Pong Circuit Analysis

One of the things that I have always enjoyed about classic videogames, and classic arcade games in particular is learning how the actually operated. I have spent many an hour studying schematics of these machines to figure out exactly how they work.

Of particular interest are the earliest arcade games, since these did not have microprocessors. The graphics, sound and even game logic where implemented using just discrete logic circuits. What the designers of these machines managed to achieve without the assistance of a process was quite amazing.

I thought it would be fun to use this blog to discuss the operation of one of the iconic video games, Atari’s Pong.