Game On!: Video Game History from Pong and Pac-Man to Mario, Minecraft, and More

by Dustin Hansen

Find out about the fast and furious growth and evolution of video games (including how they are quickly taking over the world!) by looking at some of the most popular, innovative, and influential games ever, from Pong, the very first arcade game ever, to modern hits like Uncharted.Learn about the creators and inspiration (Mario was named after Nintendo’s landlord after he barged into a staff meeting demanding rent), discover historical trivia and Easter eggs (The developers of Halo 2 drank over 24,000 gallons of soda while making the game), and explore the innovations that make each game special (The ghosts in Pac-Man are the first example of AI in a video game).Whether you consider yourself a hard-core gamer or are just curious to see what everyone is talking about, Game On! is the book for you!

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Video Games, Gaming, Games, Technology, Audiobook

471 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 22, 2016

About the author

Dustin was raised in rural Utah, where his imagination was his most constant companion. A reader, artist, and gamer from an early age, Dustin was encouraged to mine his talents, follow his passions, and find the fun in everyday life.

Dustin studied art in college, and entered the exciting world of video game development in 1994. His career has taken him and his family from coast to coast, but he always considered the small town he grew up in, Ephraim, Utah, his true home.

After spending a year as a director at Habro, Dustin, his wife, and four kids moved back to Ephraim, where he lives today in the shadows of a fine mountain, writes books about video games and dinosaurs, and takes long walks with his dog, Rusty.

Oh, and he loves the Utah Jazz, but that's another story all together.

Reviews

[Johan Twiss · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating tidbits on the inside history of the games I love and grew up playing. Written in an easy to follow and entertaining way (lots of humor from the author/narrator). A great read for gaming nuts of all ages.

[Starr ❇✌❇ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow, I just read an entire non-textbook nonfiction book for the first time since elementary school 😳
I picked up this book solely to check out if it would be a good addition to the YA Nonfic shelves at my library, and totally meant to just flip through but now, several hours later, I have read every single page, and had fun. Normally I ingest my nonfiction via niche video essays (generally about the art & history of entertainment media, so, I mean, I was already biased here) and, unlike full texts, I can pay attention to massive amount of info because of the enthusiastic and casual way it's delivered. And Hansen completely nails that tone! I just want to give this book a standing ovation, because it's one of the few books I've seen for the age range that doesn't drone or talk down to the reader.

Plus, the sheer amount of information here is great. It's set up chronologically with callbacks to previous games as they borrow and build off of their predecessors, it has nice break up pages with extra thoughts and lists, there's well placed fun fact footnotes, and accessible vocabulary no matter how knowledgeable, or not, you are of video games.

[Natalie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating history of video games. It’s told in a very readable way, with a lot of humor and some interesting fun facts. I might be biased, but I liked the Uncharted chapter the best. The whole thing was really interesting, though, even for someone like me, who doesn’t normally gravitate toward nonfiction.

[Robin Stevens · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely my favourite non-fiction book of the year, and one that I've been recommending to everyone who has ever played any computer game. I thought I wasn't a big gamer, but this had me gripped and laughing. It's written with kids in mind, but kids AND parents (and adults without kids) should have this on their Christmas lists. Beg, borrow or steal a copy, honestly. It's great. 8+

*Please note: this review is meant as a recommendation only. Please do not use it in any marketing material, online or in print, without asking permission from me first. Thank you!*

[Lindsey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Assigned by my ten-year-old son.

How do you rate such a book? For what it is, it was engagingly written and I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. Plus, I’m becoming a big believer in reading “the history of _________” (chemistry, artificial lighting, education, etc.), so the history of video games can fit in there, too, right?

So when I say four stars, I really could have given it five stars for its category. It was well done for a history of video games. I could have given it four stars for the degree to which I enjoyed it. I could have given it one or two stars for its worth to my life.

It seems wrong that I probably also gave Anna Karenina four stars.

Anyway, off to read “Pony Pals #1: I Want a Pony” (assigned by my eight-year-old daughter). How will I rate THAT?

[Alicia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This fun exploration isn't meant to be an end-all, be-all compilation of video game history, instead it is an entertaining romp into the best and the brightest (and the biggest failures) of video gaming and how they left their mark.

