The Ledger
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Bushnell believes Atari paved the way for young founders like Jobs
“And I actually feel like I paved the way for Gates and Jobs and some of the idea that you can be young and still a serious businessman.”
Bushnell: Young Steve Jobs was opinionated but never wrong
“He was opinionated, but he was never wrong in his opinions. You didn't have to worry if you empowered Steve to do something. It happened. I mean, Steve had one speed. It was full on.”
Bushnell claims Atari paved the way for young tech CEOs
“I was the youngest CEO, and people didn't know what to think about a CEO in their twenties. I mean, that was just off the radar. And I actually feel like I paved the way for Gates and Jobs and some of the idea that you can be young and still a serious business…”
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.”
Steve Jobs offered Bushnell a third of Apple for $50,000
“And so he got the apple going and he came to me and says, I want to start this company and I'm going to be leaving. Do you want to be my first investor? And I'll give you a third of the company for 50,000 dollars.”
Bushnell: Executive perks and traditional hours create toxic corporate divides
“I don't think you need to arbitrarily create an us versus them mentality in your company, you know, and one of the things that happens when you're owned by a New York company, they think that your laid back style is that you're not working as hard, and they th…”
Bushnell promised Sears 75,000 units despite 25,000 capacity
“And so, not wanting to be soul sourced, I said, we can do about 75,000.”
Bushnell: Steve Jobs was opinionated but never wrong at Atari
“He was opinionated, but he was never wrong in his opinions. You didn't have to worry if you empowered Steve to do something. It happened. I mean, Steve had one speed. It was full on.”
Steve Jobs offered Bushnell a third of Apple for $50,000
“And so he got the apple going and he came to me and says, I want to start this company and I'm going to be leaving. Do you want to be my first investor? And I'll give you a third of the company for 50,000 dollars.”
Warner Communications fired Bushnell after ugly culture clashes at Atari
“There was this clash of cultures that got to be really ugly, and ultimately they got tired of me, and I got tired of them, and I was fired.”
Entertainment retail businesses risk overbuilding due to early novelty-driven demand spikes
“Entertainment is very fragile. It's driven on novelty. And so when we would first open A unit. People would come from all around because it was novel. So there was sort of a half-life of a shine in which you say, gee, you know, this is St. Louis. Looks to me l…”
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'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 …”
The 1975 toy industry refused to sell products priced above $35
“What we didn't know
Is that the toy business at that point in time did not sell anything that was more than 35 dollars.”
Bushnell bluffed to Sears that Atari could build 75,000 Home Pong units
“And I had my manufacturing guy there, and I, and he says, we could probably do 25,000. And so, not wanting to be soul sourced, I said, we can do about 75,000.”
Bushnell: Sears ordered 150,000 Atari Home Pong units for Christmas delivery
“He give us an order for 150,000. And He wants them delivered by Christmas, by, you know, October, November.”
Bushnell: Treating business like chess eliminates angst over failure
“I kind of view business a little bit like a game Chess. You play the game, you play hard, sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. And then you set up the pieces, and you do it again. And you don't have angst that the fact, oh my god, I lost that game of chess, …”
Atari arcades sold for $1,500 but earned up to $50,000 in lifetime revenue
“Before I sold Warner, we were selling games. These were coin-operated games, remember. We were selling them for about 1500 dollars. During their lifetime, in CoinDrop, they'd earned 30 to 50,000 dollars.”
Bushnell bought Chuck E. Cheese from Warner for $500,000 over five years
“And that was all the technology and the one open store. The one open store was cash flowing half a million dollars a year. And they let me pay it a 100,000 a year for five years.”
Bushnell: Entertainment is fragile because it is driven by novelty
“Entertainment is very fragile. It's driven on novelty.”
Bushnell: People who rely on who they are rather than what they do become banal
“Being entitled is probably the ugliest thing that a person can be. Because all of a sudden, it's not what you do, it's who you are. And people who rely on who they are, as opposed to what they do, become very banal.”
Bushnell: Atari was founded on just $500 of initial capital
“Ted put in 250 dollars, I put in 250 dollars, and that's all the money that went into Atari.”
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.”
