{"id":2924,"date":"2026-06-27T14:36:01","date_gmt":"2026-06-27T14:36:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/americanmovershub.com\/?p=2924"},"modified":"2026-06-27T14:36:01","modified_gmt":"2026-06-27T14:36:01","slug":"deseret-news-archives-atari-founded-by-native-utahn-nolan-bushnell-helped-usher-in-home-pc-era","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/americanmovershub.com\/?p=2924","title":{"rendered":"Deseret News archives: Atari, founded by native Utahn Nolan Bushnell, helped usher in home PC era"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p><i>Editor\u2019s note: This story was originally published on June 27, 2024.<\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>A look back at local, national and world events through Deseret News archives.<\/i><\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s an age test: Was Pong the first video game you ever played?<\/p>\n<p>Legendary video game and home computer Atari Inc. was founded by Utah native Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney in Sunnyvale, California, on June 27, 1972.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/americanmovershub.com\/?p=2922\">Arden Locke used to shadow her dad at Jazz games. Now, she\u2019s forging her own path in sports broadcasting<\/a><\/p>\n<p>In November 1972, Atari released the video game Pong to arcades, and it found its way to my Christmas tree in December 1975.<\/p>\n<p>Frankly, I never mastered the game.<\/p>\n<p>Bushnell, who was born in Clearfield and graduated from the University of Utah in 1969, is credited with starting more than 20 companies in his lifetime. He also founded Chuck E. Cheese\u2019s Pizza Time Theatre.<\/p>\n<p>As one of the founders of the video game industry, Bushnell has been inducted into the Video Game Hall of Fame and the Consumer Electronics Association\u2019s Hall of Fame.<\/p>\n<p>Atari was sold to Hasbro in 2001.<\/p>\n<p>Here are some stories about Bushnell and other innovators with Utah ties from Deseret News archives:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAre there more entrepreneurs like Nolan Bushnell out there?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAtari founder Nolan Bushnell offers advice about Turkey awards and other innovations\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUWink serves food, games for adults\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUtah technology group to honor 3 industry giants\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOnce a fad gone bad, video games are back\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUtahns are at forefront of inventions\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAuthor sees \u2018information revolution\u2019 triggering big changes; U. among the pace setters, audience told\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/americanmovershub.com\/?p=2920\">America\u2019s nuclear renaissance is about mass deployment<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cUtah\u2019s rich history of innovation and entrepreneurship\u201d<\/p>\n<p>One quirky story about Atari involves a video game centered around the movie \u201cE.T.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Creating video games is a hit-or-miss process and the Atari \u201cE.T.\u201d game was a big miss. Released in 1982, it did not receive good reviews. Some consider it the worst game in video game history, and an urban legend developed that millions of unsold cartridges of the game were dumped in a landfill in Alamorgodo, New Mexico.<\/p>\n<p>Then a game cartridge was uncovered, and the search was on in earnest. In 2014, with a large crowd watching and documentary crews filming, searchers uncovered a trove of the game.<\/p>\n<p>It has been added to the video game history collection at the Smithsonian, defined as an artifact.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDocumentary of Atari dig in the New Mexico desert on Netflix\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHunt for the worst video game ever: Diggers find Atari\u2019s E.T. games buried in landfill since 1983\u2033<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/americanmovershub.com\/?p=2918\">Utah divided over July 4th fireworks ban as wildfires rage across the state<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cAtari\u2019s \u2018E.T.\u2019 game unearthed from garbage heap joins Smithsonian collection\u201d<\/p>\n<div>\n<div>Related<\/div>\n<div>Deseret News timeline<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This date in history: Popular home personal computer company was established on this date in 1972. Video games soon followed. Read more about Nolan Bushnell. Today in history.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2923,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2924","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-west"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Deseret News archives: Atari, founded by native Utahn Nolan Bushnell, helped usher in home PC era - American Movers Hub<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/americanmovershub.com\/?p=2924\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Deseret News archives: Atari, founded by native Utahn Nolan Bushnell, helped usher in home PC era - American Movers Hub\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This date in history: Popular home personal computer company was established on this date in 1972. Video games soon followed. Read more about Nolan Bushnell. Today in history.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/americanmovershub.com\/?p=2924\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"American Movers Hub\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-27T14:36:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanmovershub.com\\\/?p=2924#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanmovershub.com\\\/?p=2924\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanmovershub.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/b68c8483906c0d2987f271455f0177af\"},\"headline\":\"Deseret News archives: Atari, founded by native Utahn Nolan Bushnell, helped usher in home PC era\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-27T14:36:01+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanmovershub.com\\\/?p=2924\"},\"wordCount\":471,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanmovershub.com\\\/?p=2924#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanmovershub.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/086b55645131a8f350fc1172334e6d69.avif\",\"articleSection\":[\"The West\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/americanmovershub.com\\\/?p=2924#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanmovershub.com\\\/?p=2924\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanmovershub.com\\\/?p=2924\",\"name\":\"Deseret News archives: Atari, founded by native Utahn Nolan Bushnell, helped usher in home PC era - American Movers Hub\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanmovershub.