est. 1947
the first video game
hold 500,000 $CATHODE to play. no hold, no play.
1947. the first video game ever. not pong. _

CATHODE

SEE THE BOARD
new here? start with the story »
connect wallet to play. hold 500,000 $CATHODE.
PLAY

open the cabinet. fire the beam.

the cabinet up top is the real game, rebuilt. aim the beam, arc it onto the targets, clear the wave. runs right in your browser. hold 500,000 $CATHODE in your wallet to play and rank.

aim

drag on the screen or use the arrow keys to set your angle and power.

fire

let go or hit space. the beam arcs like a real shot, so lead the target.

clear

wipe every target to move up a wave. it gets faster, your score goes up.

THE HISTORY

how the first game happened

TOURNAMENTS

compete for the pot.

two ways to win. the drop pays the live number one every few hours from creator fees. tournaments are scheduled events with a fixed $CATHODE pool, where the top runs inside the window split the prize.

the drop
live now

whoever is number one when the timer hits zero takes a slice of creator fees, then it resets. hold your spot.

--:--:--
until next drop
next tournament
GENESIS CUP
prize poolto be announced
formathighest single run
soon
date to be announced
SEE THE BOARD
LEADERBOARD

the board

rankoperatorbest score
finish a run up top and your score lands here. the daily board resets at 00:00 UTC and the top operators split the pool.
REWARDS

sit at number one, get paid.

no fake points and nothing to claim by hand. the only thing that pays is your rank on the live board. every few hours the current number one takes a cut of the creator fees, sent straight to their wallet. hold $CATHODE to be eligible.

the drop

on a rolling timer, whoever sits at number one on the board wins a share of creator fees. watch the clock and defend your spot.

tournaments

scheduled events with a fixed prize pool. the best runs inside the window split the pot. check the tournaments tab.

hold to qualify

you need a minimum $CATHODE balance to collect. anyone can play, payouts go to holders.

ORIGIN

everyone thinks pong was first. it wasn't.

back in 1947, two engineers named Thomas Goldsmith and Estle Ray Mann patented a machine that fired a glowing dot at targets on a tube screen. no computer, no software, just knobs and a cathode ray. it is the first electronic game anyone has ever found, a full 25 years before pong. we rebuilt it. play it in the cabinet up top, and $CATHODE is the coin around it.

1947
Cathode-Ray Tube Amusement Device, the first ever. You are here.
1952
OXO, noughts & crosses on a computer screen.
1958
Tennis for Two, an oscilloscope tennis match.
1962
Spacewar! The first widely copied digital game.
1972
Pong, arcades go mainstream. Everyone thinks it was first. It wasn't.
DOCS

the manual

everything about the cabinet, the token, and how the board pays. if you read two things, read rewards and leaderboard and fair play.

overview

$CATHODE is a solana token built around the first electronic game ever made, the 1947 cathode-ray tube amusement device. the cabinet at the top of this page is a working rebuild of that machine.

hold 500,000 $CATHODE to play, and your best run lands you on a live leaderboard, and the top of that board gets paid in $CATHODE. no airdrop forms, no discord roles to grind. you play, you climb, you get paid.

how to play

the cabinet is a top down radar scope. a reticle follows your pointer. drag or use the arrow keys to aim, then click or hit space to fire a blip that arcs toward the reticle and detonates. lead the target like a real shot.

  • clear every plane in a wave to advance. each wave adds more planes and more speed.
  • you start with 2 lives and one spare shell each wave. miss too much, or let the wave timer hit zero, and you lose a life.
  • score climbs with hits, combos, accuracy, time left on the clock, and shells you never fired. it rewards clean, fast clears, not spray.
  • game over posts your run to the board automatically.

the token

$CATHODE is a community token on solana, launched on pump.fun. the contract address, supply, and live market all live on its pump.fun page. only ever reach it through the official link on this site.

you must hold at least 500,000 $CATHODE to play. the hold is your coin for the cabinet. it gets you into the game and makes you eligible for the rewards drop. no hold, no play.

$CATHODE has no intrinsic value and no promise of profit. it is a membership in the cabinet and a meme about the machine that started it all.

rewards

the model is simple: sit at the top, get paid. it runs on a creator-fee flywheel, the same shape that works for onchain game coins.

  • a slice of creator and trading fees collects into a distribution wallet.
  • every drop window (currently every 4 hours, configurable), that pool is paid out in $CATHODE.
  • who gets paid: the top of the live leaderboard, weighted by rank. higher seat, bigger cut.
  • eligibility: you must hold at least 500,000 $CATHODE in the wallet you signed in with. the hold gets you into the cabinet and into the drop.
  • payouts are sent manually after a quick review for now. automated onchain distribution is on the roadmap.

leaderboard and fair play

scores are stored in an off chain database, not on the solana chain. that keeps play instant and free, but it means a raw score sent by a browser cannot be blindly trusted.

so before any $CATHODE goes out, the top wallets get reviewed: the minimum hold is checked and impossible runs are filtered out. payouts go to real players, not scripts.

the honest version: client side scores can be faked. manual review is the current defense, and server side score validation is the planned hardening. we would rather say that plainly than pretend the board is trustless when it is not yet.

roadmap

the short version: harden scoring on the server, automate onchain payouts, add seasonal tournaments and cosmetics, and keep the cabinet faithful to 1947. the full timeline lives in the roadmap section below.

security

  • there is one official site and one contract address, both shown on this page.
  • never trust a $CATHODE link sent in your dms.
  • fake sites that clone real solana games and drain wallets are common. at least one well known onchain game was cloned this way in 2026.
  • verify the contract address character by character before you buy.
  • this site never asks for a seed phrase. signing in only signs a plain text message, it never moves your funds.
ROADMAP

the plan

PHASE 0BOOT coin live, cabinet playable, community on.
PHASE 1scores go on-chain so the board can't be faked.
PHASE 2more cabinets, more early-era games to play.
PHASE 3tournaments. pay to enter, top players split the pot.
CATHODE
drag to aim / click or space to fire / clear the scope
CATHODE
cathode-ray tube amusement device, 1947
copied