Nolan Bushnell

Nolan Bushnell is a pioneering engineer and entrepreneur, best known as the founder of Atari, Inc. and the creator of Chuck E. Cheese's. In 1972, he co-founded Atari, revolutionizing the video game industry with the release of Pong, one of the first commercially successful arcade games. In 1977, Bushnell established Chuck E. Cheese’s Pizza Time Theatre, merging dining with arcade entertainment, which became a nationwide family destination. Over his career, he has founded more than 20 companies, including Catalyst Technologies, one of the first business incubators, and Brainrush, an educational software company leveraging game-based learning. A recognized industry visionary, Bushnell has been inducted into both the Video Game Hall of Fame and the Consumer Electronics Association Hall of Fame. He is also known for Bushnell’s Law, which states that great games should be "easy to learn and difficult to master."