October 31, 2025
Tic‑Tac‑Throwdown
Bertie the Brain
Canada’s 13‑ft tic‑tac‑toe robot sparks ‘first video game’ fight and big nostalgia
TLDR: In 1950 Toronto, a 13‑foot tic‑tac‑toe machine called Bertie showed off new tech and may be one of the first video games. Comments brawl over whether light bulbs count as “video,” bring up relay and mechanical chess rivals, and gush about Canada while craving games that showcase breakthroughs.
Meet Bertie the Brain, the 13‑foot Toronto crowd‑pleaser from 1950 that let visitors play tic‑tac‑toe against an “electronic brain.” Built by Dr. Josef Kates to show off his additron tube, Bertie blinked its moves on a giant light grid, adjusted difficulty on the fly, and even got comedian Danny Kaye to flex with a photo‑op win. Then, poof—disassembled after two weeks, like a summer fling with sci‑fi.
The comments? Absolute fireworks. The biggest argument: is this a “video game” if it used light bulbs instead of a moving screen? Purists grumble, “Light bulbs aren’t pixels,” while team nostalgia says, “If you could see it and play it, it counts.” Receipts were dropped: one user cites 1956’s relay‑powered Relay Moe, another points to the early‑1900s mechanical chess marvel El Ajedrecista to challenge the “first” crown. Meanwhile, a 2014 interview resurfaces via Spacing, adding fuel to the retro‑tech bonfire.
The vibe is half national pride (“Canada used to be so impressive!”), half tech lament (“Bring back games that showcase breakthroughs”), with memes about Danny Kaye becoming the original “comedian beats AI” speedrunner. Patent drama and the transistor’s rise? Commenters dubbed it the “OG console war: tube vs. transistor.” Verdict from the crowd: whether or not it’s a “true” video game, Bertie’s glow‑up was a moment—and nobody can resist a glow‑up.
Key Points
- •Bertie the Brain was a four-meter-tall tic-tac-toe computer built by Josef Kates for the 1950 Canadian National Exhibition in Toronto.
- •The game used a keypad for input and a grid of lights for output, featured adjustable difficulty, and responded almost instantly.
- •Bertie showcased Kates’s additron tube; patent issues and the rise of the transistor prevented broader adoption.
- •Kates worked with Rogers Majestic and the University of Toronto, helped build UTEC, and registered the additron as type 6047 in 1951.
- •Bertie is considered an early candidate for the first video game, though its light-bulb display does not meet some definitions of video games.