Play History
@playhistory.bsky.social
Independent games researcher, Ethan Johnson. Preserving gaming history!
Patreon: http://tinyurl.com/pdp5pdrj
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@play_history/videos
Blog: https://thehistoryofhowweplay.wordpress.com/
Editor of Gaming Alexandria
Patreon: http://tinyurl.com/pdp5pdrj
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@play_history/videos
Blog: https://thehistoryofhowweplay.wordpress.com/
Editor of Gaming Alexandria
50 Years - 1976
The first hardware "sprites" are introduced in Tank 8, Atari's massive follow-up to Indy 800 with new technology.
Stephen Bristow is named on the patents for the idea, though regrettably he gave very few interviews before his death; this landmark is largely unknown.
The first hardware "sprites" are introduced in Tank 8, Atari's massive follow-up to Indy 800 with new technology.
Stephen Bristow is named on the patents for the idea, though regrettably he gave very few interviews before his death; this landmark is largely unknown.
December 3, 2025 at 10:59 PM
50 Years - 1976
The first hardware "sprites" are introduced in Tank 8, Atari's massive follow-up to Indy 800 with new technology.
Stephen Bristow is named on the patents for the idea, though regrettably he gave very few interviews before his death; this landmark is largely unknown.
The first hardware "sprites" are introduced in Tank 8, Atari's massive follow-up to Indy 800 with new technology.
Stephen Bristow is named on the patents for the idea, though regrettably he gave very few interviews before his death; this landmark is largely unknown.
The original depiction of The Wumpus from Hunt the Wumpus in the People's Computer Company newsletter.
December 3, 2025 at 4:10 PM
The original depiction of The Wumpus from Hunt the Wumpus in the People's Computer Company newsletter.
25 Years - 2001
The Japanese arcade still lives and the Treasure classic Ikaruga brings the bullet hell shooter back into focus with its intuitive switching mechanic.
Treasure games tend to be fairly well documented so a good deal is known about Ikaruga's development.
The Japanese arcade still lives and the Treasure classic Ikaruga brings the bullet hell shooter back into focus with its intuitive switching mechanic.
Treasure games tend to be fairly well documented so a good deal is known about Ikaruga's development.
December 2, 2025 at 1:29 AM
25 Years - 2001
The Japanese arcade still lives and the Treasure classic Ikaruga brings the bullet hell shooter back into focus with its intuitive switching mechanic.
Treasure games tend to be fairly well documented so a good deal is known about Ikaruga's development.
The Japanese arcade still lives and the Treasure classic Ikaruga brings the bullet hell shooter back into focus with its intuitive switching mechanic.
Treasure games tend to be fairly well documented so a good deal is known about Ikaruga's development.
40 Years - 1986
Nintendo releases their Famicom Disk System, and along with it a groundbreaking, open-ended action game called The Legend of Zelda.
Our information on the making of the original is a bit piecemeal - will we be getting a 40th year drop of some kind?
Nintendo releases their Famicom Disk System, and along with it a groundbreaking, open-ended action game called The Legend of Zelda.
Our information on the making of the original is a bit piecemeal - will we be getting a 40th year drop of some kind?
November 23, 2025 at 11:20 PM
40 Years - 1986
Nintendo releases their Famicom Disk System, and along with it a groundbreaking, open-ended action game called The Legend of Zelda.
Our information on the making of the original is a bit piecemeal - will we be getting a 40th year drop of some kind?
Nintendo releases their Famicom Disk System, and along with it a groundbreaking, open-ended action game called The Legend of Zelda.
Our information on the making of the original is a bit piecemeal - will we be getting a 40th year drop of some kind?
Taking off. A direct hit on the target in approximately 10 minutes.
Join us (and @quarterpast.bsky.social) for dating the arcade games of 1976.
www.twitch.tv/play_history
Join us (and @quarterpast.bsky.social) for dating the arcade games of 1976.
www.twitch.tv/play_history
November 22, 2025 at 12:50 AM
Taking off. A direct hit on the target in approximately 10 minutes.
