One of the unknown hero's of gaming is Al Quinn. Who is Al Quinn you ask. What game did Al Quinn make that changed gaming? What idea did he have which impacted gaming? Well none, that matter he was a salesman for Sears. Understand gaming bombed with the launch of the Magnavox Odyssey. Magnavox made around 100,000 units and sold only 85,000 units.

So when Atari came out with Home Pong, an at home version of Pong no one wanted it. Gene Lipin an employee of Atari was given the job of trying to sell Home Pong to retailers. The problem is after the failure of the Odyssey no one wanted it. He tried toy stores and Electronic companies who did not want it. The toy stores said they would not sell anything that cost $100 expect bikes. However Gene did not give up even though he kept getting turned down.

Gene found out that Sears had sold the Odyssey in their Sporting Goods Department. So Lupin contacted Sears and spoke to Tom Quinn who had stated that the Christmas numbers were based on people filling their rec room and the Home Pong might fit in with that. Gene knowing the Odyssey was a failure wanted Home Pong in Sears. The problem was he wanted it to be exclusive to Sears only.

When the Atari executive team saw Quinn enthusiasm for the game they decided not to sell it to Sears. They did not want the system to be exclusive. So they tried to sell it elsewhere with no luck at all. They went to a trade show and did not sell a single unit. No one was willing to take a risk on another home gaming system. The Odyssey was a gimmick that no one wanted to repeat. Well expect for one person Al Quinn.

Understand at this time Atari was losing money. Al and Nolan had already been speaking about being broke. So they went back to Al Quinn who loved the idea of making the home pong system. If not for Al Quinn believing in the Home Pong system console gaming may have been dead for many years with the Odyssey.