Uploaded January 2022 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
Gardner Pomper was president and co-founder of Games Computers Play. Games Computers Play was almost certainly the first graphical online service (except for maybe PLATO, depending on how you're counting). It was devoted exclusively to interactive, multi-player games, and it was only for Atari computers. You probably didn't get a chance to use Games Computers Play -- it only managed to get about 1,000 subscribers at its peak. But you may have seen the colorful, enticing advertisement that they ran in the Atari magazines, or read the article about the service in Antic magazine. {If you don't remember them or never saw them, I encourage you to take a look at the ad and article -- there are links in the show notes at AtariPodcast.com.}
This interview took place January 28, 2015 over Skype. Gardner died in November 2016.
A word about the source code mentioned in the interview: as of the day I’m recording this, they haven’t found it yet, but they believe they have it and are still looking. Update: I tried mightily to get the source code, but was never able to. It's almost certainly lost now.
Antic Magazine article about GCP:
atarimagazines.com/v4n6/GamesComputers.html
Games Computers Play Magazine ad:
vintagecomputing.com/index.php/archives/713/retro-scan-of-the-week-early-online-game-service
AtariAge discussion about GCP:
atariage.com/forums/topic/132176-games-computers-play-inc-multiplayer-online-game
Gardner Pomper was president and co-founder of Games Computers Play. Games Computers Play was almost certainly the first graphical online service (except for maybe PLATO, depending on how you're counting). It was devoted exclusively to interactive, multi-player games, and it was only for Atari computers. You probably didn't get a chance to use Games Computers Play -- it only managed to get about 1,000 subscribers at its peak. But you may have seen the colorful, enticing advertisement that they ran in the Atari magazines, or read the article about the service in Antic magazine. {If you don't remember them or never saw them, I encourage you to take a look at the ad and article -- there are links in the show notes at AtariPodcast.com.}
This interview took place January 28, 2015 over Skype. Gardner died in November 2016.
A word about the source code mentioned in the interview: as of the day I’m recording this, they haven’t found it yet, but they believe they have it and are still looking. Update: I tried mightily to get the source code, but was never able to. It's almost certainly lost now.
Antic Magazine article about GCP:
atarimagazines.com/v4n6/GamesComputers.html
Games Computers Play Magazine ad:
vintagecomputing.com/index.php/archives/713/retro-scan-of-the-week-early-online-game-service
AtariAge discussion about GCP:
atariage.com/forums/topic/132176-games-computers-play-inc-multiplayer-online-game
