Quick Facts of Nolan Bushnell

Electrical engineer and businessman Nolan Kay Bushnell is from the United States. He started Atari, Inc. and the Chuck E. Cheese’s Pizza Time Theatre franchises.

How much is the Net Worth of Nolan Bushnell?

Nolan Bushnell is an American engineer and entrepreneur with a $50 million net worth. Nolan Bushnell was born in Clearfield, Utah, in February 1943. He is well recognized for starting Chuck E. Cheese’s Pizza-Time Theaters and Atari, Inc. He graduated from the University of Utah with a bachelor’s degree in engineering in 1968.

Early Years, Family and Education

In Clearfield, Utah, on February 5, 1943, he was born. When he was younger, he belonged to “The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.” He spent his high school and college years working at the “Lagoon Amusement Park.” The first thing he observed at the recreation center was how excited people were about gaming.

Following that, he enrolled at the “University Of Utah College Of Engineering,” where he graduated in 1968 with a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering. Furthermore, he belonged to the fraternity “Pi Kappa Alpha.”

One of the few students that played the game “Spacewar!” at the time was Nolan, and the university of Utah was doing research on computer graphics. The institution developed several variations of the Spacewar game.

Professional Career of Nolan Bushnell:

Together with Ted Dabney, a colleague, Nolan co-founded the company “Syzygy” in 1969. They also developed the Spacewar-like game “Computer Space.” During the development phase, Bushnell and Dabney provided support to their company by maintaining pinball machines.

Nolan negotiated a contract with the manufacturer, Nutting Associates, to get their product onto the market while Dabney worked on the gaming machine prototype. The machine was turned on, but it did not turn out very well. Nolan then made the decision to collaborate with a different company to release his upcoming titles.

The programming team changed the name of their company to “Atari” in 1972 because the name “Syzygy” was already in use. The company’s first employee, engineer Allan Alcorn, was hired, and their headquarters were located in Sunnyvale, California.

They collaborated with a business known as “Bally Manufacturing.” Eventually, he broke up with Ted Dabney, his business partner, and took full control of the company’s operations.

 

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After learning about it, he gave his company’s developer, Allan Alcorn, the task of creating an arcade game based on the “Magnavox Odyssey” game. This led to the addition of several new features to the game “Pong,” such as sound and a score tally.

Because of the game’s immense popularity among players, the company kept making it for a few more years. In 1974, Bushnell ventured into the consumer electronics industry by launching the development of a home version of the “Pong” game, on the advice of engineers Bob Brown and Harold Lee.

The next year saw the introduction of the game’s home version, which was distributed and marketed by the company “Sears.”

More on Career

As the “Atari VCS” (later known as the “Atari 2600”) game machine was being built in 1976, Nolan realized how much money was needed. In light of the deteriorating stock market, he made the decision to sell his business and started seeking for possible purchasers.

After that, “Atari” was acquired by the American company “Warner Communication,” which helped him raise the money needed to release the “Atari VCS.” In 1977, the VCS was released onto the market.

Nolan bought the “Pizza Time Theatre” from “Warner Communication” that same year with the goal of using it to sell “Atari” games. Eventually, the “Pizza Time Theatre” became known as “Chuck E. Cheese.” Bushnell had to leave “Atari, Inc.” in 1978 because of a disagreement with “Warner Communication.”

This clever businessman established “Catalyst Technologies,” a new technical company, in Sunnyvale, California, in 1981 with the aid of Alcorn. This was one of the first business incubators, and companies including Cumma, Etak, Axlon, and Androbot were involved.

In addition, he concurrently had positions with Sent Technologies and Kadabrascope. Even though his subsidiary businesses were profitable, he was forced to sell them in 1983 to make up for losses in his restaurant operation. “Lucas” bought “Kadabrascope,” and “Bally” bought “Sente Technologies.”

More on Career

In 1983, Chuck E. Cheese’s president Joe Keenan quit due to the company’s dire financial circumstances. Bushnell also departed the next year, and the business filed for bankruptcy.
The company was acquired by a rival called “ShowBiz Pizza,” along with its outstanding debt.

2007 saw him appointed to the position of chairman of NeoEdge Networks and include him on the advisory board of GAMEWAGER. He was added to the “AirPatrol Corporation” board of directors the following year. Also, he served as chairman of “Borta, Inc.” and was later brought on as a senior consultant when “Aristo International” purchased the business.

He co-founded the startup uWink alongside Loni Reeder. Following a protracted absence, Nolan Bushnell and Tim Virden returned to “Atari” in 2010 as members of the board of directors. He founded the business “BrainRush,” where he currently serves as CEO and Chairperson.

The company uses video games to further its educational objectives. Between 2010 and 2012, an experiment was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of “BrainRush,” and the results were remarkable. He is currently connected to the “Anti-Aging Games” as a member of their advisory board.

Major Projects of Nolan Bushnell

He is a co-founder of “Atari, Inc.,” a company whose “Pong” game revolutionized the arcade gaming industry. In addition to spearheading the company’s operations, Bushnell is credited with other innovative gaming ideas, such as anti-aging games and the educational gaming platform “BrainRush.”

Achievements & Awards

Among other accolades, he was inducted into the Consumer Electronics Association Hall of Fame and the Video Game Hall of Fame. In addition, Newsweek magazine named him one of the “50 Men Who Changed America” and granted him the “BAFTA” Fellowship.

Personal History and Legacy

After getting married, Nolan and Paula Rochelle Nielson had three kids. Later on, he wed Nancy, and the two of them had five kids together.

Relationship Facts

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