchard in Cupertino CA, and Dave and Bill visited often. (Bill Hewlett and David Packard). Our biggest competitor was DEC (Digital Equipment Co) in MA - now long gone, eaten by somebody along the way (Compaq Computers, I think - who in turn were eaten much later by HP).

Every corporation should be required to have a historian on the staff!

And hey, remember learning to program in BASIC?

Definitely weird

I'm 29, and I can even tell you the history of Pong. Of course, I'm a video game reviewer, so knowing Pong and its history isn't trivia for me. It's baseline knowledge for doing my job.

I'm more than a bit curious to find out what other famous video games they've never heard of. Mario? Zelda? Mega Man (which makes the post from a couple days ago more entertaining)? Final Fantasy? Pac Man? Space Invaders?

Just please tell me they know about video games besides Doom, Grand Theft Auto, Mortal Kombat, or anything else that came up because of cultural conservative scare campaigns.

28 and played it on a friends 2600. I've also played 3D variants on PC and the Atari ST.

I'm 18 and I know what pong is. Though I must admit, my first reaction was to think of beer pong.

I guess I'm just one of those 'stoned slackers' Bill O' Reilly thinks is going to destroy America.

My kids frequently use a Pong reference of some sort to taunt me after they Pwn me on the Wii or Xbox.
There's a current Pepsi commercial that involves Pong on youtube somewhere.

Food Trivia: "When I was a boy in the 1950s..." grocery stores stocked PING and PONG juices, made by Del Monte, I think, and sold in a large metal can. They were combos of pineapple, orange and (I can't remember what the other was) juices. Back when fruit juice was made of fruit juice.

I'm 65 and thought I'd weigh in on this so you'll know you have at least one faithful reader in his 60's.

I played Pong, a bit. The game from that era that I fell in love with was Breakout, which I still miss. I don't know if being culturally literate requires knowing about that one.

Mt ten year old son knows what Pong is - at least in concept or maybe from a web java game?

Although, likely he knows this because I explain to him that when I was young we only had Pong and it broke. This is with regard to the 10 games systems he has today (some from older sibs of course) when he complains that he does not have a playstation 3 yet - comeon dad pong up?

23 and they are weird.

Weird, very weird.

Certainly no sense of the important things in history.

Monica

You have two editors under 30? Man that makes me feel older than them not knowing Pong.

Do they know Zork?

Pong was the first... I know of it through one of my older brothers that had one. ..they are weirder side I think.

I mean I know what a model T is and its way older then I am.. I never owned one, rode in one, or even know anyone that did.. but I still know what it is.

I'm 28 and I played Pong and ET on the Atari once or twice. The first games that I really played a lot were on the Nintendo.

"The American Prospect SAYS they're in touch with American values. But two of their editors didn't even know what Pong was. Didn't know what PONG was?

The American Prospect: Wrong on Pong, wrong on terrorism, wrong for America.

Paid for by Citizens for Anachronistic Video Games"

26, and I'm old enough to be able to honestly answer that it was the first proper video game I played (yeah, on a home machine; I'm not John McCain).

Maybe trust fund kids were too busy with their ponies in their early years?

- Chris

I'm 25, and I've played pong. Your editors are clearly not Real Americans (tm).

(I'm from India, for what that's worth.)

I think your editors have been hanging out in libraries a little too much. ;-)

Hell yes, dammitall, I played Pong when I was a teenager, who the hell doesn't know from Pong? Damn straight your editors are weird, so thanks for the question, you little jerk. Now didn't I tell you, get the hell offa my lawn!

pretty sure I remember "Pong", its either a piece of drug paraphenalia, or its the name of the Ape, they shot climbing the empire state building---no, no, scratch that, I know now, Pong is a chinese street gang. I'm 71, and I know stuff.

53, editor (old media). Not so strange. Don't have a clue to any but about 2 of the current Billboard Top 100. It's nature's way.

72, never heard of Pong.

OMG, am I that old? Used to play Pong at my neighbor's house, in the days before I got my Commodore 64. Your editors are not only weird but also depressing!

