View Full Version : Ralph Baer & The Smithsonian
rolenta
03-26-2007, 10:23 AM
Ralph Baer's papers, as well as the Brown Box, are now at the Smithsonian. The Smithsonian now has a site where you can go for information about this collection:
http://invention.smithsonian.org/resources/fa_baer_index.aspx
Ed Oscuro
03-26-2007, 02:02 PM
Cool. Hope it makes the print magagzine sometime soon, but in the meantime I'm going to check out the site.
TheRedEye
03-26-2007, 03:31 PM
Can I use this thread to plug our interview too?
http://gamasutra.com/features/20070323/edwards_01.shtml
ubikuberalles
03-26-2007, 03:46 PM
It's cool that something that I've seen up close has made it to the Smithsonian (the brown box).
It's only happened one time before and that was with the cockpit of the Double Eagle II (first balloon to cross the Atlantic). It was on display at the Albuquerque Balloon fiesta just before they shiped it off to the Smithsonian. People were allowed to come up and actually touch (me too).
diskoboy
03-26-2007, 05:17 PM
It's cool that something that I've seen up close has made it to the Smithsonian (the brown box).
If you've been around a Pong, Dragon's Lair, or Pac-Man machine, in your lifetime, you've been around something in the Smithsonian. :)
(BTW - Does anyone know the serial numbers of the machines there? I'm surprised they don't have the Pong prototype...)
But the Brown Box has deserved to be in there for a long time. I'm glad it finally is.
ubikuberalles
03-27-2007, 12:41 AM
If you've been around a Pong, Dragon's Lair, or Pac-Man machine, in your lifetime, you've been around something in the Smithsonian. :)
Not the same thing.
I was literally inches from the actual Brown Box that went to the Smithsonian. I actually touched the gondola of the Double Eagle II balloon that went to the Smithsonian (think about how many people there are that are still alive who actually touched Lindbergh's Spirit of St. Louis before it was shipped to the Smithsonian).
I may have played Pong, Dragon's Lair and Pac Man but not the actual machines that went to the Smithsonian, merely replicas or copies of such machines. The Brown Box and the Double Eagle II gondola are unique items. One of a kind. Lots of Pac Man arcades out there.