The Ledger
Every statement that passed quotation and attribution checks. Mix any filter with any other: certainty 1/5, debate potential 5/5, or both at once.
why aren't all 9 resolved? a statement only gets an assessment when the public record can support or contradict it. opinions and what-ifs never can, and 0 checkable ones are still open, waiting for their date. predictions held up or didn't; assertions are supported or contradicted. on every card: ▮▮▮▮▮ certainty · ▮▮▮▮▮ debate potential. speakers are clickable
Bushnell: Atari produced only 35,000 of the 150,000 Pong machines deployed
“About a 150,000. Only of which, Atari only did about 35,000 of them. We got massively copied.”
Bushnell: Pong's success was driven by empowering women in bars
“And one of the reasons that I think Pong was such a massive success is that it fed into the narrative of what was going on at the time. You know, just after the Summer of Love, the hippie movement women's liberation was starting to rear its head, and Pong, by …”
Bushnell: Initial Pong machines earned nearly $300 weekly on $300 cost
“I mean, the game was earning almost 300 dollars a week. And the total cost that we had was about 300 dollars.”
Bushnell: Pong arcade units earned $300 weekly on a $300 manufacturing cost
“The game was earning almost 300 dollars a week. And the total cost that we had was about 300 dollars.”
Bushnell: Clones Accounted for Roughly 115,000 of 150,000 Total Pong Units
“About a 150,000. Only of which, Atari only did about 35,000 of them. We got massively copied.”
Bushnell: Bally rejected Pong because coin-op norms required single-player games
“And I show it to them and they don't like it because it's a two player game and the coin operated world doesn't allow for a two player game. If there's not a one player game at that time, that was sort of written in stone somewhere in the annals of coin op wor…”
Bushnell: Atari financed early manufacturing through 60-day supplier terms and cash sales
“And how we financed the company was we would sell for cash the machines. We had 30 day terms. Most of our parts we had 60 day terms. So we'd get the cash literally 60 days before we had to pay for the parts for that.”