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Atari

A lot of people know about Atari, the arcade games and video games company, founded in 1972. Also, a lot of people know the term “atari” from Go, meaning a group with only one liberty, in danger to be captured. There is also a simplified variation of Go, called “Atari-Go” or “Capture-Go” – one can play that online here. But not some many people know that the arcade game company borrowed the name from Go! I just found that out myself today, when I learned about this video interview of Atari founder Nolan Bushnell where he declares Go as the favorite game of his! I found also an April 2009 interview with him where he declares that Go is his favorite game in “Inc. Magazine”. And here’s a photo of Nolan Bushnell in front of a goban (the fuseki looks strange though, there is a stone on the 2nd line on the left side):
Atari founder Nolan Bushnell in front of a goban

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 31st, 2009 at 11:59 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

4 Responses to “Atari”

  1. Julio says:
    April 1, 2009 at 3:41 am

    This corporate picture of him is quite famous (at least among Go players):
    http://www.lfbachrach.com/new_page_1.htm

  2. Sorin says:
    April 1, 2009 at 8:03 am

    Thanks Julio – added the reference to the photo you mentioned!

  3. Romain says:
    April 2, 2009 at 12:08 am

    Well, the fuseki is very strange. Either they put stones without trying to have a realistic game (most possible) either there is something weird in the corner we cannot see (just count the stones…).

  4. Sorin says:
    April 2, 2009 at 8:21 am

    Hi Romain,
    Indeed, there are several black stones missing, and the hidden corner is too small to fit them, unless there was a VERY unusual fuseki :-)