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanmovershub.com\\\/?p=2924#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanmovershub.com\\\/?p=2924#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanmovershub.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/086b55645131a8f350fc1172334e6d69.avif\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-27T14:36:01+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanmovershub.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/b68c8483906c0d2987f271455f0177af\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanmovershub.com\\\/?p=2924#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/americanmovershub.com\\\/?p=2924\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanmovershub.com\\\/?p=2924#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanmovershub.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/086b55645131a8f350fc1172334e6d69.avif\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanmovershub.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/086b55645131a8f350fc1172334e6d69.avif\",\"width\":630,\"height\":331},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanmovershub.com\\\/?p=2924#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanmovershub.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Deseret News archives: Atari, founded by native Utahn Nolan Bushnell, helped usher in home PC era\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanmovershub.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanmovershub.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"American Movers Hub\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanmovershub.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanmovershub.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/b68c8483906c0d2987f271455f0177af\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/americanmovershub.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanmovershub.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Deseret News archives: Atari, founded by native Utahn Nolan Bushnell, helped usher in home PC era - American Movers Hub","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/americanmovershub.com\/?p=2924","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Deseret News archives: Atari, founded by native Utahn Nolan Bushnell, helped usher in home PC era - American Movers Hub","og_description":"This date in history: Popular home personal computer company was established on this date in 1972. Video games soon followed. Read more about Nolan Bushnell. Today in history.","og_url":"https:\/\/americanmovershub.com\/?p=2924","og_site_name":"American Movers Hub","article_published_time":"2026-06-27T14:36:01+00:00","author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/americanmovershub.com\/?p=2924#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/americanmovershub.com\/?p=2924"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/americanmovershub.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b68c8483906c0d2987f271455f0177af"},"headline":"Deseret News archives: Atari, founded by native Utahn Nolan Bushnell, helped usher in home PC era","datePublished":"2026-06-27T14:36:01+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/americanmovershub.com\/?p=2924"},"wordCount":471,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/americanmovershub.com\/?p=2924#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/americanmovershub.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/086b55645131a8f350fc1172334e6d69.avif","articleSection":["The West"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/americanmovershub.com\/?p=2924#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/americanmovershub.com\/?p=2924","url":"https:\/\/americanmovershub.com\/?p=2924","name":"Deseret News archives: Atari, founded by native Utahn Nolan Bushnell, helped usher in home PC era - American Movers Hub","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/americanmovershub.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/americanmovershub.com\/?p=2924#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/americanmovershub.com\/?p=2924#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/americanmovershub.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/086b55645131a8f350fc1172334e6d69.avif","datePublished":"2026-06-27T14:36:01+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/americanmovershub.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b68c8483906c0d2987f271455f0177af"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/americanmovershub.com\/?p=2924#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/americanmovershub.com\/?p=2924"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/americanmovershub.com\/?p=2924#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/americanmovershub.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/086b55645131a8f350fc1172334e6d69.avif","contentUrl":"https:\/\/americanmovershub.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/086b55645131a8f350fc1172334e6d69.avif","width":630,"height":331},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/americanmovershub.com\/?p=2924#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/americanmovershub.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Deseret News archives: Atari, founded by native Utahn Nolan Bushnell, helped usher in home PC era"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/americanmovershub.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/americanmovershub.com\/","name":"American Movers Hub","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/americanmovershub.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/americanmovershub.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b68c8483906c0d2987f271455f0177af","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/americanmovershub.com"],"url":"https:\/\/americanmovershub.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/americanmovershub.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2924","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/americanmovershub.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/americanmovershub.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/americanmovershub.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/americanmovershub.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2924"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/americanmovershub.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2924\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/americanmovershub.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2923"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/americanmovershub.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2924"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/americanmovershub.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2924"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/americanmovershub.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2924"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}