. One year earlier, Intel released its 4004 microprocessor. Microprocessors had never been used in gaming before, but Lawson got the idea he could put a microprocessor in a video game. He designed a coin-operated video game cabinet:He tested it at a local pizza parlor, and it turned out to be quite popular. Inside was a Fairchild F8 microprocessor. Someone learned about his side-project, and while some wanted to fire Lawson forhis own company’s microprocessors, execs immediately promoted him.
Lawson, and his team at Fairchild, saw the issue for what it was, and created the Fairchild Channel F, the world’s first cartridge-based video game console, in 1976., Lawson said, “I had a secret assignment. Even the boss that I worked for wasn’t to know what I was doing. I was directly reporting to a vice president at Fairchild with a budget.”