Space Race (video game) screen while avoiding obstacles. Development of "Space Race" began in Summer 1972 under the name "Asteroid" by Atari co-founder Nolan Bushnell, based on ideas by him and co-founder Ted Dabney. The final design was done by Dabney, possibly with assistance by Bushnell and "Pong" designer Allan Alcorn. The game was planned to be quick to create to fulfill an earlier contract with Bally Midway. The engineering and prototyping was done by Alcorn; after it was completed and the design given to Midway to be released as "Asteroid", Atari produced its own nearly identical version as "Space Race". Fifty "Space Race"
Computer Space Ted Dabney "Spacewar" at the Stanford laboratory, and the two agreed to work together to try and design a prototype of the game; Bushnell was more experienced with computers and digital engineering, while Dabney was more experienced with analog and hardware engineering, as he had been working on designing video processing and control circuits and power supplies. After agreeing on an initial idea, Bushnell and Dabney began trying to design a prototype based on a Data General Nova. Initially they were joined by Larry Bryan, a computer programmer who also worked at Ampex. Bushnell and Dabney put US$100 each into