The first Spanish video game was born in 1977 at ETSIT-UPM: presentation and demonstration of a 'Ping-Pong' replica

The first Spanish video game was released in 1977 at the Polytechnic University of Madrid (UPM), specifically in what is now the Department of Electronic Engineering of the Higher Technical School of Telecommunications Engineers (ETSIT). This milestone was revealed in 2024 by Manuel Llaca, a software engineering analyst and popularizer of computing history, and documented in his book Ping-Pong de 1977: así nació el videojuego en España.

To commemorate this event, ETSIT-UPM hosts a commemorative event that will include the presentation and demonstration of a functional replica of the video game Ping-Pong.

Origin of the video game (1977)

In 1977, Rafael Martínez Jiménez and Juan Santos Suárez, then scholarship holders, developed the video game Ping-Pong for the Intel 8080 microprocessor, under the sponsorship of Professor Elías Muñoz Merino (now professor emeritus).

The system used:

• An oscilloscope as the screen
• Potentiometers to control the paddles

The development was fully documented and edited by the UPM Publications Service, and presented at the First Microprocessor Seminar held in Spain, organized at ETSIT-UPM by Elías Muñoz.

The replica (2025)

At the beginning of 2025, on the occasion of producing a documentary about the video game in Spain, the production company Tarkemoto, directed by Ángel Tirado, sponsored the construction of a replica of Ping-Pong.

The replica was built by Javier Valero, a telecommunications engineer and pioneer of the Spanish video game (author of El Paracaidista, 1979). After the presentation, the public will be able to try the replica, which will remain on display for six months at the Telecommunication Museum Professor Joaquín Serna of ETSIT-UPM.

Organization

• Organizer: Professor José Manuel Pardo

Program (provisional)

• 13:00 – Presentation Manuel Sierra, director of ETSIT-UPM

• 13:03 – Discovery of the 1977 video game Manuel Llaca, software engineering analyst

• 13:15 – Origin and creation of the video game Elías Muñoz, professor emeritus at ETSIT

• 13:20 – Origin and creation of the replica Ángel Tirado, audiovisual producer and director of Tarkemoto

• 13:30 – Construction of the replica Javier Valero, telecommunications engineer

• 13:45 – Demonstration and play with the replica by attendees Javier Ferreiros, tenured professor at ETSIT

A unique event to learn firsthand about the origin of video games in Spain and experience a functional replica of one of the technological milestones born at ETSIT-UPM.