Atari football is considered the first real sport simulation video game, with its 7 seven players on each team, detailed playfield graphics, 4 offensive tactics and 4 defensive tactics.

Before that, sports games meant pong-type video games such as tennis, hockey or football. But let's face it, there were mainly pong spin-offs, not real efforts to simulate sport rules.

Of course there was also Football for the Magnavox Odyssey, released in 1972; but if the effort was laudable, the system technical limitations prevented the game from being a real simulation.

Apart from that, Atari Football is also the first video game to use a trackball as the controller. A 4 players version was even released in 1979, with 4 trackballs!