ELECTRONIC GAME

any interactive game operated by silicon-chip computer circuitry that provides a memory. The games fall into three classes: small, hand-held, battery-powered games; medium-sized games displayed on a separate television screen or computer terminal; and large, self-contained games played in arcades. The last two categories are usually called video games. Electronic games originated late in the 1960s in the off-hour recreations of computer engineers who played games among themselves on computers. Hand-held and video games first appeared in the early 1970s. Coin-operated games, first released in the mid-1970s, displaced the earlier pinball games in popularity by the 1980s. The games were played, as pinball games had been, in drinking establishments, transportation centres, and amusement arcades. Much of the manufacturing industry was located in the United States and Japan. The home-use game market fueled industry growth in the 1990s, as industry revenues for electronic games exceeded $10 billion annually. Home-use games, operated on video game machines and personal computers, were distributed on cartridges, floppy disks, and CD-ROMs (compact disc read-only memory), as well as through telephone and cable television lines. Typical computer games included sports, adventure, target, and quiz games, as well as such games as chess, blackjack, and backgammon. Although usage was widespread among adults, electronic games were especially popular among children and adolescents, particularly preteen boys.