- Jan 7, 2002
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New Pong king crowned
After a hard-fought contest, the Belfast World Pong Championships have a new video game king.
It's not a real international event but 32 players turned up for the knockout tournament, determined to walk off with the coveted grand prize of an original 1970s Pong cabinet.
The third annual competition, run as part of the city's film festival, was won by a contender in his mid-20s known only by the mysterious nickname of Stoney.
For the uninitiated, the idea of Pong is that two players try to get a ball - or rather, a square white blob - past the other using vertically scrolling paddles.
Based on table tennis but with primitive graphics and sound, it's all in glorious black and white.
Appropriately for a game conceived by Atari founder Nolan Bushnell to be so simple that "any drunk in any bar" could play it, the competition was held at the John Hewitt Bar in the city centre on Wednesday.
Belfast author Bernard MacLaverty, who wrote the haunting novel Cal, was one illustrious contender.
He went out in the first round, beaten by the film festival's director Michelle Devlin.
Indeed, a few highly fancied candidates fell early as the beer began to flow more freely.
Early casualties included the winner of the first tournament in 2002 as well as the 1979 Australian Pong champion, an ex-pat living in Belfast.
Text
After a hard-fought contest, the Belfast World Pong Championships have a new video game king.
It's not a real international event but 32 players turned up for the knockout tournament, determined to walk off with the coveted grand prize of an original 1970s Pong cabinet.
The third annual competition, run as part of the city's film festival, was won by a contender in his mid-20s known only by the mysterious nickname of Stoney.
For the uninitiated, the idea of Pong is that two players try to get a ball - or rather, a square white blob - past the other using vertically scrolling paddles.
Based on table tennis but with primitive graphics and sound, it's all in glorious black and white.
Appropriately for a game conceived by Atari founder Nolan Bushnell to be so simple that "any drunk in any bar" could play it, the competition was held at the John Hewitt Bar in the city centre on Wednesday.
Belfast author Bernard MacLaverty, who wrote the haunting novel Cal, was one illustrious contender.
He went out in the first round, beaten by the film festival's director Michelle Devlin.
Indeed, a few highly fancied candidates fell early as the beer began to flow more freely.
Early casualties included the winner of the first tournament in 2002 as well as the 1979 Australian Pong champion, an ex-pat living in Belfast.
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