Be honest, Ezra. This was just a cunning survey to show your advertisers how many readers you have in that lucrative 20s-30s nostalgic gamer demographic.

29, so I'm definitely firmly in the adult camp. But, for the record, I played the hell out of pong in at Tara & Bubba's house after school. 2d grade, I believe the year was, 1986-1987. Good times.

Beer pong?

Not at all, Ginger. Now, the post a couple days ago where he linked to a video playing all the Robot Master stage songs from Mega Man 2, that was to ferret out the 20s-30s nostalgic gamer. Though Exra is only decently-versed in that himself.

I mean, if he was really well-versed, he'd have found this video when searching for the tune for when you select a robot master in Mega Man 2 (skip to the 0:50 mark if you don't want to hear the version from Mega Man 1).

Also, for the person who mentioned it above - I remember Breakout quite well, although I was more fond of its successor, Arkanoid. The first sequel to that was good, but the franchise has lost its way since then.

OK, who can tell me what Computer Space is? And how many played it in its first release?

Cranky

I am old enough to remember Jack Kennedy as President. And I know what Pong is.

How about "Invasion of the Mutant Space Bats of Doom?"

http://www.dosgamesarchive.com/download/game/110

A fine piece of DOS shareware I downloaded over a dialup modem some time around 1995. I wanted to try something that would test out the first computer with a sound card that I ever bought.

My 5-year old daughter got hooked playing this, and now she is a videogame addict.

But it was an entertaining game, and you certainly couldn't argue with the price.

I played pong on a colecovision.

two of my editors -- both under 30 --

Your editors are under 30? Is this a real magazine or a grad school project?

I'm 26. Despite never having played Pong, a Pong clone was the first game I ever programmed, back in the ninth grade.

I don't think it's completely weird for a person just to randomly not know what Pong is, but for two people not to know you've got to be sampling from a pretty weird group...

24. Pong is known to me.

24, and I know what pong is, despite a general lack on interest in video games.

27, and Pong is pop culture if nothing else. I'm trying to remember if I've actually ever played a non-port of it, but either way, it's not like it's obscure.

Your editors need to read more. I suggest Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution to start.

I know what pong is. But I'm also old enough to remember Pac Man. And I know what a tiller is, too, so I guess that makes me and old elitist.

What I'd like to know is if anyone remembers the Robotechesque game Thextor that was ported to home computers in the late 80s.

Or the "futuristic" tank sim Spectre/Spectre VR for the Mac. We used to play proto-LAN (Appletalk-linked) games against each other in the computer lab.

I'm 38 and I barely remember Pong. My sister is ten years younger and I think she'd get the reference, but no way has she actually played it.

What I'd like to know is if anyone remembers the Robotechesque game Thextor that was ported to home computers in the late 80s.

Yes, I played it on my Apple IIgs. The background music was Beethoven's Midnight Sonata.

As a teenager I had a boyfriend who stole a Pong game. Also a falcon, and a cow. Ah, country living.

I am 38 and we had a Pong console system. In fact, the next console (not counting personal computers) I had was an Xbox.

Your editors are culturally deprived.

23 and they're squares. Wtf?

Pong is a huge part of history!

Ok... maybe not huge, but it's pretty damn big!

I'm pushin' 50, and everyone under 30 is weird.

You need to introduce them to the history of video games, man! How are they supposed to write sophisticated foreign policy articles if they have never heard of Pong (or, for that matter, video games that have enhanced our understanding of life, the universe, and everything, like Chrono Trigger and Mortal Kombat?) This is a SERIOUS problem.

"Whatever Happened to Pong?"
by Frank Black

My brother and me used to play it
Down at the bar
Taking money from guys
More used to the playing of cards

Paddle the paddle to the side to the side
To the side to the side to the paddle the paddle
Paddle the paddle the side to the side
Pong
Ball in the machine

Now virtually everyone's singing
A popular song
But I still believe in
In the excellent joy of the Pong

To the side to the side to the paddle the paddle
To the paddle the paddle the side to the side
To the side to the side to the paddle the paddle
Pong
Ball in the machine

Now if they take it HG Wells
Well, I'll be on the first flight
To a time before the kong
Whatever happended to Pong?

