Pilgrim in the Microworld

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Pilgrim in the Microworld
Pilgrim in the Microworld.jpg
AuthorDavid Sudnow
Publisher Warner Books
Publication date
1983
Pages161
ISBN 0-446-51261-3

Pilgrim in the Microworld is an analysis book on the arcade game Breakout by David Sudnow.

Contents

Overview

David Sudnow was a sociologist professor at the University of California system, winner of the Guggenheim Fellowship in 1979 and piano teacher. [1] He discovered Breakout while picking up his son at an arcade facility and began playing the Atari 2600 version of the game for months. For the book, Sudnow visited manufacturer Atari and interviewed the game's programmers.

Publication

Pilgrim in the Microworld was originally published in 1983 by Warner Books. [2]

Boss Fight Books crowdfunded a reprint with a new foreword and copy editing on Kickstarter in 2019. [3]

Reception

The New York Times stated the book's style to be breathless, but criticized the lack of analysis of how the game fits into broader "computer society". [4] Kirkus Reviews stated it might be self-indulgence and written like a personal experience. [5] San Francisco Examiner found the book "exhilarating". [6] [7] Newsweek ridiculed it, stating to read the game's manual and changing the money for the book into quarters to play Breakout instead. [8]

Kill Screen wrote a retrospective on the book in 2013, comparing it to 1982's Invasion of the Space Invaders . [9] In 2020, Unwinnable examined that Sudnow looked at music as a reference point for the book. [10]

References

  1. Valeo, Tom (1987-10-01). "Let Your Fingers Do the Thinking". Chicago Reader . Retrieved 2024-02-16.
  2. Karabinus, Alisha; Kocurek, Carly A.; Mejeur, Cody; Vossen, Emma, eds. (2025). Historiographies of Game Studies: What It Has Been, What It Could Be (PDF). Punctum Books. p. 321, 329. ISBN   9781685712013 . Retrieved September 2, 2025.
  3. O'Connor, James (November 28, 2019). "Important Out-Of-Print 80s Video Game Book Is Being Resurrected On Kickstarter". GameSpot . Retrieved September 2, 2025.
  4. "When Television Marries Computer; By Howard Gardner". The New York Times. March 27, 1983.
  5. "PILGRIM IN THE MICROWORLD: Eye, Mind, and the Essence of Video Skill". Kirkus Reviews. March 1, 1983.
  6. Stern, Michael (20 March 1983). "Eye, Mind, and the Essence of Video Skills". The San Francisco Examiner. p. 310.
  7. Stern, Michael (20 March 1983). "Eye, Mind, and the Essence of Video Skills". The San Francisco Examiner. p. 321.
  8. Williams, Stephen (April 26, 1983). "Nothing like playing the game". Newsweek .
  9. Irwin, Jon (26 April 2013). "How a Guggenheim fellow obsessed over Atari's Breakout -- and found the future instead". Kill Screen .
  10. Rubeck, Levi (7 May 2020). "1983 and the Future of Videogame Writing". unwinnable.com.