What do these two things have in common? They were both founded by Nolan Bushnell.
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Bushnell had aspirations of becoming an inventor as a child, one of his inventions nearly burnt down his
family’s garage with a homemade liquid-fuel rocket mounted on a roller skate.
While attending the University of Utah, he managed an amusement park while learning the basics of
computer graphics. While a student at Utah, he designed his first computer game in 1970, “Computer Space”,
kind of a precursor to “Asteroids”.
In 1971, he invented “Pong”, a video game version of Ping-Pong. Pong made its debut in a California bar and
before long; Bushnell realized he was onto something.
In 1972, with only $500 and the help of his friend, Ted Dabney, Bushnell founded Atari. The games founded
by Atari gave rise to the video arcade and the video game industry as we know it today.
In 1976, Atari was sold to Time Warner for $28 million and by 1982 Atari had a profit of $2 billion in annual
sales.
In 1977, Bushnell had another amazing idea come to fruition, thanks to his experience as manager of an
amusement park; Chuck E. Cheese Pizza Time Theatre, combining two things kids love the most: video games
and pizza. In 1984, Chuck E. Cheese merged with Showbiz Pizza Place. Today there are 542 restaurants
worldwide.
Nolan Bushnell revolutionized the entertainment industry. With Pong, he brought arcade-style games into
the home and paved the way for a number of other companies to design, build, and market video games for
personal use.
“The critical ingredient is getting off your butt and doing something. It's as simple as that. A lot of people have ideas,
but there are few who decide to do something about them now. Not tomorrow. Not next week. But today. The true
entrepreneur is a doer, not a dreamer.” - Nolan Bushnell
REFERENCES
<a href="http://encyclopedia.jrank.org/articles/pages/6130/Bushnell-Nolan.html">Bushnell, Nolan - Overview, Personal
Life, Career Details, Chronology: Nolan Bushnell, Social and Economic Impact</a>
http://inventors.about.com/od/astartinventions/a/Atari_2.htm
http://web.mit.edu/invent/iow/bushnell.html