The PDP-10 was the first mainframe computer to support networking – and people immediately started using it to make games. These capabilities meant a game like Maze War (1973) could be played by multiple people on different machines in different places, decades before the Internet. It didn’t just revolutionise computer hardware – it revolutionised computer culture.
Usually found in universities and research labs, the original PDP-10 was the size of a room, with a continuous hum and banks of flickering lights. In 2024, a group of dedicated enthusiasts named Obsolescence Guaranteed recreated the PDP-10 control panel. This replica runs off a raspberry pi, a very low-cost computer the size of a credit card.
The first demo of the PiDP 10 by Obsolescence Guaranteed.
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