Which game used “Game Over” first?

[smokehouse]

This has become an industry standard as well as a common public saying. I don’t hear it all the time but I do hear it in public at least once a week. I was just wondering if anyone knew where this saying came from and what was the first game to display those two words.

500 Meseta to the first member who can come up with a credible answer.

[rarecube]

Brookhaven 1958 Tennis Video Game

[Darth Sensei]

I don't know who did it first, but Missle Command did it best.

[chrisbid]

wasnt it space invaders?

[fennec fox]

It was common in pinball/shooting games way before video came along.

[diskoboy]

Good question. I dunno the awnser, so this is just a guess.

I'd have to guess it would be from either an early racing game. Either Sprint, GranTrak. Or Atari's Tank.

Pong doesn't have a 'game over' screen. The ball just keeps going back and forth. Computer Space doesn't have one either. Tank was the first to use a ROM storage medium instead of discrete logic, so that's my guess.

Problem is, I've never seen a working Tank machine in Person. I think on Atari's racing games, it just keeps saying 'insert coin'. It's been so long...

the problem with finding the awnser to this is finding machines that work, and who manufactured what first. Interesting question, though.

[rolenta]

I have no idea. The first thing I naturally thought of was Missile Command.

[Griking]

Well, after firing up Mame I was able to verify that Gun Fight (the oldest game I have @ 1975) displays the words on the top of the screen when the game is over.

http://images.webmagic.com/klov.com/screens/G/vGun_Fight.png

[§ Gideon §]

It was common in pinball/shooting games way before video came along.
If this is true, I think he has a point. Though, according to at least one source (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_Over), "Game Over" was first used in arcade games. On the other hand, pinball/shooting games are technically "arcade games," so maybe that's a moot point altogether!

[Canadian Psycho]

500 Meseta to the first member who can come up with a credible answer.
Why would anyone actually want more "Meseta"? What's the point? Please enlighten me (yes, really).

[smokehouse]

500 Meseta to the first member who can come up with a credible answer.
Why would anyone actually want more "Meseta"? What's the point? Please enlighten me (yes, really).

Well, you have a kick ass avatar so 500 meseta to you, possibly that will help answer your question.








With your question answered try to answer mine!

[Phosphor Dot Fossils]

Why would anyone actually want more "Meseta"? What's the point?
See also Your Meseta and You: an educational FAQstrip. (http://www.digitpress.com/forum/faq.php#0)

[smokehouse]

Good answers so far guys (and gals if applicable). Are any of these true? I thought possibly Cruzway might be right but I can’t find anything about this game displaying text at game’s end. I imagine it would have come later in the life of the video game but does anyone have a solid answer?

Pot up to 750 Meseta!!!!

[Leo_A]

Just to be picky, it says "The End" when you lose in Missile Command, not game over.

[rarecube]

Im defenetly sure about my answer anyway ...

Just to go on with the topic ...

www.game40.com

[MichaeltheGreat]

cruzway, I've seen videos of Brookhaven 1958 Tennis Video Game and there are definately no words in the game... I can't find anything that relates the words "Game Over" to that game.


I personally think that this should have caught on instead:

http://www.geekcomix.com/vgh/first/chf.shtml

Forget the nice politically correct "GAME OVER". It would be so much easier to ridicule your friends when they lose at a video game if the games all said that...

edit: since I first posted, I lerned how to spell.

[googlefest1]

i dont know about game - but didnt it become a public saying after the "aliens" movie

[rbudrick]

Hmmm, well, how about a complete list of videogames from 1975 and before...it can't be that long...

-Rob

[Sylentwulf]

Hmmm, well, how about a complete list of videogames from 1975 and before...it can't be that long...

-Rob

I got over 100 hits for 1975 and earlier videogames from klov's power search.

Futsball and appolo 13 are both from 1970, but futsball doesn't look like it has a game over screen, and apollo doesn't show any screenshots.

[rbudrick]

Are these 100 or so games emulated? I suppose it wouldn't be too hard, if so, to play one game of each and die to see if the Game Over screen appears...

-Rob

[NeoZeedeater]

Futsball and appolo 13 are both from 1970, but futsball doesn't look like it has a game over screen, and apollo doesn't show any screenshots.
If anyone has more info on these I would love to read about it. If the 1970 year at KLOV is correct then these are arcade video games that predate Computer Space and history books need to be adjusted.

[NeoZeedeater]

KLOV isn't 100% accurate. This would be one such example.
I wouldn't be surprised if they're wrong but do you know what years those games are from then?

[Ed Oscuro]

according to at least one source (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_Over), "Game Over" was first used in arcade games.
Hooray, another undocumented, unsourced Wikipedia claim!

It is a very logical one, but then again, we are debating it. Maybe a term used in dueling? :D

Okay, tangent/rant...done.

[NeoZeedeater]

Thanks for the info on those. What makes this topic hard is that a lot of the earliest games either aren't emulated or not emulated correctly.