A strange little side quest
The rules may be simple on screen, but the backstory around Ellie: You Can Be Anything is anything but tiny. During much of the 19th century in the United States, visibly painted cosmetics became socially unacceptable even though beauty practices never disappeared. The broader history adds one more wrinkle. Pong was field-tested in California bars in 1972 and helped launch the modern arcade-game era. The screen is modern; the urge to test skill, pattern and timing definitely is not.