Join us (and @quarterpast.bsky.social) for dating the arcade games of 1976.
www.twitch.tv/play_history
Join us (and @quarterpast.bsky.social) for dating the arcade games of 1976.
www.twitch.tv/play_history
The Quarter is back - that is, @quarterpast.bsky.social and I, tomorrow at 7PM CST to continue our Arcade Dating bonanza.
www.twitch.tv/play_history
Come to laugh, live, learn, and engage in a debate about the first heavy metal song.
www.twitch.tv/play_history
Come to laugh, live, learn, and engage in a debate about the first heavy metal song.
November 20, 2025 at 7:50 PM
The Quarter is back - that is, @quarterpast.bsky.social and I, tomorrow at 7PM CST to continue our Arcade Dating bonanza.
www.twitch.tv/play_history
Come to laugh, live, learn, and engage in a debate about the first heavy metal song.
www.twitch.tv/play_history
Come to laugh, live, learn, and engage in a debate about the first heavy metal song.
50 Years - 1976
Literature and video games merge with Adventure, the pioneering interactive fiction experience.
Author William Crowther has refused to speak much on the game, though there is a very good article on its origins.
dhq.digitalhumanities.org/vol/1/2/0000...
Literature and video games merge with Adventure, the pioneering interactive fiction experience.
Author William Crowther has refused to speak much on the game, though there is a very good article on its origins.
dhq.digitalhumanities.org/vol/1/2/0000...
November 18, 2025 at 10:09 PM
50 Years - 1976
Literature and video games merge with Adventure, the pioneering interactive fiction experience.
Author William Crowther has refused to speak much on the game, though there is a very good article on its origins.
dhq.digitalhumanities.org/vol/1/2/0000...
Literature and video games merge with Adventure, the pioneering interactive fiction experience.
Author William Crowther has refused to speak much on the game, though there is a very good article on its origins.
dhq.digitalhumanities.org/vol/1/2/0000...
25 Years - 2001
The MMO steadily evolves from the MUD.
Runescape becomes the browser-based juggernaut and Dark Age of Camelot serves as one of the best massive PVP experiences ever created.
Runescape lives through its classic variant, while DaoC has been largely forgotten.
The MMO steadily evolves from the MUD.
Runescape becomes the browser-based juggernaut and Dark Age of Camelot serves as one of the best massive PVP experiences ever created.
Runescape lives through its classic variant, while DaoC has been largely forgotten.
November 15, 2025 at 11:14 PM
25 Years - 2001
The MMO steadily evolves from the MUD.
Runescape becomes the browser-based juggernaut and Dark Age of Camelot serves as one of the best massive PVP experiences ever created.
Runescape lives through its classic variant, while DaoC has been largely forgotten.
The MMO steadily evolves from the MUD.
Runescape becomes the browser-based juggernaut and Dark Age of Camelot serves as one of the best massive PVP experiences ever created.
Runescape lives through its classic variant, while DaoC has been largely forgotten.
40 Years - 1986
Arkanoid breaths life into the venerable ball-and-paddle genre, forever changing the way "Breakout style" games are thought of.
One of the creators did a history of Arkanoid published by Beep magazine some years back.
web.archive.org/web/20190601...
Arkanoid breaths life into the venerable ball-and-paddle genre, forever changing the way "Breakout style" games are thought of.
One of the creators did a history of Arkanoid published by Beep magazine some years back.
web.archive.org/web/20190601...
November 13, 2025 at 10:15 PM
40 Years - 1986
Arkanoid breaths life into the venerable ball-and-paddle genre, forever changing the way "Breakout style" games are thought of.
One of the creators did a history of Arkanoid published by Beep magazine some years back.
web.archive.org/web/20190601...
Arkanoid breaths life into the venerable ball-and-paddle genre, forever changing the way "Breakout style" games are thought of.
One of the creators did a history of Arkanoid published by Beep magazine some years back.
web.archive.org/web/20190601...
50 Years - 1976
Fairchild's Video Entertainment System introduces interchangeable games to the world.
