fun question: What would you consider to be the first machine?

[Justin]

fun question:

What would you consider to be the first machine?

[GRay Defender]

If you mean gaming, I would say the old Pong consoles you could hook up to TVs.

If you mean first mechanical machine, no idea, but throwing out a guess I would say something like a bow & arrow... Lol

[RickR]

I'll go with Adam.
 

 

[Justin]

7 hours ago, GRay Defender said:

If you mean gaming, I would say the old Pong consoles you could hook up to TVs.

If you mean first mechanical machine, no idea, but throwing out a guess I would say something like a bow & arrow... Lol

First machine, generally speaking

[DegasElite]

Ralph Baer's prototype game machine was probably the first true game system. The Brown Box is even at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington DC. Now, that is history. :O)

I know that MIT had "Spacewar" in 1968, I believe. I think that was the first video game, if I am not mistaken.

[DegasElite]

1 minute ago, BlackCatz40 said:

Ralph Baer's prototype game machine was probably the first true game system. The Brown Box is even at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington DC. Now, that is history. :O)

I know that MIT had "Spacewar" in 1968, I believe. I think that was the first video game, if I am not mistaken.

Correction: it was created in 1962.

[Atari 5200 Guy]

Considering how very little advertisement happened in the area I grew up surrounding anything video games the first real game machine that came to our area was the Atari 2600.  We did not get anything before it other than Pong units but not very many people we knew had it.  I only found one of our family friends who owned one but that was AFTER the 2600 was well supported in my area hometown in Arkansas.  It has been said we were about 6 years behind times from the west coast when it came to technology.  When it came to video games, though, we caught up quick.

So, while internet history says other machines came first, for me it the 2600 came first.  I had no knowledge of anything else before that until the internet came about.  Even then I didn't know until about a decade ago.

[Justin]

I would consider the Water Wheel to be possibly the first machine

[Justin]

Another good runner up would be Charles Babbage's Analytical Engine, often considered to be the "first computer" if not the first machine.

[Atari 5200 Guy]

Oh...mechanical machine?  Thomas Edison created the first stock ticker.  He also is why we got vinyl records later, electricity, and light bulbs.  He was always tinkering with ideas never tried and was fascinated by electricity before it was made practical.  He is the reason why we have electricity in our homes today.  He built the first two generators he called "dynamos".  They are still standing to this day.