This Unsung Black Developer Unlocked the Code to Turning a Video Game Console Into a Virtual Living Room Arcade

Jerry Lawson’s Channel F system was the first to put games on interchangeable cartridges, paving the way for Atari, Nintendo, Xbox and PlayStation

Victor Luckerson

Illustration by Tuhina Sharma

Summer 2026

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In the ancient annals of video game history, there are few immortal legends: Allan Alcorn, begetter of “Pong”; Nolan Bushnell, god of Atari; Shigeru Miyamoto, maker of “Mario.” But there’s another, less heralded hero of that early era: Gerald (Jerry) Lawson, who 50 years ago introduced the video game cartridge, revolutionizing home video gaming and making it a viable form of mass entertainment for the living room. 

Lawson, one of the few Black developers among gaming’s early innovators, was a tinkerer from a young age. In elementary school in the 1940s, a teacher inspired him by telling him he could be the next George Washington Carver and placing a photo of the famed scientist near Lawson’s desk. By middle school, he was building walkie-talkies and even launched an amateur radio station. “I built converters, antennas, everything else,” Lawson recalled in a 2009 interview.

After spending his teens moonlighting as a TV repairman, Lawson attended Queens College and the City College of New York, though he never graduated. In 1968, he moved to Silicon Valley to join the burgeoning tech industry, landing at Fairchild Semiconductor, inventors of the integrated circuit, the basis for modern computer chips. Lawson’s job mostly involved traveling as a consultant for Fairchild customers, but in his spare time he became a hobbyist in the nascent video game development scene. The industry was spawned by TV manufacturer Magnavox’s creation of the original home gaming console, the Odyssey, in 1972, and Atari’s release of its landmark game “Pong,” the nation’s first commercially successful arcade game, which debuted that same year. Lawson, for his part, designed the game “Demolition Derby,” which he set up in a coin-operated arcade cabinet at a local pizza parlor around the same time. When his bosses found out he’d used a Fairchild microprocessor to power it, he was tasked with creating a gaming division within the company. 

Technological constraints, however, limited gaming’s full potential. Early home consoles could play only games that had been programmed directly into them by the manufacturer. Companies released multiple iterations of the same system each year with different game libraries, driving up the cost for consumers. The best way to expand gaming’s appeal was to build a console that allowed players to easily swap games.

In 1974, the electronics company Alpex developed a prototype that could run games off portable microprocessors encased in protective boxes. But Alpex didn’t have the means to commercialize this innovation, so it pitched the idea to Fairchild. Lawson led the project, using the Alpex technology with Fairchild microchips to introduce a new product. “I had to bring it from this proof of performance to reality—something that you could manufacture,” he recalled. 

The result was the Fairchild Channel F, the first home system that let players switch games using cartridges. Released in November 1976, it boasted key innovations. The bright-yellow cartridges, modeled after familiar eight-track cassettes, included a spring-loaded plastic door that protected the microchip and connector pins. The Channel F also offered a pause button. The controller, designed by Lawson, became the first home-console joystick; newer models are still used today. 

Initially the Channel F was a modest success, but its momentum was quashed when Atari launched a cartridge-based system, the Atari 2600, the following year. Supported by titles such as “Space Invaders,” the Atari 2600 eclipsed its rivals. Lawson’s Channel F, though it laid the foundation for a console with a dynamic game library, faded into obscurity. He soon left Fairchild and founded Video Soft, a company that developed games for Atari systems, including some early 3D titles. However, an oversaturation of games led to a market crash in the mid-’80s, and Lawson shuttered Video Soft before his games reached customers. 

Shortly before his death in 2011, Lawson started getting his due. He was recognized by the International Game Developers Association that year, and a Los Angeles elementary school was named in his honor in 2012; scholarships and awards in his name, celebrating diversity in the gaming industry, have followed. “He was able to forge his own path,” says Lawson’s son, Anderson, a software developer who was inspired by his father. “Sometimes you have to step out and do something that nobody else is doing in order to achieve something great.” 

Lawson’s innovative cartridge unlocked the medium’s potential by easily delivering new software. Modern games are distributed through discs, memory cards or downloads—all evolutions of what Lawson and Fairchild pioneered. 

Victor Luckerson | Read More

Victor Luckerson is the national correspondent for Smithsonian Magazine. He is the author of Built From the Fire: The Epic Story of Tulsa's Greenwood District, America's Black Wall Street, which won the Dayton Literary Peace Prize. He also runs an email newsletter about neglected Black history called Run It Back.

Tuhina Sharma | | Read More

Tuhina Sharma is an illustrator whose work is characterized by wild swashes of color, surreal fantasies, secret histories—and a dash of astrophysics.