More Tennis for Two

Tennis for Two-Romain1

Romain saw our post on our Tennis for Two project and decided he wanted to make his own. He ordered a preprogrammed microcontroller from us and got to work. Once he was done, he was kind enough to share build photos and circuit diagrams with us.


Tennis for Two-Romain2

Since he was starting with a bare CRT rather than a full scope, he built a wood and plexiglass enclosure which shows off the electronics very nicely.


Time exposure

We’re glad to see really retro gaming getting the attention it deserves!

He modified the circuit to accommodate driving his CRT.

tennisschem1

tennisschem2

tennisschem3

tennisschem4

Tennis for Two-Romain3

His controller boxes are very classy, with brass knobs and red buttons.


Tennis for Two-Romain4

The code for this project is up on the original Tennis for Two post. If you’d like to get a preprogrammed microcontroller like Romain did, they are available here.

4 thoughts on “More Tennis for Two

  1. Thanks to Lenore and Windell, i am very happy to build this project with your help.
    If i can help anyone, do not hesitate.
    Regards from France. Romain.

    1. Does anyone reading this know where I could find details of the *original* circuitry and techniques used by the actual inventor/designer of this game at the atomic research place? I’m not totally sure he didn’t adapt the analogue computer they already had, but I seem to remember reading otherwise, that he built an independent circuit for the scope-tennis game.

      I’ve been searching for details for a long while now but all I’ve found is people using 21st century technology and calling the result a ‘reproduction’ of Tennis for Two – IMHO that’s like calling an electronically dimmed, artificially flickering LED (with a rigid time limit!) a ‘reproduction’ of Edison’s lightbulb..

      Does *anyone* know where I could find out how the original genius set up his original prototype? If someone helps then I’ll eventually be able to put up a description of a reasonably competent genuine re-creation of the actual circuit! So.. Please? :-)

      Regards,

      Dave Johnson

      1. The first link in the article above takes you to our post about making a modern implementation of Tennis for Two. If you had read that post, you would have found that it links to the history of the exhibit at BNL here:
        http://www.bnl.gov/bnlweb/history/higinbotham.asp
        The original schematics are available toward the end of that article. There have been faithful reproductions made following the original schematic–there is a nice video on youtube with the clickety-clacking of the mechanical relays in the background.

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