History of Atari Basketball

I chose to start of Black History Month by giving the history of Atari Basketball. This was the first video game to include a black character.  It was released in 1979 around the time that Atari was releasing a series of sports titles. They were Atari Football, Atari Basketball, Atari Soccer, and Atari Baseball. The unique thing about all of these arcade cabinets is that Atari used its largest ever trackball at 4.5 inches. The basketball game was the only one of the four that was placed in an upright cabinet. The others were in what was known as a cocktail cabinet where you looked down on the screen instead of straight at it. The reason behind this was that unlike the other three games where you were looking down at the field, you watched the basketball game from the sidelines of the court. You were able to play one player versus the computer or against another human player in two-player mode. 

The first black character in a video game

Along with the trackball there is one button, which is used to shoot the ball. The game starts with each player choosing their team. You can either be on the white team or the black team. The ball drops to the center of the court and each player must run there and try to grab it. You may push the button for an extended period of time. Depending on how long you push it, your character will raise the ball over his head and lower it again. The higher it is over the player's head, the farther the ball will go. If you are on the defensive side of the ball, then you can push the button to jump up and block the shot. If you are directly in front of the player with the ball, then you will attempt to steal it.