Play Value — Season 1, Episode 18: Nolan & Ralph: The Founding Fathers

Episode synopsis

The Founding Fathers—the men who started it all. The video game industry is thought of as having started in the early '70s with Pong and other early arcade hits. While this may have effectively started the business, video games themselves go all the way back to '50s.

About Play Value

This series traces the sweeping history of video games—from the golden age of arcades to the home‑console revolution that reshaped the industry. Through fast‑paced commentary and archival insight, it explores how hits like Space Invaders, Pac‑Man, and Donkey Kong fueled an arcade boom, why the market collapsed in the early 1980s, and how Nintendo revived gaming with the NES. The story expands into the fierce rivalry between Atari and Nintendo, the global battle for Tetris rights, and the constant cycle of innovation that defined consoles from the 1970s through the 2000s. Blending humor with industry analysis, the episode shows how creativity, competition, and a few spectacular missteps shaped modern gaming.

More episodes from Season 1

• E1You Can Keep Your Quarters: The Death of Arcades
• E2Up from the Ashes: The Rise of Nintendo
• E3Ashes to Ashes: The Fall of Atari
• E4Splitting the Iron Curtain: A Brief History of Tetris
• E5Atari-gate!: The Theft of Nintendo's Code
• E6The Dirty Dozen: 12 Failed Consoles — Part One
• E7The Dirty Dozen: 12 Failed Consoles — Part Two
• E8The Fight of the Century: Sega vs. Nintendo
• E9I am Outraged!: Controversy in Gaming
• E10Two Gorillas and a Leather Company: ColecoVision
• E11You Don't Know Jack: Introducing the Commodore 64
• E12From Score to Story and Back: Return of the Arcade!