Pong creator Allan Alcorn's original blue line copy of the Atari World Cup Football schematic, one page, 34 x 22, identified in the lower corner, "Atari Inc., Rev. A, Schematic—World Cup, DRN: PCD 12/17/73." The schematic diagram provides the circuits for "Ball Motion" and "Vert. Speed Control," with sections labeled "Hit Tone," "Playfield," "Goal," "Ball Off Paddle Detector," "Solid Defensemen," "Solid Forwards," "striped Defensemen," and "Striped Forwards." In fine condition, with moderate toning along the folds.
Accompanied by a signed letter of provenance from Alcorn, in full: "When our first game, Pong, became a hit we ramped up production and sold thousands of them. Then we made several variations of the ball and paddle game and we distributed them domestically and internationally. Our European customers felt that we should design a video game featuring soccer or football, as they call it in Europe, so we designed a game with their help to meet their requirements. Unfortunately, it was not a success and we learned a lesson: give the customer what they need not what they want. This is a blue line schematic of the video game 'World Cup Soccer,' and was used by production to design and troubleshoot the game."
Interestingly, Steve Jobs weighed in on the design of Atari's World Cup game, providing notes to his supervisor, Stephen Bristow, with ideas for improving the game's functionality; these included changes to the circuits involved in serving, scoring, and shooting, as well as the design of the paddles and alignment in defense of the soccer goal.
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