A strange little side quest
Smoot Froothie may feel immediate, but the ideas around learning games have been evolving for a very long time. Reader Rabbit's 1986 arrival was part of a major expansion of educational computer software before the CD-ROM boom of the 1990s. Another piece of context lands nicely beside it: Pong was field-tested in California bars in 1972 and helped launch the modern arcade-game era. That history is one reason familiar mechanics can still feel new when they are recombined well.
