Cheating At Pong

Reaching across the middle to the other person's knob is cheating.

​Among the most ill-conceived designs in video game console history was the Sears Tele-Games version of Pong.

Before all of the sleek-looking boxes to play your video games, there was this version of Pong. It was a box with two knobs on it. Knobs which could be easily reached by your sister, er, opponent.

You see, it was entirely possible for one to simply reach over and fiddle with the other person's hand as the ball approached. You might watch in horror on your 13-inch black-and-white TV as the square pixel, passing as a ball, goes past your paddle. You might punch your sister. A brawl over pong cheating might break out. 

You also may never see the pong console again after that night in 1981. 

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