Top 3 best games in 1972. reviews: Table Tennis, Kingdom, Pong

 Here are the top 3 games.

The complete List of the Top 37 Games.

Rank 3: Table Tennis (Odyssey)

Undoubtedly the best game on this platform this year. This assertion holds true when compared to previous Odyssey games. Yes, it bears a striking resemblance to Atari's Pong. Though not as good, it was released earlier in the spring, overshadowing its competitor in the fall. In this game, players take turns serving five times each. The winner is the first to reach 21 points with a 2-point difference, meaning, for example, 25:24 is not enough; it must be 26:24. Players keep score themselves or involve a third party.

Rank 2: Kingdom (Altair 8800, Commodore PET/CBM, Heath/Zenith H8/H89, Intel 8080, Mainframe, Sol-20, SWTPC 6800, TRS-80, Zilog Z80)

This is a text-based turn-based strategy game. Kingdom is an enhanced version of the game "Hammurabi." You play as the ruler of a medieval kingdom, tasked with elevating it to prosperity. As in the original, every turn involves crucial decisions:

1. How many acres of land to buy or sell?
2. How many bushels of grain to allocate to your people?
3. How many bushels of grain to plant?

Various random events may disrupt your plans. Poor decisions can lead to the downfall of the kingdom, while wise choices can turn it into a great empire.

Rank 1: Pong (Arcade, Dedicated console, Apple II, Commodore PET/CBM, Atari 8-bit, Amiga, DOS, HP Programmable Calculator)

This Atari game was one of the earliest created for a monitor, not electromechanical. Originally conceived as a technical exercise, it closely resembled Magnavox's Table Tennis. However, Atari's management liked it so much that it was decided to make it their flagship release.

Magnavox filed a lawsuit, and a settlement was reached.

It became the first commercially successful standalone game. Since Magnavox's initial games were bundled with the console or lacked success, the entire project is considered successful rather than individual games.

In 1975, a home version of Pong was released, which is considered a port, so it won't be included in my rankings for this year. Many clones were subsequently released, initially in arcades and later as home versions.

Notable improvements over the Odyssey version included a longer paddle, automatic scorekeeping instead of relying on a third player or disputes, variable ball deflection angle based on impact location, and gradually increasing ball speed during prolonged rallies. Another peculiarity was the refusal to fix a bug where the paddle in the upper part did not reach the edge, justified as adding to the game's hardcore nature to prevent high-level players from playing too long (given that you paid a quarter per attempt, not for the game duration).

It's truly challenging to overstate the contribution of this game to the future history of video games.

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