Paddle the paddle to the side to the side
To the side to the side to the paddle the paddle
Paddle the paddle the side to the side
Pong
Ball in the machine

I'm 28 and I know what Pong is. I played a version of it that came with my brother's Commander Keen game, but I don't think I've played standalone Pong.

Your editors are very strange.

It's Beer "Bong" not pong....

Have you ever had this many commments on a thread?

As a relative oldster, what I find bizarre is how many of the under-50 crowd don't know anything about classic games like playing cards. We hosted a card party not long ago with a crowd in the 30-50 range, playing a very simple trick-taking game called "Wizard." I was amazed how many people knew next to nothing about cards. I had to explain even the rank of the face cards and that there were four suits, etc. As for tricks and trumps, most people has no idea what they were and I had to explain these concepts from the ground up.

A big contrast from my parents' generation, in which Bridge, Rummy, etc. were major social pasttimes.

And hey, remember learning to program in BASIC?

10 Print "Are my editors weird? Y or N."
20 Input X$
30 If X$="Y" then 50
40 Print "Okay, it must be me, then"
50 Print "So I guess that means you're old"

That may not work. It's been like 30 years.

Whoops, even I can see I need to edit my code:

45 End

If I'd only had access to my friend's Commodore PET, I coulda tested it out before posting it!

You have two editors under 30? Man that makes me feel older than them not knowing Pong.

Doh and Tyro, don't worry about it - you'll notice that Ezra himself is called an "associate editor" at the top of this page. In written media, almost everyone edits something now and then, I think. Associate editors are like creative vice-presidents in Hollywood or No. 3 men in Al Qaeda - there are dozens of them... and they are expendable. (To paraphrase John Rogers.)

Re: the original post, I'm 26, and I'll cast yet another vote for your editors being weird. I don't know if I ever played Pong myself, now that I think of it, but I've played later generations of that kind of thing. The only game consoles I had were a Nintendo and a Sega Genesis before I graduated to computer games, but a friend of mine had an Atari.

Have you ever had this many commments on a thread?

Yes, he has, especially pre-Prospect. Google Captain Toke some time, a troll smarter than El Viajero/Fred Jones, but every bit as nutty.

I'm 27 and I remember playing Pong on Atari. A few months ago my mom had to explain what a Polaroid picture was to my 21-year-old sister. Sad.

Hey, now, Virginia... don't make all us young adult video gamers sound like we're completely lost around a deck of cards. Since you bring up bridge... I play 2/1 with a weak no trump, opening unusual 2NT, and a variant of weak Flannery (requiring a minimum of 5-5 in majors instead of strictly 5 hearts and 4 spades).

I might be able to discuss paradox in Chrono Trigger, but I'm also able to discuss any number of other games. I might not know the specifics of Wizard, but I could get the basics before you had a chance to say undertricks.

Virginia, next time they're over you should make them play klabberjaas or schapfskopf!

But canasta is a really fun game, too, and not nearly as hard-core as bridge. Easy to learn, as well.

Obviously, Pesto has never played canasta with my mom and her new husband.

23 and i wasn't allowed to play video games as a kid and i STILL know what pong is and have played it many a time.

and JimPortlandOR--i worked for a corporation that had a whole team of historians and archivists and we even had a museum on the premises of our HQ--it was great, and you're right, every company should have one!

Uhh..no idea. Though your editors being under thirty should know how to use modern technology to find out. Or...wait! I figured you out Ezra. Your editor is John McCain!

I'm 112. What was the question?

Pong is the only game to play at 2 AM after barrels of beer, multiple conversations with Jack, and heaps of drugs of various colors and consistencies.

The history of video games, if one is ever written, should start off:

In the beginning, there was Pong.

I am aware of all PONG traditions

In the 19th century they were stilling playing word games like Toilet that supposedly was brought to England by William the Conqueror. (It involved naming things one might have on one's vanity table, not what you think). That's maybe 800 years, plus the time before the game came to England. In 10 years you'll have to find an old timer to find out how to pronounce Wii correctly.