Chapter 1 The Atari 2600 was one of the earliest home video game systems GROWING UP GROWING UP WITH GAMES In the world of video games October 1977 was an important time The first Atari 2600 home video game console came out that month The Atari hooked up to a TV and players could choose from nine different games Each 4
game was stored on a cartridge a hard case with software inside Players put a cartridge into the Atari console to play a game People liked that they no longer had to go to an arcade to play video games The Atari was a huge hit Another event happened in October 1977 that would change video game history Jane McGonigal was born Jane would grow up to change the way people played and thought of games Jane McGonigal has spent her life playing and creating games 5
TECH TALK When I was in fifth grade we got our first home computer It was a Commodore 64 One of the games we got was a game called Load Runner I instantly became obsessed with that and I would fall asleep at night dreaming in Load Runner and wake up with new ideas for levels So I learned some basic programming and started making games Jane McGonigal FAMILY TIME Jane grew up in Moorestown New Jersey Both of her parents were schoolteachers When Jane was young she played games at home with her family She liked to play KC Munchkin with her twin sister Kelly and her dad It was an arcade-style video game similar to Pac-Man Jane’s family played on a Magnavox Odyssey 2 game console in the living room After her family bought a computer Jane started writing her own games She created games for her sister and her mom Jane’s favorite books the Choose Your Own Adventure 6
series inspired her She started writing her own computer code a set of instructions for a program to make games Jane designed all the art for her games using the letters numbers and symbols on her computer keyboard One of her games was called You Be the Judge It featured a giant cat She designed a cat to be the main character because it was easier to draw with the computer keys than a human was KC Munchkin below was an arcade-style video game similar to Pac-Man
