1972 marked an important landmark in the history of the video game industry with the releases ofPong and theOdyssey home console. The profile of electronic games rose substantially and companies began exploring the distribution of video games on a larger scale. Importantmainframe computer games were created in this period which became the basis for earlymicrocomputer games.

• May 3 –Magnavox initiates their “Magnavox Profit Caravan” series of traveling shows to demonstrate all of their 1972 product line to their dealers and public, including theOdyssey. The first showing occurs inPhoenix, Arizona.^[1]
  • May 24 – At a showing inBurlingame, California, three representatives ofNutting Associates includingNolan Bushnell visit the showcase and play the Odyssey demonstration unit. Bushnell takes particular note of the Odyssey gameTable Tennis.^[2][3]
• June 26 –Bally Manufacturing formalizes an agreement with Nolan Bushnell for the creation of one video game and onepinball table for Bally. Bushnell later describes the creation of a hockey game.^[4] The term “video amusement game” is used by Bushnell – one of the earliest instances of the phrase “video game” in print.^[5][6]
• August –Atari Inc. tests a prototype ofPong at Andy Capp’s Tavern (later the Rooster T. Feathers Comedy Club) inSunnyvale, California.
• August 13–15 –Chess 3.0 wins the U.S.American Computer Chess Championship in Boston, Massachusetts for the third consecutive year.^[7]
• September 14–16 – The Music Operators of America show is held inChicago, Illinois. Nutting Associates displaysComputer Space for the second year and For-Play Manufacturing showcasesStar Trek as the only two video games on the show floor.
• September 22 – Felipe Mor Pérez, head of research and development atInter Electrónica, registered the trademark "Odyssey" in Spain, describing it as an "electronic toy." This led to the development of the Overkal, a Spanish clone of the Odyssey.^[8]
• October 19 – The Intergalactic Spacewar Olympics competition is held at theStanford Artificial Intelligence Project facilities in California. It is the first formalvideo game competition and is a central story of the article "Spacewar, Fanatic Life and Death Among Computer Bums" in the December 7, 1972 issue ofRolling Stone written byStewart Brand.^[9]
• November 24 – Nolan Bushnell files for US patent #3,793,483 relating to work developed for video game technology onComputer Space. The patent is issued in February 1974 and does not serve as an effective deterrent to video game copycats.^[10][11]

(*) Indicates a sales number given by official company sources.

• October – The date of the first issue of thePeople’s Computer Company newsletter by Dymax Inc. They printtype-in listings of games and other demonstrations in theBASIC programming language, helping to spread games originally created ontime-sharing networks.

• March – The second unit ofGalaxy Game is placed at the Tresidder Student Union atStanford University. This version features twofiberglass cabinets with two players each, which can be linked to create a four-player game.^[16]
• October – Coin-operated games company For-Play Manufacturing in California releasesStar Trek (1972) – a presumed clone of Nutting Associates’Computer Space.^[17]
• November –Atari Inc. releases their gamePong, shipping it to local distributors in the Northern California area. The game becomes a hit in the local area and launches Atari’s business.

• Empire byReed College studentPeter Langston is created for theHP2000 computer.^[18]
• Louis Bloomfield ofUniversity of Illinois Champaign-Urbana creates the gameMoonwar for thePLATO IV mainframe system. It becomes the most popular “big board” game on the network.^[19]

• September –Magnavox releases theirOdyssey console in twenty-five major markets. It includes twelve games with the console. Alight gun addon with additional games is sold separately. They manufacture 140,000 consoles their first year on the market.^[20]

• June 27 –Atari Inc. is founded byNolan Bushnell andTed Dabney inSunnyvale, California. They absorb the assets of their prior partnership, Syzygy, though continue using the name Syzygy under adoing business as association.^[21]
• Dymax Inc. establishes a location inMenlo Park, California. They invite interested individuals to visit the location to accesstime-sharingterminals at the location to create and use programs – many of which are published in thePeople's Computer Company newsletter.

• 1972 in games

• 1972 in video gaming
• Video games by year

• CS1: long volume value
• Articles with short description
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• Use mdy dates from March 2016