 The first publicly demonstrated electronic game was created in 1950 . Bertie the Brain was an arcade game of tic @-@ tac @-@ toe , built by Josef Kates for the 1950 Canadian National Exhibition . To showcase his new miniature vacuum tube , the additron tube , he designed a specialized computer to use it , which he built with the assistance of engineers from Rogers Majestic . The large metal computer , which was four meters tall , could only play tic @-@ tac @-@ toe on a lightbulb @-@ backed display , and was installed in the Engineering Building at the Canadian National Exhibition from August 25 – September 9 , 1950 . The game was a success at the two @-@ week exhibition , with attendees lining up to play it as Kates adjusted the difficulty up and down for players . After the exhibition , Bertie was dismantled , and " largely forgotten " as a novelty . Kates has said that he was working on so many projects at the same time that he had no energy to spare for preserving it , despite its significance . 
