Video games were not always about amazing graphics and extensive gameplay. Far from it, the first games consisted of squares, dots, and lines, often requiring imagination on the player’s part to make sense of them. The first of these games was Pong.You didn’t use a cartridge to play Pong. You needed an entire console. The one which my parents bought for the family was made out of wood. The large, thick box had many components. An RF connector needed to be plugged into the rear of the box and attached to the back of the television where the antenna wire connections were located. The end of the RF connector looked like a C-shaped clamp, which was placed underneath a screw located south of a label marked VHF. After the clamp was properly placed, the screw had to be tightened. However, this was not the only step needed to get the console working.You also had to plug a huge, square adapter into a wall socket and make the sure the other end was fully inserted into the back of the console. Next, you had to attach the two controllers necessary for playing the game. Each controller looked like a rectangular block. A large knob, which looked like it belonged on a TV set, was located in the center. You could turn the knob back and forth, but that was all you could do other than pressing the button on the side of the block. You connected these controllers to the console with a cable which looked exactly like an old-fashioned phone cord all coiled up like a rope.On top of the box, there were five metallic switches which you could flick up or down with your finger. One turned on the power, another selected the difficulty, the third determined the number of players, the fourth chose the type of game, and the final started it. A black, square knob on the the right side let you choose between Channel 3 and Channel 4 for your entertainment venue. Because CBS used KDFW on Channel 4, we always chose the first option.After turning on the television and console, a still image of the game appeared on the screen. While switching between games, there were no numbers to let you know which game you were playing. That duty went to the instruction booklet. And if you lost it, like we did, you had to go by what was seen on the black-and-white display. The only real visual differences were the size of the player and the length of the net or goal post. The player was represented by a single line, the goal you protected was depicted a thick line, and the net was shown as an even thicker line. A single dot served as a representation of the ball.The object of the game was to get the ball into your opponent’s goal. The difficulty setting determined the speed of the ball and the size of your player, whose job was to defend the goal by hitting the ball and bouncing it back to your opponent, hoping it would land inside the other person’s goal post. Another determining factor on ball and player was the type of game. Depending on your choice, the ball could go extremely slow and make you fall asleep or move quickly, forcing you to use fast reflexes. Likewise, the length of the player and goal post could vary in accordance to the game type. The ball could also bounce off the walls or against the net. Regardless of what variation you chose, the score you had to reach was 15. The end of the game brought up the preview screen once more.Though the graphics appear outdated with their simplistic white squares, lines, and dots, they were considered state-of-the-art at the time. The game itself was fun and entertaining. Unfortunately, my parents connected the console to the their bedroom television. This meant that we had to seek permission to enter the room in order to play the game, leading to all sorts of difficulties involving conflicts of interests. Such occasions included wanting to play when my parents were asleep or watch the television. As was always the case, I eventually lost interest in Pong, and the console was disconnected then placed on a shelf in the bedroom closet. There it stayed and collected dust until it was either sold in a garage sale or thrown away. I cannot remember which. It was gone, but never forgotten.