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|materials = [[Cathode ray tube]], [[oscilloscope]]
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The '''cathode-ray tube amusement device''' is the earliest known [[interactivity|interactive]] [[electronic game]] as well as the first game to incorporate an electronic display. The device simulates an artillery shell arcing towards targets on a [[cathode-ray tube]] (CRT) screen, which is controlled by the player by adjusting knobs to change the trajectory of a CRT beam spot on the display in order to reach plastic targets overlaid on the screen. [[Thomas T. Goldsmith Jr.]] and Estle Ray Mann constructed the game from [[analog electronics]] and filed for a patent in 1947, which was issued the following year. The gaming device was never manufactured or marketed to the public, so it had no effect on the future [[video game industry]]. TheUnder many definitions, the device is not considered a [[video game]], as while it had an electronic display thatit calculateddid thenot trajectoryrun of artillery shells,on a simulation of military achievementcomputing of calculation effortdevice. Therefore, itdespite isits relevantrelevance to the [[early history of video games]], asit is not generally considered a candidate for the CRTtitle isof the first Western video game.
 
==Gameplay==
The cathode-ray tube amusement device consists of a [[cathode-ray tube]] (CRT) connected to anbasic [[oscilloscope]] type circuitry with a set of knobs and switches. The device usesalso purelyincorporates very simple [[analog electronics|analog]] circuitry and does not use any digital computer or memory device or execute a program.<ref name="CRTAD_about.com"/> The CRT projects a spot on the oscilloscope display screen, which traces a paraboliccurved arc across the screen when a switch is activated by the player. This beam spot represents the trajectory of an artillery shell. The curved path is produced by the CRT, which is not of conventional design, [[electrostatic deflection|deflecting]] the beam of electrons as the spot moves across the screen.<ref name="CRTAD_CRT game patent"/> Overlaid on the screen are transparent plastic targets representing objects such as airplanes. At the end of the spot's trajectory, the beam defocuses, resulting in the spot expanding and blurring. This represents the shell exploding as if detonated by a [[Artillery fuze#Time fuzes|time fuze]]. The goal of the game is to have the beam defocus when it is within the bounds of a target. Prior to the beam spot beginning its arc, the player can turn the control knobs to direct the beam spot's trajectory and adjust the delay of the shell burst. The machine can be set to fire a "shell" either once or at a regular interval, which is adjustable by the player. This gives the player the goal of hitting one of the overlay targets with the shell burst within a time limit.<ref name="CRTAD_CRT game patent"/> The player was recommended to make the trajectory far removed from a straight line "so as to require an increased amount of skill and care".<ref name="PopMech"/>
 
==History==
The cathode-ray tube amusement device was invented by physicists [[Thomas T. Goldsmith Jr.]] and Estle Ray Mann. The pair worked at television designer [[DuMont Laboratories]] in [[Passaic, New Jersey]] specializing in the development of cathode ray tubes that used electronic signal outputs to project a signal onto television screens.<ref name="CRTAD_about.com"/><ref name="TCW140141"/> Goldsmith, who had received a Ph.D. in physics from [[Cornell University]] in 1936 with a focus on oscilloscope design, was at the time of the device's invention the director of research for DuMont Laboratories.<ref name="Dumont"/> The two inventors were inspired by the [[radar]] displays used in [[World War II]], which Goldsmith had worked on during the war.<ref name="CRTAD_about.com"/><ref name="GoldsmithInterview"/> The patent for the device was filed on January 25, 1947 and issued on December 14, 1948.<ref name="CRTAD_CRT game patent"/> The patent, the first for an electronic game,<ref name="patents"/> was never used by either the inventors or DuMont Laboratories, and the device was never manufactured beyond the original handmade prototype.<ref name="BTC"/><ref name="Replay50s"/> [[Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers]] historian Alex Magoun has speculated that Goldsmith did not make the prototype with the intent for it to be the basis of any future production, but only designed the device as a demonstration of the kind of commercial opportunities DuMont could pursue.<ref name="PopMech"/> Video game historian Alexander Smith has also speculated that DuMont's ongoing financial issues prevented any investment into a new product.<ref name="TCW140141"/> Goldsmith did not work on games after the invention of the device; he was promoted to vice president in 1953 and left DuMont—by then split up and sold to other firms—to become a professor of physics at [[Furman University]] in 1966.<ref name="PopMech"/><ref name="GoldsmithInterview"/> Goldsmith kept the device and brought it with him to Furman; in a 2016 interview fellow physics professor Bill Brantley recalled Goldsmith demonstrating the game to him.<ref name="PopMech"/>
 
