 In 1952 , Alexander S. Douglas created OXO , a software program for the Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Calculator ( EDSAC ) computer , which simulates a game of tic @-@ tac @-@ toe . The EDSAC was one of the first stored @-@ program computers , with memory that could be read from or written to , and filled an entire room ; it included three 35 × 16 dot matrix cathode ray tubes to graphically display the state of the computer 's memory . As a part of a thesis on human – computer interaction , Douglas used one of these screens to portray other information to the user ; he chose to do so via displaying the current state of a game . The player entered input using a rotary telephone controller , selecting which of the nine squares on the board they wished to move next . Their move would appear on the screen , and then the computer 's move would follow . The game was not available to the general public , and was only available to be played in the University of Cambridge 's Mathematical Laboratory , by special permission , as the EDSAC could not be moved . Like other early video games , after serving Douglas 's purpose , the game was discarded . Around the same time , Strachey expanded his draughts program for another mainframe computer , the Manchester Mark 1 , culminating in a version for the Ferranti Mark 1 in 1952 , which had a CRT display . Like OXO , the display was mostly static , updating only when a move was made . OXO and Strachey 's draughts program are the earliest known games to display visuals on an electronic screen . 
