Insert Quarter is our showcase for some of the best and most interesting writing about video games on the Internet.
Have you ever wondered exactly how the game cartridge came to be invented? Benj Edwards, a freelancer for Fast Company, has produced what is quite possibly the most in-depth exploration of the creation of the technology you could ask for. It starts with the revelation that American Machine and Foundry (or AMF, one of the largest manufacturers of bowling alley equipment in the country) had a hand in creating the game cartridge and it just gets crazier from there:
Consider the humble video game cartridge. It’s a small, durable plastic box that imparts the most immediate, user-friendly software experience ever created. Just plug it in, and you’re playing a game in seconds.
If you’ve ever used one, you have two men to thank: Wallace Kirschner and Lawrence Haskel, who invented the game cartridge 40 years ago while working at an obscure company and rebounding from a business failure. Once the pair’s programmable system had been streamlined and turned into a commercial product—the Channel F console—by a team at pioneering electronics company Fairchild, it changed the fundamental business model of home video games forever. By injecting flexibility into a new technology, it paved the way for massive industry growth and the birth of a new creative medium.
The full article is available for your perusal at Fast Company.
