The (Not Really) First Computer Game

by Brad King Posted on July 20, 2011

The first computer game was SpaceWar!, we all know that.

However, this is the first game produced by Richard Garriott, the man who built the first commercially successful massively multi-player game.

Akalabeth would eventually morph into Ultima, launching a franchise of games that built — and then changed — the gaming landscape.

This is the original packing. Long before the days of fancy boxes, high-tech graphics, and massive marketing budgets, computer game makers did this all by hand. The games were as much about your imagination (and the story conceptualized by the basic artwork) as they were about what happened in game.

In other words: it was a lot like Dungeons & Dragons.

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  • Smackaholic

    Wow — is that your copy of the game, or some stock pic from the net?

  • http://www.thebradking.com Brad_King

    We wrote a book called Dungeons & Dreamers a few years ago. We’re working on a Second Edition. That is a photo I took of the original game at the Origin Systems offices in Austin, Texas. Back when there was still an Origin Systems in Austin :)