pongmuseum.com - and the ball was square... Pong Clock by Sander Mulder - 2006

Pong Clock # 283, signed
Sander Mulder for Buro Vormkrijgers, NL, 2005

Specifications

SELECT CLOCK / GAME mode button
Internal controllers (buttons on back side)
Black & white support

Material: smoked pmma, inverted lcd, custom electronics
Left player scores the hours, and the right player scores the minutes
Design: Sander Mulder for Buro Vormkrijgers
180 x 120 x 30mm
Signed by Sander Mulder on front side

Games

Tennis

English

What's the score? The time. As Pong randomly plays, the score shown is the time of day on this unusual timepiece by Buro Vormkrijgers. In the old school Pong © TV game you could put the paddles in such a position, that the ball kept bouncing forever. Quite hypnotic, and it became the inspiration for this time-killer/clock. The release of the limited edition of 400 Pong Clocks created such a hype that it sold out in 1 day. We are happy to have Pong Clock #283 from the original owner Julian Brannigan, UK in the museum's collection. In December 2009 the Designer Sander Mulder signed our museums Pong Clock.

While this game of Pong randomly plays,

the so called 'players' score the time. The left player scores the hours, and the right player scores the minutes, creating an unusual timepiece, ideal for those Friday afternoon moments. The Pong Clock displays the time, but you can also switch to game mode. This allows you to play a game of Pong against the clock with the use of two buttons on the back. We can tell that the clock is a very hard opponent, efficient for Pong training hours :-)

ATARI got wind of the clock and, you guessed it, lawyered up and contacted Buro Vormkrijgers.
Sander Mulder from Buro Vormkrijgers wrote to pre-order customers:

Basically ATARI demanded we shut down our website immediately, and halt all production. The reason for that; they stated they own the Pong name and game characteristics, on which we were infringing in their eyes. Needless to say we were unaware of such possible infringements when we started this endeavour.

On advice of our lawyer, we seconded those claims, and kept our website live. However, in the meantime we halted all production and other investments, and cancelled our display-order from china, to prevent getting stuck with huge financial damage [these things are very expensive] and stocks that need to be destroyed, if these claims got confirmed. For us the Pong Clock started out as a fun project within our office,that got so much attention, that we then decided to produce and sell it to share the fun with you, not to get bankrupted by.

After a lot of back and fourth,

Buro Vormkrijgers and Atari were able to reach an agreement. Atari said they liked the clock and realized that it was really more a homage than a deliberate attempt at infringement. So Atari licensed Buro Vormkrijgers to produce a limited run of 400 Pong Clocks. Forget about picking one up, though. The 400 limited editions are completely sold out - it took 24 hours...

Gallery

Photos, even modified, cannot be used elsewhere without permission by pongmuseum.com

Animation of the Pong Clock

Every minute the right side wins
every hour the left side wins.

You can download the original (and free)
Pong Clock Screensaver for Mac or PC here.

Museums Collection

Our collection includes: signed Pong Clock # 283 /06/06, signed manual (English), original shipping box, powersupply (AC/DC 9 volt), psu adapter. The Pong Clock is tested, the controllers work reliable.

Any informations, inputs, contributions, descriptions or anything related to this Pong console will be greatly appreciated! Please contact us.