The people at Exidy moved fast. In less than five minutes, they'd unloaded the game console from the Ford pickup truck.
Once the cover was peeled back, the gleaming arcade cabinet drew everyone's eyes.
"Wow! Is this a prototype? It's already shaped? This refrigerator-style frame looks awesome!"
"Check out that dark green shell—it's so glossy! Who did the spray job? Looks professional."
"Hey, man, did you draw this white snake on the side? Snake Game? Is this game really about snakes?"
Samuel Hawes stood with his hands on his hips, staring curiously at the cabinet Ethan had brought.
Ethan nodded. "Yeah~ As you guessed, the game is snake-themed. The player controls a snake inside the game."
"Ohh, cool~" Peter Kaufman grinned. "Letting players become the snake? That's a clever twist!"
"And honestly, Ethan," Peter added, "just looking at this thing, I can tell you've got a commercial brain. The design's sharp. Eye-catching. Content matches presentation, which is key in this business. You want buyers to understand the game at a glance—that's how a real designer thinks. Brother, you've clearly got experience!"
"Really? Thanks." Ethan smiled politely, then casually revealed his background.
"Actually, until about two weeks ago, I was still working at Magnavox."
"WHAT?!" Samuel, who was still circling the cabinet, nearly choked on air.
"Brother, say that again? Where did you say you worked?"
"Magnavox."
"OH. MY. GOD."
Samuel's face lit up with shock and awe. He grabbed Ethan's hand in both of his.
"Ethan? Ethan Jones, right? Man—it's such an honor to meet you! You might not know this, but I'm a huge fan of Professor Bell! The Odyssey he created was a masterpiece! I mean—compressing a computer into a briefcase? With thirteen built-in games? That's just insane! Ralph Bell is a genius! A gift from God!"
Indeed, Ralph H. Baer—whom Samuel mistook as "Bell"—was the real inventor of the world's first home video game console.
He had developed the prototype, called the Brown Box, as early as 1966. Magnavox later licensed, manufactured, and released it as the Odyssey.
To people in the industry, Ralph Baer was the true father of video games—thanks not to profit, but to creativity and vision.
As for Magnavox? Well… capitalists were all the same.
Ethan, quick on the uptake, simply nodded and tilted his head slightly, playing along with the misunderstanding.
"That's right," he said with a knowing smile.
Then he gently shifted the focus back to business.
"Mr. Hawes, I'm here today to talk about possible cooperation."
"Yes! Yes! Of course!" Samuel said, clapping his hands. "Work first, work first!"
Clearly impressed by Ethan's credentials, Samuel turned and shouted toward his staff:
"Someone run a power line over here!"
The employees snapped into action. Moments later, a long cable was pulled from inside the warehouse and handed to Samuel.
With practiced ease, he plugged the power into the arcade machine, then leaned over to flick the switch at the back of the unit.
The cabinet lit up—and a sound rang out: Ding, ding, ding!
Everyone froze for a moment. Then they burst into laughter.
"Jingle bells?" Peter Kaufman broke into a grin and sang along, half-joking, "Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way…"
Still laughing, he turned to Ethan, wide-eyed. "Ethan, if I'm not mistaken... that's Jingle Bells, right? How the hell did a Christmas song become your game's background music?"
Peter's question made Ethan pretend to be calm.
In truth? He really hadn't wanted to use Jingle Bells as the background music.
But...I had no musical talent, The first problem meant I couldn't compose anything decent. The second meant I couldn't afford to hire a professional composer. And in Hollywood? Even just getting a custom ringtone costs a fortune.
So he had resorted to a classic workaround: Use a public domain song—Jingle Bells, in this case—to show that the machine supported music, even if the song wasn't final.
"It's just a placeholder," Ethan explained out loud, still wearing that relaxed smile. "The important thing is showing the feature works. The music can always be changed later, right?"
Peter twitched the corner of his mouth in amusement. "Oh, yeah," he replied dryly. "Genius decision."
As they spoke, Samuel Hawes had already begun inspecting the Snake cabinet with professional curiosity.
Without hesitation, he pulled out a quarter from his pocket and slid it into the machine. Clink!A satisfying mechanical click.
The game interface appeared with a flicker, and Samuel immediately grabbed the joystick.
But… nothing happened. He twisted the stick left, then right. The horizontal bar on screen didn't move at all.
"Is it broken?" he asked, frowning. "It's not responding."
"Of course not," Ethan replied.
"But it's not doing anything," Samuel insisted, twisting the joystick again.
Then—suddenly—Ding ding ding ding!
A loud zap-like sound burst from the speaker. The screen glitched and blinked back to the title screen.
