rolenta

Michael Thomasson of GoodDealGames announced the release of Escape It!, which he believes is the FIRST 2600 HOMEBREW GAME TO USE BANK-SWITCHING TECHNIQUE. The game is based on the European VideoPac (Odyssey2) game "Labyrinth." It is a two-player race to the exit game through a maze that is constantly changing while you navigate through it.

Only thirty copies of the game have been made. It is available from http://www.gooddealg...2600%20VCS.html

I just recently completed an article about early ball & paddle games for a new book that Mark J. Wolf will be publishing next year. This led to an argument between the two of us because he's fixed on calling the game PONG, while I refer to it as Pong. My reasoning is that it is not an acronym and there should be no reason for the caps. Just because it appears on the marquee as PONG, that's no reason to refer to it. After all when we refer to Missile Command, we don't call it MISSILE COMMAND.

Mark asked Nolan Bushnell and Bushnell simply responded "PONG". However I found a 1996 article that Bushnell wrote and in several places he refers to the game as 'Pong'. I asked Ted Dabney, Marty Goldberg, and Curt Vendel. Curt didn't have an answer one way or another but Marty sent me loads of fliers which referred to it as PONG. Marty also explained that the name has fallen into the public domain so PONG refers to the actual game while Pong refers to the generic. My argument is that the fliers show the name in all caps because it was a new game and Atari natually wanted people to notice it. Wikipedia, which Marty told me he was involved in a discussion with concerning this subject, refers to it as "Pong (marketed as PONG)". I sent Marty a copy of the instruction manual for the 2600's Video Olympics, which refers to it as Pong.

Finally, Ted Dabney wrote to me: "As I recall, all of the PONG brochures have it spelt with all caps. I have always written it as "Pong" but I think "PONG" is probably the proper way. I personally like "Pong" and will stay with it. After all, Pong is a name not an acronym. I'm with you on this one."

So my question to all of you: which way do you prefer?

No pictures to post but here's my collection:

http://www.rolentapr...ction/games.htm