 In 1968 , Digital Equipment Corporation ( DEC ) employee Richard Merrill invented the FOCAL programming language . As an early program for the language , fellow employee Doug Dyment developed The Sumer Game , programming it for a DEC PDP @-@ 8 minicomputer . The game is sometimes erroneously attributed to Merrill in 1969 , but a 1973 program catalog by the Digital Equipment Computer Users Society ( DECUS ) lists Dyment as the original developer . The game was originally described as : " This is a simulation program / game which will run on a minimal PDP @-@ 8 system . The economy of a Sumerian city in the year 3000 B. C. is simulated in the fashion of a modern @-@ day ' business game . ' " " Business games " were text @-@ based business management simulation games , such as The Management Game , which was used in business schools such as at Carnegie Mellon University since at least 1958 . By 1961 , there were over 89 different business and economic simulation games in use , with various graphical capabilities . In 1966 , IBM employee William McKay developed a business simulation called The Sumerian Game for the Board of Cooperative Educational Services in Northern Westchester County , New York . It is not known whether The Sumer Game was inspired by the prior Sumerian game , which was a much more in @-@ depth text @-@ based economic simulation intended for children , developed in consultation with ancient Middle East history experts . 
