Chat Challenge 2021

A strange little side quest

The mechanics around Chat Challenge 2021 have roots that stretch far beyond modern browsers. Pong was field-tested in California bars in 1972 and helped launch the modern arcade-game era. And the history keeps stacking up: Spacewar! appeared on MIT's PDP-1 in 1962 and became one of the earliest influential computer games shared among programmers. That history is one reason familiar mechanics can still feel new when they are recombined well.