 Mechanical gun games existed before the emergence of electronic video games , as far back as the 1920s . The first light guns appeared in the 1930s , with the Seeburg Ray @-@ O @-@ Lite . Games using this toy rifle were mechanical and the rifle fired beams of light at targets wired with sensors . These evolved throughout subsequent decades , culminating in games such as Sega 's Periscope ( the company 's first successful game , released in 1966 ) , which required the player to target cardboard ships . Throughout the 1970s , mechanical arcade games were gradually replaced by electronic video games , following the release of Pong in 1972 , with 1978 's Space Invaders dealing a yet more powerful blow to the popularity of mechanical games . Light guns used in electronic video games work in the opposite manner to their mechanical counterparts : the sensor is in the gun and pulling the trigger allows it to receive light from the on @-@ screen targets . Computer light pens had been used for practical purposes at MIT in the early 1960s , and the Magnavox Odyssey had a light gun accessory , in the production of which Nintendo was involved . 
