Holy crap y'all, it's been 45 years since Pong was released
Happy Birthday Pong!
Now this is a made up holiday we can get behind. Some 45 years ago we got to experience the thrill of playing table tennis on a screen and the world has never been the same.
Pong, the console that arguably launched the video game industry, was released on November 29, 1972. In observance of this momentous occasion, Atari has declared today to be Pong Day. To celebrate, we've rounded up some of the best Atari- and Pong-inspired merch the internet has to offer (or you can go all in and bid on this vintage home Pong console on eBay.)
Atari Flashback 8 Gold System
Atari got in early on the nostalgia for vintage consoles when they released the original Atari Flashback in 2004. The eighth iteration of the "new" classic console doesn't actually have Pong on it, but you can play other classic games like Space Invaders and Centipede. Plus, it's way easier to get your hands on than the SNES Classic.
Game On!: Video Game History from Pong and Pac-Man to Mario, Minecraft, and More
As an integral part of video game history, Pong is name checked in the title of this book on the evolution of gaming and is the subject of its first chapter. Chock full of trivia and behind-the-scenes insights, it's an interesting read for every type of gamer.
Classic Pong Logo T-Shirt
If you're just super jazzed about your love for Pong, you can grab this classic logo t-shirt from Amazon.
Topics Gaming
According to twitter, Emily Heller is a fake geek girl and a SJW. If you ask her friends, she laughs too loud and cries at cute animal videos. Prior to Mashable, Emily wrote for CollegeHumor and Reductress and most recently worked at a very bro-y tech startup. She lives in Brooklyn with three dudes, a cat who acts like a dog and a dog who acts like a houseplant.
