Where there game systems in 1959?

While the concept of "game systems" as we know them today didn't exist in 1959, there were early forms of electronic games that predate the modern console era.

Here's a breakdown:

* 1958: The first video game, "Tennis for Two," was created by William Higinbotham at Brookhaven National Laboratory. It was played on an oscilloscope and involved two players controlling a "blip" on the screen to hit a virtual ball back and forth. This was more of a scientific demonstration than a commercial product.

* 1959: The "Spacewar!" game was created by students at MIT. It was played on a DEC PDP-1 computer, a very expensive and large machine not available to the public.

* 1959-1960: "Nim", a simple mathematical game, was programmed for the "Ferranti Mark 1, one of the earliest computers built in the UK. This marked the beginning of games played on computers.

These were not what we'd consider "game systems" today:

* Limited Availability: These early games were confined to research labs or universities due to the cost and size of the computers.

* No Dedicated Hardware: They were not designed for gaming specifically; the computers used were for scientific research or other purposes.

* No Controllers: Input was done using the computer's interface (e.g., switches, punch cards).

The path to modern gaming:

* Early 1970s: Coin-operated arcade games like "Computer Space" and "Pac-Man" emerged, marking a shift towards commercially available games.

* Mid-1970s: Home consoles like "Magnavox Odyssey" and "Atari 2600" made games accessible to the public.

So, while 1959 saw the beginnings of electronic gaming, the concept of a dedicated "game system" with specific hardware and software wasn't fully realized until the 1970s.