Today you can turn on an Xbox or a PlayStation and see a library of choices. On a Nintendo Switch, you can go from playing Minecraft to your favorite Super Mario game with just a few taps. 

Now imagine if Minecraft were the only game you could play. That’s what gaming was like in 1976. Back then, popular gaming consoles had just one to three games built in. If you wanted to play something different, you’d have to buy a whole new system.

That changed thanks to an engineer named Gerald Lawson. He led the team that created the first video game system to use removable cartridges. Players could swap cartridges in and out to play different games.

“Lawson really revolutionized the way we play video games,” says James Lewis of the International Game Developers Association (IGDA). 

Today you can turn on an Xbox or a PlayStation and see many game choices. On a Nintendo Switch, you can go from playing Minecraft to your favorite Super Mario game. It takes just a few taps. 

Now imagine if Minecraft were the only game you could play. That’s what gaming was like in 1976. Back then, gaming consoles had just one to three games built in. Let’s say you wanted to play something different. You’d have to buy a whole new system.

That changed thanks to Gerald Lawson. He was an engineer. He led the team that created the first video game system to use removable cartridges. Players could swap cartridges in and out to play different games.

“Lawson really revolutionized the way we play video games,” says James Lewis. He’s a member of the International Game Developers Association (IGDA). 

Lawson was born in New York City in 1940. He was one of just a few Black kids at his elementary school. His first-grade teacher hung a picture of George Washington Carver in the classroom. The formerly enslaved man went on to become a famous scientist and inventor. Learning about Carver inspired Lawson to be an inventor too.

Lawson loved tinkering with electronics. When he was 13, he built a radio and started his own radio station. He earned money by fixing his neighbors’ broken TVs.

Lawson later learned computer programming at various jobs in the city. By the early 1970s, he’d moved to California and started working at Fairchild Semiconductor. The company created tiny chips that helped kick-start the move to smaller computers. At the time, most computers were huge—some took up entire rooms! 

The first-ever arcade video game, Computer Space, came out in 1971. After playing it, Lawson started building his own games for fun in his garage. One of his games caught the attention of his bosses at Fairchild. They asked him to design a gaming system for the company. 

Lawson was born in New York City in 1940. He was one of just a few Black kids at his elementary school. His first-grade teacher hung a picture of George Washington Carver in the classroom. Carver was a formerly enslaved man who became a famous scientist and inventor. Learning about Carver inspired Lawson to be an inventor too.

Lawson loved working on electronics. When he was 13, he built a radio. He started his own radio station. He earned money by fixing his neighbors’ broken TVs.

Lawson later learned computer programming at various jobs. By the early 1970s, he’d started working at Fairchild Semiconductor in California. The company created tiny chips. These chips helped begin the move to smaller computers. At the time, most computers were huge. Some took up entire rooms! 

The first-ever arcade video game, Computer Space, came out in 1971. After playing it, Lawson started building his own games for fun in his garage. Lawson’s bosses at Fairchild noticed one of his games. They asked him to design a gaming system for the company. 

In 1976, Lawson and his team brought one of his ideas to life. The Fairchild Channel F was the first home gaming system to use interchangeable cartridges. Players could buy different cartridges and switch them out to play games like Space War and Bowling. 

Channel F wasn’t a success, though. Only about 350,000 were sold before it was discontinued. But another cartridge-based console, made by Atari, soon took the world by storm. About 30 million systems were sold. Most popular consoles of the 1980s, like the Nintendo Entertainment System, also used cartridges. Many later systems used games on discs called CDs before downloadable games became common. 

Lawson’s cartridges had paved the way for all popular gaming systems that followed Channel F. Lewis says you should think of Lawson every time you see a PlayStation or an Xbox. 

In 1976, Lawson and his team brought one of his ideas to life. It was called the Fairchild Channel F. It was the first home gaming system to use interchangeable cartridges. Players could buy different cartridges. They could switch the cartridges out to play games like Space War and Bowling. 

Channel F wasn’t a success, though. Only about 350,000 were sold. Then it was discontinued. But another cartridge-based console, made by Atari, soon became well-known. About 30 million systems were sold. Most popular consoles of the 1980s, like the Nintendo Entertainment System, also used cartridges. Many later systems used games on discs called CDs. Later, downloadable games became common. 

Lawson’s cartridges paved the way for popular gaming systems that followed Channel F. Lewis says you should think of Lawson when you see a PlayStation or an Xbox.  

Lawson died in 2011. The IGDA created the Gerald Lawson Award for Achievement in Game Development in his honor. It recognizes the work of some of today’s top Black game developers. 

Lewis hopes more people will be inspired by Lawson. 

“He used his brilliance to bring joy to people,” says Lewis. “We never want to forget that legacy.” 

Lawson died in 2011. To honor Lawson, the IGDA created the Gerald Lawson Award for Achievement in Game Development. It recognizes the work of some of today’s top Black game developers. 

Lewis hopes more people will be inspired by Lawson. 

“He used his brilliance to bring joy to people,” says Lewis. “We never want to forget that legacy.”