Ball-and-Paddle Games

Abstract: As the name PONG implies, the ball-and-paddle games of the 1970s are adaptations of familiar amusements: not just table tennis but also soccer, hockey, and other sports simulated on boards and tables. The emergence of video games in the home begins with ball-and-paddle games, which Michael Z. Newman argues, carry on a tradition of family leisure in the domestic sphere and transform the typically feminized space of the home into a playground for masculine competition and technological innovation.

This essay may be found on page 209 of the printed volume.