The cathode-ray tube amusement device is the earliest-known concept for an interactive electronic game, as well as the first game concept to incorporate an electronic display. As described, the device
Circuitry schematic from the patent
Thomas T. Goldsmith Jr.
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Thomas Toliver Goldsmith Jr. was an American television pioneer, the co-inventor of the cathode-ray tube amusement device, and a professor of physics at Furman University.
Cathode-ray tube amusement device
…by the player by adjusting knobs to change the trajectory of a CRT beam spot on the display in order to reach plastic targets overlaid on the screen. Thomas T. Goldsmith Jr. and Estle Ray Mann constructed the game from analog electronics and filed for a patent in 1947, which was issued the following year. The gaming device…
University yearbook portrait, 1931
Goldsmith in 1984