What was the first video game in color?

Before we do or say anything else let’s answer the question at hand. What was the first arcade game in color? It was the 1973 game Color Gotcha a game that was released alongside its popular black and white version, Gotcha. While there was a ton of controversy over whether or not this was the first-ever color arcade game the answer becomes relatively obvious once you look at the recorded time stamps on the prospective color video game’s creation. Believe me, there are a ton of different arcade games with this moniker “the first color game” this was the first one to ever be marketed and sold with a definite time stamp.

Video of Color Gotcha gameplay

A little about Color Gotcha

If you’ve ever played Gotcha then you’ve played Color Gotcha. Color Gotcha is essentially the exact same game as Gotcha except with true color. So, what exactly is Gotcha? Well in the game Gotcha the only objective is to chase your friend (or enemy if you want to just win) around the screen with the goal in mind of catching them eventually. *let’s not forget that this is also a 2-player game.  

Sounds easy enough.

Research on the history of the game states that the whole idea behind Gotcha came from a bug found in Pong where the score of the game would be repeated constantly over the screen of the game. Knowing that this is possible the creator of the game found that this character generator could be used to develop a maze. He also decided that it would be a good idea to cover the joysticks used to control players with pink silicone (basically making the joysticks look like a pair of breasts).

*eventually the joysticks were forced to be reverted back to standard joysticks.

In the game, there are 2 players (as we mentioned above) who each is classified as either The Pursuer and The Pursued. If or when The Pursuer catches The Pursued the former receives a single point and positions are reset. As The Pursued gets closer to The Pursuer the beeping noise emitted by Gotcha gets louder and inevitably stops once the Pursued gets caught.

*Fun fact: Gotcha was created by Allan Alcorn, the creator of the popular arcade game Pong.

Timeline of creation of first few color arcade games

Most say the first arcade game in full color was Galaxian, but that is a lie. When we talk answer the question of “which was the first arcade game in color?” we’re answering just that – which game first made use of color. Also, when we answer the question we’re not talking about the arcade games that used cellophane overlays to give the appearance of being in color. We’re talking about literal color arcade games.

Color Gotcha made by Atari in October 1973

Color Gotcha was a limited run game. Color Gotcha was released but it was a limited release so there is some question as to whether it really counts as the first released color coin-op game.

Wimbledon made by Nutting Associates in December 1973

The runner-up to Color Gotcha is Wimbledon, a Pong competitor that supported up to 4 players at once.

Pace Car Pro made by Electra Games in October 1974

This game was developed by Electra Games, a coin operated video game unit in URL. This was one of their first games.

Indy 800 made by Atari/Kee in April 1975

This was a game that kind of had to use color as there would’ve been no way for players to know which car was theirs.

Car Polo made by Exidy in March 1977

Car Polo was one of the first games to use both color and a microprocessor.

Galaxian made by Namco in 1979

When you look up what the first color video arcade game was you usually get this as an answer – but it’s wrong. It may have been one of the first games to make effective use of color, but it definitely wasn’t the first.

Conclusion

So there you have it. The first-ever documented color arcade game (while it wasn’t very successful) was Gotcha Color. For more details on the Pong check out the resources listed below – they’re great.

Resources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_arcade_video_game_history

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gotcha_(video_game)