As part of the Atari generation, I grew up fantasizing about what life was like working for the legendary company. I couldn’t have guessed it was a place where engineers came in late and made their own hours, wore shorts and dirty t-shirts, consumed dope and alcohol all day, and held meetings in hot tubs. The booming new video game market was filled with schemers and dreamers without a lick of business sense, opportunistic venture capitalists, lucky fools and vicious back-stabbers. Egotistical executives made quick millions while the people comprising the heart and soul of their businesses just scraped by. In short, a lot like the Internet bubble.

I’ve read plenty of video game culture books, which tend to be just galleries and idol worshipping of classic arcade machines. How many times can one read a description of Frogger’s game-play before it gets old? Of all these books, The Ultimate History is by far the most deserving of its boastful title. It’s packed with in-depth stories of seemingly every pivotal moment in the medium’s timeline. Each has multiple perspectives from college students, bar and convenience store proprietors, lawyers, heads of industry, and most importantly, the programmers themselves. For way too long those code-crunchers went unrecognized as the rock stars they truly are, mastering a number of creative talents while innovating a new world-wide obsession.

The book is jammed with one great anecdote after another. Surprising dirt is unearthed on a number of infamous movers and shakers, including some slightly scandalous bits about Steve Jobs. Every chapter is rich with trivia. Did you know that pinball was long associated with the mob, and outlawed in New York until as late as 1976? Or that the heads of Atari secretly created a spin-off company and fabricated rumors of fierce rivalry, espionage and sabotage between them, in order to get a leg up on the real competition? Or that Donkey Kong’s Mario is named after a landlord who threatened the game’s poor creator with eviction before the character helped rake in a fortune?

At times the “history” is derived from a mélange of conflicting gossip and rumors. And the title could probably be clarified by revealing the US-centric focus. But by providing clear and entertaining context for what was once an unpredictable industry, it’s a terrific read.

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