The flow of the book is a testament to its organization and layout and the sidebars along the edges are actually the best part yet the other deliverables in bullet points and "best of" lists round out how a mountain of information can be put into a book without being overwhelming or too stuffy. Again, because it's meant to teach alongside entertain allowing the readers to learn if they're not gamer-geeks and reflect nostalgically if they are.

[Ashley · Rating 3 out of 5]

A light, easy, fast read that I think teens will particularly enjoy. I was expecting something akin to Thomas Game Docs (YouTube channel)— an in-depth look at how various consoles came about— but Hansen chose breadth over depth, focusing on a handful of landmark games and what innovations they contributed.

[Ramsey · Rating 5 out of 5]

An amazing book of famous videogames from Pong to Pac-Man to Mario to Minecraft! From 1980 to 2016 to the Future! For a story of History, Gaming, and More read Game On!: A Video Game History from Pong to Pac-man to Mario to Minecraft by Dustin Hansen

[Derek Neveu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although a bit dated and no longer comprehensive, he does refer to 2020 as the future, this is still an excellent overview of the history of video games. That being said, I did feel that the history was uneven and became very thin towards the end of the book. Call it bias, call it a reflection of my age, or call it both, but I think this is simply because the lore and storytelling that goes into the earlier generations of gaming is so much richer and diverse than the current one. In the late 70s and 80s there were no blueprints to success and a lot of risk and reward in every undertaking. Risk and reward still exists in today’s gaming, but it simply does not have the same urgency or feel as compelling as the earlier generations of video game development.

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quickly apparent this was written for YA. Wish there were a version for adults! There are details that were glossed over here that it would be so cool to read in more depth (how did they get open natural language games to fit on floppy disks <1MB in the 70s/80s??).
Still, a fun quick plane read and I learned some interesting things.

[Jett Love · Rating 5 out of 5]

this is so good this is so good this is so good

[Leslie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not sure exactly what the point of the book is. It seems like maybe an attempt to get a book worth of content published (includes worthless listicles) and introduce teens to video game classics.

[Aaron · Rating 5 out of 5]

Anyone looking for a nice basic history of video games will find this to be just what they are looking for. Starting with Pong, each chapter focuses on a specific game, gaming system or other major shift in the creation of video games in 2-5 pages. Most of the games are recognizable, but I know I found myself learning a little bit more in the area of trivia or background that I didn't know.

The writing style is pretty relaxed and conversational. The sidebars of each page contain interesting little details that are not necessarily required to fully understand the topic being covered, but the information is usually interesting and entertaining.

It was definitely a quick and rewarding read on the subject.

[Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

The writing style of this book is light & fun. I am not a gamer, but have friends, family members & students that are. The history (the gaming industry is so young) was very interesting to read about. I found that reading with my smartphone nearby was a must! I was constantly wanting to see more! An improvement to the book that would have been nice is the use of QR codes, having to type in the full web addresses provided seemed very old school!

I plan to read the Minecraft & Skylanders sections to my elementary age children as they are really into those games right now!

[Patrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

My son grabbed this at the library for himself, but I am really enjoying it too. The writing occasionally gets a little silly as the author makes jokes about gamers, but there is a ton of interesting information here about seminal games in video game history. It helps that I was alive and experiencing much of this.

[Heather Jackson · Rating 4 out of 5]

If, like me, you are not cool enough to have been in on the beginning of this whole gaming thing, Hansen's book will give you an informative and entertaining overview of the important milestones in gaming's short history.

Recommended for people who are interested in games but don't know much about them yet. Like me! Now I'm going to read Power Play...

[Drucilla · Rating 3 out of 5]

Skewing towards middle grade readers (the jokes and "funnies" are definitely for that age group), this is a great example of a "history of" book done right. I especially liked the way each chapter focused on a single genre-defining game rather than present us with a comprehensive history of video games. I learned a lot. This is a great book for anyone who's interested in the topic.

