Some sad news to share on the blog this week: the passing of Exidy co‑founder and arcade pioneer Howell Ivy. His impact on the early years of arcade gaming is undoubted. After serving in the US Air Force, working on missile instrumentation and drone systems operation, Howell entered the arcade industry in 1972 when Ramtek hired him after seeing his home‑built video game prototype that was inspired after seeing and playing a Computer Space arcade machine out in the wild. Howell photographed during his time with the US Air Force c.1970 During his three years at Ramtek, he designed all of the company’s hardware‑based games — including Clean Sweep, Trivia, Deluxe Baseball and Blockade — resulting in a remarkable 500% increase in revenue. Ramtek’s innovative Clean Sweep But it is his time with Exidy, the company he co‑founded with Pete Kauffman and Samuel Hawes, that he will be most remembered for. Howell served as the company’s chief engineer and principal designer, creating more than…
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