Alternate Videogame History


The instructions for Pong famously read, in their entirety:

DEPOSIT QUARTER
BALL WILL SERVE AUTOMATICALLY
AVOID MISSING BALL FOR HIGH SCORE

How different a game would it have been—and how different would the history of videogaming have been—had “MISSING” been a participle instead of a gerund? If there had been a period after HIGH? If FOR had had a U?

In Zen Pong, I suppose that the object is first to free yourself of your attachment to the ball, and then to free yourself of your attachment to the high score. Along the way, you free yourself of your attachment to your quarters.