My word on the console came out 2 years ago, and has just reached 900K views! Still very proud of it.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nio3...
Fairchild's Video Entertainment System introduces interchangeable games to the world.
My word on the console came out 2 years ago, and has just reached 900K views! Still very proud of it.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nio3...
November 11, 2025 at 11:33 PM
50 Years - 1976
Fairchild's Video Entertainment System introduces interchangeable games to the world.
My word on the console came out 2 years ago, and has just reached 900K views! Still very proud of it.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nio3...
Fairchild's Video Entertainment System introduces interchangeable games to the world.
My word on the console came out 2 years ago, and has just reached 900K views! Still very proud of it.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nio3...
Here here!
Hopefully it's alright to share this photo from the winner's ceremony wherein plush Space Invaders fell from the sky.
Hopefully it's alright to share this photo from the winner's ceremony wherein plush Space Invaders fell from the sky.
November 10, 2025 at 11:01 PM
Here here!
Hopefully it's alright to share this photo from the winner's ceremony wherein plush Space Invaders fell from the sky.
Hopefully it's alright to share this photo from the winner's ceremony wherein plush Space Invaders fell from the sky.
25 Years - 2001
Microsoft releases the Xbox, a culmination of their efforts to keep the living room from being dominated by alternative computing devices.
The creation of the system has been thoroughly told many times - including quite credibly by Microsoft itself.
www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...
Microsoft releases the Xbox, a culmination of their efforts to keep the living room from being dominated by alternative computing devices.
The creation of the system has been thoroughly told many times - including quite credibly by Microsoft itself.
www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...
November 9, 2025 at 10:36 PM
25 Years - 2001
Microsoft releases the Xbox, a culmination of their efforts to keep the living room from being dominated by alternative computing devices.
The creation of the system has been thoroughly told many times - including quite credibly by Microsoft itself.
www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...
Microsoft releases the Xbox, a culmination of their efforts to keep the living room from being dominated by alternative computing devices.
The creation of the system has been thoroughly told many times - including quite credibly by Microsoft itself.
www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...
Pictured: Dale with Computer Space.
November 8, 2025 at 6:03 PM
Pictured: Dale with Computer Space.
40 Years - 1986
The ambitious open world game Starflight is published by Electronic Arts.
The last vestige of their experimental era, the enormous game sets a new standard of 2D exploration and inspires a new era of game developers.
The ambitious open world game Starflight is published by Electronic Arts.
The last vestige of their experimental era, the enormous game sets a new standard of 2D exploration and inspires a new era of game developers.
November 8, 2025 at 12:40 AM
40 Years - 1986
The ambitious open world game Starflight is published by Electronic Arts.
The last vestige of their experimental era, the enormous game sets a new standard of 2D exploration and inspires a new era of game developers.
The ambitious open world game Starflight is published by Electronic Arts.
The last vestige of their experimental era, the enormous game sets a new standard of 2D exploration and inspires a new era of game developers.
POV: You are watching the stream with @quarterpast.bsky.social and I.
www.twitch.tv/play_history
We're going live and in your bedroom to DATE and DEBATE every arcade game.
www.twitch.tv/play_history
We're going live and in your bedroom to DATE and DEBATE every arcade game.
November 6, 2025 at 12:50 AM
POV: You are watching the stream with @quarterpast.bsky.social and I.
www.twitch.tv/play_history
We're going live and in your bedroom to DATE and DEBATE every arcade game.
www.twitch.tv/play_history
We're going live and in your bedroom to DATE and DEBATE every arcade game.
He said it couldn't be done, but @quarterpast.bsky.social is back with entertainment of the sort you've never seen before.
We'll be live on Twitch tomorrow, circa 7PM CST, dating all the arcade games that we care to.
We'll be live on Twitch tomorrow, circa 7PM CST, dating all the arcade games that we care to.
November 4, 2025 at 4:09 PM
He said it couldn't be done, but @quarterpast.bsky.social is back with entertainment of the sort you've never seen before.
We'll be live on Twitch tomorrow, circa 7PM CST, dating all the arcade games that we care to.