[Emmy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a fun book that I would totally recommend to someone interested in video games. As a casual gamer myself, I had a blast reading it, and picked up a lot of classic game titles that I just had to check out (Zork, anyone??). But my only complaint about it was that I found myself starting to zone as I got further and further into the book. After a while, I realized why. With the earlier games, that Hansen is pretty sure his teenage readers have not played, he provides tons of details. You don't have to be familiar with Space Invaders or Myst to read these chapters--but you'll want to play the game afterwards! When we got to the newer games like Uncharted 2 and Overwatch, he sort of gave up on that, and as someone who has never played those games, I found it hard to follow along.

Also, it was clear Hansen was writing for a teen audience, but it got annoying when he would keep trying to make himself sound cool, funny, and accessible. For example, almost every time he said PONG, he would follow it up with "POOOOONG! Pingity-Pong Pongity-Pong" and it got really, really annoying, really fast. Instead of coming across and young and hip and one of the guys, he sounds more like your weird uncle or awkward teacher who wants to talk about "Pokey-mans" and all those fancy new games on your "Gamer Cube".

Still, it was a fun book, and I would recommend it to anyone interested in the topic.

[Rhys_BookDude · Rating 5 out of 5]

OMG! I'm a gamer myself and anyone else who is MUST READ THIS BOOK! its factual and bingeable!
Overall a great book and would read it again if i could

[Michel Avenali · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 out of 5 Okay to Good

An adequate introduction -especially to younger readers- to the history of video games and their development. While far from being the best book on the subject its clear easy format and humor give it some charm. Unfortunately from the midpoint onwards the book runs out of steam and rushes to its conclusion, sacrificing dozens of important additions in favor of popular titles aimed at its juvenile to teen audience. For adult gamers seek better sources of information, but this is more than enough to hand to a child, nephew, or younger sibling.

[Mehsi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thanks to my boyfriend for giving me this one as a birthday present! I love it!~
This was absolutely fabulous, fun, hilarious, though I have to say I definitely liked the pre-2000 chapters more. Sure, I did play, and heard a lot about all the games after 2000, but they just don't give me the same nostalgia and OMG I played that-vibe that I get from pre-2000. :P
I also love that there are lists, explanations on the gaming process, little facts hidden in the sidebars, and much much more. Highly recommended for everyone who loves gaming/is a gamer.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book very interesting. It gives a good, basic overview of the history of videogames and just enough information to spark the interest of kids to maybe look into programming and game design more. I would definitely say this is a good book for anyone who might be interested in becoming a video game designer/programmer, etc.

[Jonathan H. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good overview of the history of video games—it's actually targeted at kids (teens?) and not adults, which I didn't necessarily know from the cover, so it may be better for younger gamers, but I still learned a few things I didn't know about various video games.

[Amouri Edwards · Rating 5 out of 5]

Literally just a Video Game History book. I thought it was going to be a story.. but nope. That's fine though. I liked learning about early history of games and discovering new games I never heard of.

[Ellen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun non-fiction read for older kids

[Emily K · Rating 5 out of 5]

Any book that gets my kid excited about reading automatically gets 5 stars, and my kid read this one twice this year! I would give it ten stars if I could

[Ayres · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think that Game On! is a fantastic book. It talks about the history of video games. It highlights several video games from Pong in 1972, to Overwatch in 2016. Because I am writing this review as a gamer in 2023, I do think that it was lacking some very good games that came out after its writing. Throughout the book, there are interesting facts and funny jokes, peppered with bits of the author’s opinion. These opinion sections are very well written, and make it clear that it is opinion, not fact.

This book does have some flaws. It neglects to talk about several important things. One of these things is video games being used for educational purposes. Most educational video games tend to be targeted towards elementary school level, but that is slowly changing. Another thing they fail to talk about is sexism in games, or specifically in gamer culture. The majority of gamers are men, and women tend to be seen more as a genre than a market. Games targeted more towards female audiences tend to have more vibrant colors, less violence, and more non-gendered characters. Games targeted towards male audiences generally tend to have more gray and realistic graphics. They also tend to have more violence and heavily gendered characters, with large, muscular, and male main characters.

Overall, Game On! is an excellent book that is good for most ages. I would recommend it to anyone 11-12 years old or older. I would also recommend it to anyone who loves video games, or who wants to learn more about them. Some of my favorite parts of this book were of games with which I’m not familiar and will probably never play. It’s worth checking out from your local library and reading if it sparks your interest. I particularly recommend reading at least the Halo 2 and Wii Sports sections. I genuinely enjoyed them.