Despite being a game that used a graphical display, the cathode-ray tube amusement device is generally not considered under mostmany definitions to be a candidate for the first [[video game]], as it used purely analog hardware and did not run on a computing device; some loose definitions may still consider it a video game, but it is still usually disqualified as the device was never manufactured.<ref name="PopMech"/><ref name="TCW140141"/><ref name="TVGD"/><ref name="EVG"/> Nevertheless, it is the earliest known [[interactivity|interactive]] [[electronic game]] to incorporate an electronic display, as no prior games, such as the 1936 [[Seeburg Ray-O-Lite]] or [[Spotlight Golf]], had such a display or primarily used [[electronics|electronic]] components—ones which modify an electrical signal, rather than simply using electricity as power. This makes the cathode-ray tube amusement device a forerunner to other games in the [[early history of video games]].<ref name="PopMech"/><ref name="TCW140141"/><ref name="TVGD"/><ref name="EVG"/> As the device was never manufactured or widely shown it did not directly inspire any other games and had no impact on the future [[video game industry]].<ref name="CRTAD_about.com"/><ref name="PopMech"/><ref name="BTC"/> The patent itself was not discovered again until 2002, when David Winter, a French electronics collector, while searching for evidence of early prototypes of the 1972 [[Magnavox Odyssey]] console, found itthe patent in a set of documents in an archival warehouse originally compiled for a 1974 lawsuit by [[Magnavox]] against several arcade game companies.<ref name="PatentFound"/>
 
==See also==
*[[History of video games]]
 
==References==
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<ref name="CRTAD_about.com">{{cite web |title=Cathode-Ray Tube Amusement Device |url=httphttps://classicgameswww.aboutlifewire.com/od/classicvideogames101/p/CathodeDevice.htmcathode-ray-tube-amusement-device-729579 |work=[[About.comLifewire]] |publisher=[[IACDotdash (company)|IACMeredith]] |access-date=MayMarch 2927, 20122023 |last=Cohen |first=D. S. |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/2015090602091520210518184116/httphttps://classicgameswww.aboutlifewire.com/od/classicvideogames101/p/CathodeDevice.htmcathode-ray-tube-amusement-device-729579 |archive-date=SeptemberMay 618, 20152021 |url-status=live}}</ref>
<ref name="CRTAD_CRT game patent">{{cite patent |country=US |number=2455992 |status=patent |title=Cathode Ray Tube Amusement Device |fdate=January 25, 1947 |gdate=December 14, 1948 |invent1=Goldsmith Jr., Thomas T. |invent2=Mann, Estle Ray}}</ref>
<ref name="PopMech">{{cite web |url=http://www.popularmechanics.com/culture/gaming/a20129/the-very-first-video-game/ |title=The Unlikely Story of the First Video Game |last=Blitz |first=Matt |date=March 28, 2016 |work=[[Popular Mechanics]] |publisher=[[Hearst Corporation]] |access-date=March 30, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160330043442/http://www.popularmechanics.com/culture/gaming/a20129/the-very-first-video-game/ |archive-date=March 30, 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref>
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{{Early history of video games}}
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[[Category:1947 video games]]▼
[[Category:Cathode ray tube]]
▲[[Category:1947 videoElectronic games]]
[[Category:Early history of video games]]
[[Category:History of computing hardware]]
[[Category:Video games developed in the United States]]
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