I emailed Ralph Baer when I was about 13 to ask if he knew where I could get an original pong chip to build my own video game. He sent me an extremely nice response explaining that he didn’t have any of the chip any more, but that I didn’t need it to build my own version of pong.

I really wish I could find that email.

That's so cool.

> originator of video game systems (U.S. Patent No. 3728480) that now nurture a $15 billion a year industry.

Article needs a 2010 tag. Wikipedia[1] states the 2018 estimate is $135 billion.

  [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_game_industry

I was shocked that the industry grew from $15 billion to $135 billion in a decade, but it looks like back in 2010 the actual size was about $80 billion. Not that I think he was being misleading or anything, I'm sure it was more of an offhand comment.

Seems like once you get going it's hard to stop.