Nutting Associates redesigned version of the device called "Computer Quiz" (1967) created by Richard Ball of Marketing Services. In 1968 the model was redesigned into a solid-state version. In 1971, Nolan Bushnell sold Nutting Associates on manufacturing the game "Computer Space" (1971). About 1,500 units were manufactured. Afterwards, Bushnell wanted a large ownership stake in the company to continue creating games for Nutting Associates, but left after not being given that opportunity to form Atari Inc. with Ted Dabney. Nutting Associates continued manufacturing video games up until 1977 when the company was sold to "Si" Redd. A new Nutting Associates company was
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