<P> In August 1972, Bushnell and Alcorn installed the Pong prototype at a local bar, Andy Capp's Tavern . They selected the bar because of their good working relation with the bar's manager, Bill Gaddis; Atari supplied pinball machines to Gaddis . Bushnell and Alcorn placed the prototype on one of the tables near the other entertainment machines: a jukebox, pinball machines, and Computer Space . The game was well received the first night and its popularity continued to grow over the next one and a half weeks . Bushnell then went on a business trip to Chicago to demonstrate Pong to executives at Bally and Midway Manufacturing; he intended to use Pong to fulfill his contract with Bally, rather than the driving game . A few days later, the prototype began exhibiting technical issues and Gaddis contacted Alcorn to fix it . Upon inspecting the machine, Alcorn discovered that the problem was the coin mechanism was overflowing with quarters . </P> <P> After hearing about the game's success, Bushnell decided there would be more profit for Atari to manufacture the game rather than license it, but the interest of Bally and Midway had already been piqued . Bushnell decided to inform each of the two groups that the other was uninterested--Bushnell told the Bally executives that the Midway executives did not want it and vice versa--to preserve the relationships for future dealings . Upon hearing Bushnell's comment, the two groups declined his offer . Bushnell had difficulty finding financial backing for Pong; banks viewed it as a variant of pinball, which at the time the general public associated with the Mafia . Atari eventually obtained a line of credit from Wells Fargo that it used to expand its facilities to house an assembly line . The company announced Pong on 29 November 1972 . Management sought assembly workers at the local unemployment office, but was unable to keep up with demand . The first arcade cabinets produced were assembled very slowly, about ten machines a day, many of which failed quality testing . Atari eventually streamlined the process and began producing the game in greater quantities . By 1973, they began shipping Pong to other countries with the aid of foreign partners . </P> <P> After the success of Pong, Bushnell pushed his employees to create new products . In 1974, Atari engineer Harold Lee proposed a home version of Pong that would connect to a television: Home Pong . The system began development under the codename Darlene, named after an attractive female employee at Atari . Alcorn worked with Lee to develop the designs and prototype, and based them on the same digital technology used in their arcade games . The two worked in shifts to save time and money; Lee worked on the design's logic during the day, while Alcorn debugged the designs in the evenings . After the designs were approved, fellow Atari engineer Bob Brown assisted Alcorn and Lee in building a prototype . The prototype consisted of a device attached to a wooden pedestal containing over a hundred wires, which would eventually be replaced with a single chip designed by Alcorn and Lee; the chip had yet to be tested and built before the prototype was constructed . The chip was finished in the latter half of 1974, and was, at the time, the highest - performing chip used in a consumer product . </P> <P> Bushnell and Gene Lipkin, Atari's vice-president of sales, approached toy and electronic retailers to sell Home Pong, but were rejected . Retailers felt the product was too expensive and would not interest consumers . Atari contacted the Sears Sporting Goods department after noticing a Magnavox Odyssey advertisement in the sporting goods section of its catalog . Atari staff discussed the game with a representative, Tom Quinn, who expressed enthusiasm and offered the company an exclusive deal . Believing they could find more favorable terms elsewhere, Atari's executives declined and continued to pursue toy retailers . In January 1975, Atari staff set up a Home Pong booth at a toy trade fair in New York City, but was unsuccessful in soliciting orders due to the fact that they did not know that they needed a private showing . </P>

When did pong become playable on the television