We'll be live on Twitch tomorrow, circa 7PM CST, dating all the arcade games that we care to.
The flyer has the logo on the obverse. Probably just a matter of the perspective of the photo leaving less room for it on front.
November 4, 2025 at 1:44 PM
The flyer has the logo on the obverse. Probably just a matter of the perspective of the photo leaving less room for it on front.
2025 was a year of many big anniversaries in video game history, but 2026 will be just as interesting.
I'll be posting about the big fifty, forty, and twenty five year anniversaries over the next few weeks as we ready ourselves for a fine year of retrospective!
I'll be posting about the big fifty, forty, and twenty five year anniversaries over the next few weeks as we ready ourselves for a fine year of retrospective!
November 3, 2025 at 10:50 PM
2025 was a year of many big anniversaries in video game history, but 2026 will be just as interesting.
I'll be posting about the big fifty, forty, and twenty five year anniversaries over the next few weeks as we ready ourselves for a fine year of retrospective!
I'll be posting about the big fifty, forty, and twenty five year anniversaries over the next few weeks as we ready ourselves for a fine year of retrospective!
Two men about to roll their hands raw on an Atari Football trakball.
October 30, 2025 at 11:33 PM
Two men about to roll their hands raw on an Atari Football trakball.
Are arcades to be feared? Dramatic photos in newspaper columns say: Yes.
October 28, 2025 at 10:20 PM
Are arcades to be feared? Dramatic photos in newspaper columns say: Yes.
The VOD from our adventures in 1975 is up. We (well, @quarterpast.bsky.social ) still have to fill in the back half of the year but we are getting - slowly but surely - Beyond Pong.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=S70e...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=S70e...
October 25, 2025 at 3:28 PM
The VOD from our adventures in 1975 is up. We (well, @quarterpast.bsky.social ) still have to fill in the back half of the year but we are getting - slowly but surely - Beyond Pong.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=S70e...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=S70e...
The renegade of arcade video games, Tim Skelly, profiled in a 1982 article for the Chicago Tribune.
As one of the main characters in my upcoming book, I'm super excited to tell Skelly's dramatic life in game development.
As one of the main characters in my upcoming book, I'm super excited to tell Skelly's dramatic life in game development.
October 24, 2025 at 4:54 PM
The renegade of arcade video games, Tim Skelly, profiled in a 1982 article for the Chicago Tribune.
As one of the main characters in my upcoming book, I'm super excited to tell Skelly's dramatic life in game development.
As one of the main characters in my upcoming book, I'm super excited to tell Skelly's dramatic life in game development.
We'll be inundating you again tonight at 7PM CST: @quarterpast.bsky.social and I putting dates to every single arcade game of the 1970s and 1980s.
www.twitch.tv/play_history
We enter 1975. What horrors shall we find together?
www.twitch.tv/play_history
We enter 1975. What horrors shall we find together?
October 23, 2025 at 5:11 PM
We'll be inundating you again tonight at 7PM CST: @quarterpast.bsky.social and I putting dates to every single arcade game of the 1970s and 1980s.
www.twitch.tv/play_history
We enter 1975. What horrors shall we find together?
www.twitch.tv/play_history
We enter 1975. What horrors shall we find together?
When Sega first came to the US, they practically didn't want to be seen as a video game company.
This profile from early 1977 emphasizes their electro-mechanical games and their projection TV product: Sega Vision.
This profile from early 1977 emphasizes their electro-mechanical games and their projection TV product: Sega Vision.
October 22, 2025 at 5:02 PM
When Sega first came to the US, they practically didn't want to be seen as a video game company.
This profile from early 1977 emphasizes their electro-mechanical games and their projection TV product: Sega Vision.
This profile from early 1977 emphasizes their electro-mechanical games and their projection TV product: Sega Vision.
One of the most inaccurate statements I've ever read about video game history. I have to assume it was cooked up for marketing purposes.
October 22, 2025 at 2:02 AM
One of the most inaccurate statements I've ever read about video game history. I have to assume it was cooked up for marketing purposes.