The first widely-played video game wasn’t Pong, or Donkey Kong, or Space Invaders. It wasn’t made by Nintendo or Atari. Instead, imagine a bunch of scruffy young nerds at MIT in 1962, given free rein over the latest computer technology. The result: Spacewar!

Spacewar! Or, the Rise of the Computer Bums

For Davis Dunavin, being a journalist is a little bit like being a cross between a wandering storyteller and a detective. For nearly eight years, he's set sail to learn about pirate history, hiked the Appalachian Trail, spent the night in Lizzie Borden's house and browsed the books in Mark Twain's library, all in search of the hidden stories buried in everyday places across the Northeast.This season on Off The Path, he digs deep to explore the origins of things that are ubiquitous, Teddy Roosevelt, the tuxedo, the first video game, as well as those stories we think we already know, like the first airplane flight or stories that aren't as well-known, like the beginnings of the artist behind the Barack Obama “Hope” poster. But every single episode involves an element of surprise, an ironic twist or a fascinating connection you might not expect when the story begins.

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Spacewar! Or, the Rise of the Computer Bums

Spacewar! Or, the Rise of the Computer Bums

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