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ANTIC The Atari 8-bit Podcast


hosts: Randy Kindig, Kay Savetz, Brad Arnold
email: antic@ataripodcast.com
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Oct 2, 2015

Harold Lee, Home Pong Designer and the Man Who Hired Jay Miner


In 1974 an engineer by the name of Harold Lee had become burnt out from his work designing arcade game boards and he quit and left Atari.  No sooner had he left then he would receive a call from Allan Alcorn.   Al asked Harold a question - "Could Pong be put on a chip?"  Harold said it could be done and suddenly he found himself now hired back at Atari as an outside consultant.  Harold and Al worked on the design and the chip was finished in the latter half of 1974.  It was, at the time, the highest performing chip used in a consumer product.  Harold was kind enough to talk about his experiences working for and with Atari and the fact that he was the one who hired the legendary Jay Miner into Atari.

This interview took place on April 25, 2015.

Links

The Pong Story


CJ
eight and a half years ago

I've known Harold for many years. Not only is he a genius but he has humor and fun in every fiber of his being. My life would have been so much less exciting if I hadn't known Harold.
We often play Pong on his original devise and occasionally I win.
He is accessible and loves to entertain. Why this man isn't
married is a puzzle to me.