Google Doodle Honours Jerry Lawson - All You Need To Know About Jerry Lawson

Today, on the 1st of December, Google presented a lovely picture and animation on their Google Doodle in an effort to honor Jerry Lawson's memory. Jerry Lawson was a game designer who made the first video game. As a fitting tribute, the doodle lets you play a quick video game, which makes it both fun and engaging.

Google-doodle interactive game: Step-by-step instructions to play today’s game 

1. Click PLAY.

2. A slab is under green blocks.

3. A blue ball breaks these blocks by traveling diagonally up and down.

4. Move the slab to hit the ball when it falls after cracking the blocks.

5. ARROW keys are used to move the slab.

6. Move the slab around until the ball destroys all of the blocks.

7. You lose if the ball does not touch the slab.

8. To win, you must break all of the blocks.

Who was Gerald "Jerry" Lawson?

Gerald "Jerry" Lawson was an electronics engineer who was born in Brooklyn on December 1, 1940, and he was best known for leading the team that made the first commercial video game cartridge and the Fairchild Channel F video game system. 

Jerry Lawson was a pioneer in the video game industry. The video games that we play today are possible because Mr. Gerard has shown that they are possible. He started tinkering with electronics early and had a great passion for being innovative with it. He created the first video game controller with a joystick, pause button, and gaming console. And the first coin-operated arcade game developed by him was called “Demolition Derby."

CNET says that Jerry Lawson was a pioneer of modern gaming. He was in charge of the team that made the first home video game system with game cartridges that could be changed. Lawson was one of the few black males working in the industry at the time, and he was credited with helping to pioneer modern gaming. Lawson is often called the "father of the video game cartridge" because he helped make video games what they are today during their early years.

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The Google page added the folowing about Gerald A. Lawson:

"In 2011, the International Game Developers Association recognized Lawson as an industry trailblazer for his contributions to gaming. The University of Southern California also created the Gerald A. Lawson Fund to support underrepresented students who wish to pursue undergraduate or graduate degrees in game design or computer science. Lawson's achievements are memorialised at the World Video Game Hall of Fame in Rochester, New York,”