Philadelphia gets ready to play Pong on a building
PHILADELPHIA - Philadelphia is getting ready for a supersized game of Pong.
The classic Atari video game will come to life on the facade of a 29-story skyscraper, as hundreds of built-in LED lights at the Cira Centre will replicate the familiar paddles and ball.
The effort is the brainchild of Frank Lee, a Drexel University game-design professor.
Pong will be played April 19 and 24 to bookend an event called Philly Tech Week.
The black-and-white arcade game introduced in 1972 had no complicated graphics, just geometric shapes. Players controlled digital paddles and tried to hit the ball so their opponents could not return it. A home version paved the way for the game console industry.
Gamers will control their paddles from afar, standing across the Schuylkill River from the building.
