Home after the arcade
Atari’s arcade Pong appeared in 1972. Sears distributed a home version from late 1975, letting two people play across a television screen. Each controls a paddle and tries to return the moving ball. The equipment and the game were bought together.
Sources for this section2 references
- Electronic Game, Telegames Super-Pong ↗Smithsonian National Museum of American History · Accessed 2026-10-27
The photographed object is the later Super Pong. The description separately dates the earlier Sears-distributed home Pong to late 1975.
- Atari Pong Game, circa 1975 ↗The Henry Ford · Accessed 2026-10-27
Museum record supports the Sears home introduction in 1975. Its Atari-branded object is dated approximately, not used to establish an exact C-100 retail day.
The game stays inside
A dedicated system cannot acquire a different program by accepting a cartridge. That makes the choice of hardware unusually concrete: the player is choosing this game and these controls. A later cartridge machine changes that relationship by letting software purchases outlast the first game in the box.
Sources for this section1 reference
- The “F” Stands for “Fun”: Jerry Lawson & the Fairchild Channel F Video Entertainment System ↗The Henry Ford — Kristen Gallerneaux · Accessed 2026-10-27
Curator account, 15 February 2021. Supports Alpex and Fairchild team contributions and the 1976 introduction; its sales comparisons and simplified late chronology are not adopted.
Separate the variants
The Smithsonian’s Super-Pong object dates from the following year and plays four games. It is evidence of the family’s development, not a photograph of the first Sears release. This profile uses the 1975 introduction for the home Pong family and does not give every later model the same specification or launch date.
Sources for this section1 reference
- Electronic Game, Telegames Super-Pong ↗Smithsonian National Museum of American History · Accessed 2026-10-27
The photographed object is the later Super Pong. The description separately dates the earlier Sears-distributed home Pong to late 1975.