[Logan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Update: After learning of who the book's target audience is, I have updated my review based on this information.

I'm going to be completely honest: I got 54% of the way through this book before deciding I was done. Dustin clearly loves video games, which is good because a book like this requires someone who is passionate about video games. The stories behind the development of the games featured are often filled with surprising tidbits of information. Even reading about some of the older games got me to play them (Doom and Myst, for example).

So, why did I not finish the book?

Well, because Game On! is written towards teenagers/younger audience, the humor that was injected in was off-putting to me. While I bet younger readers would enjoy it (I even laughed at the whole POOOOOOOOOONG joke), it just made it harder for me to continue reading. Approaching the 40% mark of the book, I noticed that the chapters were becoming more brief and these extra sections of top 10 lists and gamer lingo explanations were becoming more apparent. It makes me wonder if perhaps the book would benefit from trimming out the extras to make room for more information on the games. Other folks may have enjoyed them but I thought it really messed with the pacing of the book. Add the pacing issues in with the corky humor and increasingly brief descriptions of the different games and what you have is a jarring read.

This could also be due to how the Kindle version of the book is formatted. My wife has a hardcover edition in her classroom for students that I skimmed through. The formatting in the hardcover edition makes way more sense than the Kindle version.

Overall, if you're new to video games, and want to know the histories of some of your favorite games (and soon-to-be favorites), it's worth skimming through.

[Nina · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been a consumer of video game history for years. To me, it's the ultimate medium for art. Really great games have good visuals, a compelling story, an unforgettable soundtrack, and are well built. Obviously, I don't know everything. My own experiences, my mom's experiences, and the internet only covers part of a very vast industry. But my consumption of information leads me into situations where someone will tell me a fact and I'm like "oh..cool :)" when I've known that for years. This book surprised me. I really learned some interesting things! The Madden ambulance thing is hilarious and I'd never heard of Myst before. It's also nice that this is something this guy has lived through, he doesn't seem like some random dude trying to make a quick buck. I do have some issues with it, however. It almost feels a little too personal? Don't get me wrong, it would be boring if it was just straight facts being spat out. But it feels like someone's dad is telling me this stuff. Like, I'm interested, but the analogies are just...too much there? Also, this is clearly for people maybe even younger than my 17 year old self. I have no problem with things being for children, but you don't really get that vibe from looking at the cover. There were parts where he would say "ask your parents about this" when mentioning things that I lived through. Also, because it was published in 2016, it ages itself fast. This is pre-Fortnite and the slew of battle royale games, pre-Switch where Nintendo strayed from the path they'd been following for over a decade. So much has happened in 2020 alone, with ACNL, Fall Guys, Among Us, and the next gen consoles coming out in about a month. That is not a fault of the author, but it's just something worth noting. The rapid growth of gaming is insane.

[Michael · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a pretty odd book, and I didn't like it.

It's clearly intended for a very young audience, and the humor is pretty juvenile. I'm trying not to judge it harshly just because I'm not in the target audience, but it would have been nice if the cover had made it clear who the intended audience is.

There's just so much filler here, and so much that's wrong in really odd ways, sometimes in ways that make me wonder if the author has any experience with video games. A couple examples:

* page 12: "Space Invaders made the concept of 'high score' popular. Can you imagine a game without a high score nowadays?" Seriously? Can I imagine a game without a high score nowadays? The concept of high score in the Space Invaders sense has been mostly extinct for well over 20 years. Even by 1987 or so, high scores were mostly a vestigial feature that games still had but most players didn't care about. Some games still have scores today in one way or another of course, but yes, there are tons and tons of games, probably the majority of them, without any score at all.

* pages 14-15: the author purports to answer the question of why video games are called video games. This is apparently a mystery because playing video games is not watching a video. "You watch videos on YouTube or TV." It turns out, the author tells us, that video games are called that because they take stored data and translate that into a VIDEO signal, sent to your TV, "that you could play games on."

This is completely absurd. Video just means moving pictures. Video games are called video games because their main distinguishing characteristic is that you play them via video. There's no mystery.