Half a century after Spacewar!, video games have gone from niche hobby to global phenomenon, a major new source of entertainment and artistic endeavor. Naturally, when people first began to explore the possibilities of computers, programmers were quick to realize their gaming potential, both in reproducing analog games in a digital space (a computer version of tic-tac-toe was created in 1952, long before Atari brought Pong into arcades and homes), and in creating games that could heretofore only have existed in the imagination, such as Spacewar!, a starship shooter that would eventually spawn its own subgenre (Asteroids, Galaga, Geometry Wars). during the Great Depression can be traced back to a French variation on billiards, bagatelle, which was played at the turn of the eighteenth century during the reign of Louis XIV. Indeed, it seems that every new technological advance brings with it some new way to play: the coin-operated pinball machines that first achieved widespread popularity in the U.S.

Archaeologists have unearthed board games (similar to chess) that date back to ancient Mesopotamia, and over four thousand years later, we have not lost our taste for diversion. Games are a fundamental part of the human experience, played in some form by cultures around the world and throughout history.

Master hacker dungeon of the endless