Category:1971

Events

 * Nolan Bushnell quits his job at Ampex in March so he can devote his time to his Spacewar! project.
 * On March 22, Ralph Baer files with the United States Patent and Trademark Office regarding a patent for "television gaming and training apparatus."
 * In June, Bill Pitts and Hugh Tuck form Computer Recreations, Inc.
 * Magnavox signs a license agreement with Sanders Associates regarding the Magnavox Odyssey video game console.
 * Nakamura Manufacturing Ltd. adopts "Namco" as its brand name.

Notable releases

 * In September, Computer Recreations, Inc. installs Galaxy Game, a version of Spacewar! for PDP-11 hardware and the first coin-operated video arcade game, in Tresidder Union at Stanford University.
 * In November, Nutting Associates releases 1,500 cabinets of Nolan Bushnell's Computer Space &mdash; another free-standing implementation of Spacewar!, and the first mass produced video game of any kind.
 * Don Rawitsch, Paul Dillenberger and Bill Heinemann, students at Carleton College develop The Oregon Trail for a mainframe with teletype terminals.
 * Don Daglow programs the first computer baseball game on a PDP-10 mainframe computer at Pomona College.
 * Mike Mayfield develops a Star Trek text game on a Scientific Data Systems Sigma 7 minicomputer.