"WTF?!" Samuel jumped back in surprise.
"Did I just lose before I even played?!"
The others around the machine stared, confused. Even the seasoned guys at Exidy had no idea what just happened.
Ethan chuckle. "Mr. Hawes, I promise—there's nothing wrong with the machine. Try again."
Samuel narrowed his eyes. Without another word, he fed in a second coin.
This time, he stared at the screen like a hawk.
As the game interface loaded, he noticed something: The horizontal bar—a snake, as it turned out—paused for three seconds before beginning to slither forward on its own.
Only after that brief delay did the joystick start responding to input.
"Ahhh," Samuel grinned. "So that's it."
He began guiding the little snake around, testing the controls, letting it slither across the dark screen.
Then—Ding ding! Game over again.
"Oh Fxxk! I hit myself?! You can't touch your own body?"
Another coin. Dead again.
"Damn it! Now I can't touch the wall either?!" Samuel barked, pointing at the edge of the screen.
Three quarters in, and he was finally starting to understand the rules:
Don't hit yourself.Don't hit the walls.Stay alive.
But still—what was the goal?
"How the hell do you even win this?" he muttered, frustrated but intrigued.
"Maybe…" Peter Kaufman leaned in. "Try hitting that little white dot with the snake's head?"
Samuel squinted at the screen. "That? Isn't that an obstacle?"
"If it were," Peter shrugged, "wouldn't you already be dead for touching it?"
Samuel hesitated. "...Well, only one way to find out."
"But now there's nothing left to hit!" Samuel shouted, gripping the joystick like a lifeline. "If we just waste time like this, how do we even pass the level?"
Then— "Oh! St! You're dead!"**
As the shout rang out, the little snake on the screen collided with the white dot.
But to everyone's shock, there was no Game Over. Instead, there was a click sound.
The snake didn't die—it grew longer. And not just that: the 0 in the top right corner ticked up to 1.
"Ohhhhhh!!! I get it now!" Samuel's eyes lit up.
"This game is about the snake eating those white dots! The more you eat, the more points you get! And once you hit a target score, you win!"
It was a great theory—But reality, as always, was brutal.
As Samuel threw himself into the game with renewed enthusiasm, he quickly discovered the challenge ramped up fast.
With every dot consumed, the snake grew longer… and the game sped up.
At 10 points, then 20, then 30—The snake's speed became blistering!
Game over again.
Still gripping the joystick, Samuel's "Oh, Samuel! You died again!"
Peter Kaufman laughed from behind him. "You're really something. Let me try now!"
"No! No way! I refuse to believe this game has defeated me!"
Samuel hunched forward protectively, still glued to the machine.
"Even if it didn't beat you," Peter said, shoving his way forward, "you've played like five times in a row! It's my turn now!"
"Please, Pete! Just one more try! I swear—one last time!"
But—Game Over flashed again.
Samuel scowled and dug into his pocket.
"Aw, h* no!" he cursed.
Then, with his hand still on the joystick like a hostage taker, he shouted: "Quick! Somebody bring me more coins!"
His coworkers scattered without hesitation.
Peter, on the other hand, had had enough. "Samuel!!!" he yelled. "It's my turn now! Let go!"
"I can feel it, Pete! This is the one! I can win this time!"
Samuel huddled over the joystick, guarding it with one arm like kid his favorite toy.
"But you said that last time! And the time before that!" Peter snapped.
"Did I?" Samuel blinked innocently, the picture of fake forgetfulness.
"FXXXX!" Peter roared, throwing his hands in the air.
From a short distance away, Ethan Jones leaned against the Ford pickup, arms folded and a quiet smile playing on his lips.
He loved this moment, the addiction, the power of a simple game that could completely captivate grown men like over-caffeinated kids.
This was it. This was the magic of Snake.
And what did all of this mean? Money.
Note:
① Ralph Baer (mistakenly referred to as Ralph Bell earlier) was one of the most remarkable inventors in American history. Over the course of his career, he held more than 150 invention patents, many of which were practical, commercially successful, and even world-changing.
His contributions extended far beyond video games. Among his inventions were:
The epilator and muscle stimulation therapy devicesElectronic greeting cards (the kind that play music when opened)Submarine radar systems for the U.S. militaryThe Saturn V launch camera and the Apollo 11 moon landing camera used by NASAAnd most famously in the toy world: Simon, the electronic memory game, which was licensed to Hasbro . The toy remains in production even today, more than four decades after its release.
While Ralph Baer is widely celebrated as the "father of video games" for creating the first home console (Odyssey), it's worth noting that video games were just one part of his vast legacy—many of his other inventions are even more universally popular or impactful.