The very first pong game system did not use software, which blows my mind. OP's does not appear to be the same version but it's possible this it also does not use software.

[–] Squizzy@lemmy.world 7 points 1 day ago (5 children)

Am I too stupid...how did it work?

[–] Treczoks@lemmy.world 2 points 9 hours ago

Start with googling "pong chip". There is a Wikipedia article about it, and then look for the chips "name" AY-3-8500, under which you will find lots of information about this chip.

[–] GenosseFlosse@feddit.org 4 points 15 hours ago

It used transistor to Transistor logic or ttl, which means chips are wired together on the board to build the "code" and handle Inputs and Outputs, because affordable CPUs, ram or storage did not exist when the first arcades came out. However with more complex games this became increasingly expensive because each additional chip caused costs for parts, soldering work, warranty, potential failures during operation.

[–] ramenshaman@lemmy.world 31 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (2 children)

I can't really give a great answer to that, pretty sure it was all just electrical hardware. I'm curious now, I'll look around and let you know if I find something.

Edit: yep, no code, just circuits. Here is the original circuit diagram from Atari

[–] f4f4f4f4f4f4f4f4@sopuli.xyz 11 points 20 hours ago

Many 80s games have an amusing hybrid design. Galaga has its game code and sprites in ROM, but has an entire custom chip that is a dedicated circuit for generating the ship explosion sound, another custom chip that only makes the scrolling starfield, etc.

[–] who@feddit.org 7 points 22 hours ago

This is also how some old glass terminals worked.

[–] thejbw@lemm.ee 12 points 1 day ago

Essentially the “program” was baked into the hardware design itself. It didn’t have a rom chip or something, it just had hardware circuits dedicated to each function, like drawing the paddle etc.