Allan Alcorn

Allan Alcorn is an engineer, computer scientist and pioneer in the video game industry.

Fast Facts

1. Birth place: San Francisco, California
2. Graduated from University of California, Berkeley in 1971
3. B.S. in Electrical Engineering / Computer Science
4. Third employee hired at Atari.¹ Employees #1 and #2 were co-founders Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney
5. Designed first coin-operated arcade video game (Pong) in 1972
6. Led development of the Atari VCS, the first video console system
7. Worked with Apple Computer's Advanced Technology group from 1986 to 1991
8. Early work with Apple Computer led to MPEG standard and QuickTime
9. Founded Zowie Entertainment in 1998

Creating Pong

Pong, an electronic table-tennis game, was created by Allan Alcorn in 1972 at the urging of Atari co-founder Nolan Bushnell. Bushnell prodded Alcorn during the three-month development cycle, telling him that General Electric had contracted Atari to develop and produce the game. "Pong was a hard-wired machine that just played Pong. There was no computer involved," [Alcorn] says.²

The first prototype was tested in Andy Capp's Bar, a local pub in Sunnyvale, California. When the game's sales far exceeded expectations, Alcorn began development of a home version. This established Atari as the leader in the fledgling home video game industry.

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