An $8 microprocessor enabled Atari's programmable ROM cartridge console
“A semiconductor company in Silicon Valley came up with a microprocessor. That they were willing to sell us for eight dollars, and all of a sudden, our eyes were opened, and we said, we can do a von Neumann architecture, program-based, put cartridges with ROMs …”
Bushnell: Warner Communications acquired Atari for $28 million in 1976
“Twenty-eight million bucks.”
Atari sold $1,500 arcade machines that earned $30,000 to $50,000 lifetime
“Before I sold to Warner, we were selling games. These were coin-operated games, remember? We were selling them for about 1500 dollars. During their lifetime, in CoinDrop, they'd earned 30 to 50,000 dollars.”
Bushnell bought Chuck E. Cheese back for $500,000 paid over five years
“The one open store was cash flowing half a million dollars a year. And they let me pay it a 100,000 a year for five years.”
Bushnell earned $100,000 in royalties on millions in Computer Space sales
“I licensed the game to a company called Nutting Associates, and realized that it did really well in college campuses. So, I mean, it sold a couple of million dollars in, in units, which was, to me, a big hit. But to the industry was kind of a mediocre flop. Bu…”
Bushnell and Dabney founded Atari with just $500 in total initial capital
“Ted put in 250 dollars, I put in 250 dollars, and that's all the money that went into Atari.”
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.”
Sears Bank advanced Atari 80% of the contract price per finished unit
“And so, Sears Bank set up a bonded warehouse at the end of the conveyor line, and so as soon as a consumer Pong dropped off the assembly line, they would advance us 80% of the contract price with Sears.”
Bushnell: Atari Sold Nearly 180,000 Home Pong Consoles to Sears in 1975
“We did. And in fact, I think that year we sold almost a 180,000 and they took them all.”
Bushnell: Atari eliminated dress codes and time clocks to evaluate solely by outcomes
“And then we didn't have a dress code, and we didn't have time clocks. We had this attitude that everybody knew what they needed to do, and they were adults, and they could wear what they want, and they could come and go when they want, and we weren't big broth…”
Steve Jobs worked as a quality control technician at Atari
“Steve Jobs worked for me, and He was a technician in quality control, and he was really good at it.”
Bushnell picks an annual discomfort goal by rolling dice
“I force myself to do something totally outside my comfort zone every year. And I write down 11 things that I think I can accomplish in a year that are outside my comfort zone. And then I mix them up, put a number on them, throw a pair of dice, and I have to in…”
Bushnell: 1960s coin-operated games generated $100 to $200 per week
“These locations would very often do a hundred to 200 dollars a week.”
Bushnell: 25-cent plays could not justify a $500,000 arcade computer
“If I could put this game in my arcade, it would make money. But then you divided 25 cents a play into a half a million dollar computer, and the math didn't work.”
Bushnell made $100,000 from a 5% royalty on Computer Space
“I licensed the game to a company called Nutty Associates, and realized that it did really well in college campuses, so, I mean, it sold a couple of million dollars in, in units, which was, to me, a big hit, but to the industry was kind of a mediocre flop, but …”
Atari financed early production by securing 60-day terms from parts suppliers
“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.”
Bushnell: Early Investors Passed on Atari Calling Video Games 'Flaky'
“I tried to get, you know, investors, but everybody thought that video games were kind of flaky.”
Bushnell: 1975 toy retailers capped prices at $35
“What we didn't know is that the toy business at that point in time did not sell anything that was more than 35 dollars.”
Sears Bank advanced Atari 80% for every finished Home Pong console
“And so, Sears Bank set up a bonded warehouse at the end of the conveyor line, and so as soon as a consumer Pong dropped off the assembly line, they would advance us 80% of the contract price with Sears.”
Bushnell: Atari sold nearly 180,000 Home Pong units to Sears in 1975
“We did. And in fact, I think that year we sold almost a 180,000 and they took them all.”
Bushnell: I Pick an Annual Challenge by Rolling Dice
“I force myself to do something totally outside my comfort zone every year. And I write down 11 things that I think I can accomplish in a year that are outside my comfort zone. And then I Mix them up, put a number on them, throw a pair of dice, and I have to, i…”