Atari, one of the world's most iconic consumer brands and interactive entertainment producers, today proudly celebrates "Pong Day" on the 45th anniversary of the influential Pong arcade game that first debuted on November 29, 1972. A simple-but-challenging table tennis simulation, Pong was the first commercially successful video game and an immediate smash hit that effectively established the video game industry. To commemorate this groundbreaking birthday, the company has unveiled the all-new Pong Anniversary Limited-Edition Atari Speakerhat which is in stock and available now exclusively at AtariLife.com.

Pong was originally meant to be a simple training exercise, assigned to newly hired engineer Allan Alcorn by Atari founder Nolan Bushnell, to acclimate him to creating games. Alcorn went above and beyond, adding appealing features such as segmented paddles that changed the angle of the "ball" and accelerating speeds as play went on. Alcorn also elected to retain a "glitch" that didn't allow the paddles to reach the top of the screen, which added to the game's difficulty. Lastly, Bushnell had Alcorn add cheering crowd noises and other sound effects. The game was so well-received that Bushnell and the team were able to rapidly grow Atari and an entire industry was born.