SAN FRANCISCO, June 1 — Atari co-founder Samuel “Ted” Dabney, who helped create hit video game Pong, has died at the age of 81 at his Northern California home, according to reports.
His death was announced Saturday in a Facebook post by a friend, Leonard Herman.
“RIP dear friend,” Herman wrote of San Francisco-born Dabney.
“Your legacy will live on a long time!”
The New York Times yesterday cited confirmation from Dabney’s wife that her husband died on May 26 from cancer.
Electrical engineer Dabney and Nolan Bushnell founded Atari in June 1972 and began shipping Pong arcade machines later that year, according to the company’s website.
The game was a digital spin on table tennis, with players using joy sticks to slide on-screen paddles to serve and return balls represented by squares of light.
Pong became a sensation and coin-operated machines could be found in pubs, bowling allies, and shopping malls, as well as arcades.
