Jerry Changed the Game!: How Engineer Jerry Lawson Revolutionized Video Games Forever

Jerry Lawson is a Black engineer who revolutionized the video game industry by creating a brand-new kind of video game console that allowed players to switch out cartridges. He also founded Video Soft,Inc., the first African American-owned video game company in the country.

Format: Hardback
Length: 40 pages
Publication date: 28 September 2023
Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Meet Jerry Lawson, the Black engineer who revolutionized the video game industry, in this captivating picture book biography perfect for fans of "Whoosh!: Lonnie Johnsons Super-Soaking Stream of Inventions" and "Little Legends: Exceptional Men in Black History."

Before Xbox, PlayStation, or Nintendo Switch, there was a tinkerer named Jerry Lawson. As a boy, Jerry loved playing with springs, sprockets, and gadget-y things. When he grew up, Jerry became an engineer—a professional tinkerer—and in the 1970s, he turned his technical know-how to video games.

Back then, if players wanted a new video game, they had to buy an entire new console, making gaming very expensive. Jerry was determined to fix this problem, and despite roadblocks along the way and having to repeat a level or two, it was never game over for his mission. Eventually, he leveled up and built a brand-new kind of video game console: one that allowed players to switch out cartridges! He also founded Video Soft, Inc., the first African American-owned video game company in the country.

Jerry's tinkering and inventions changed the video gaming world forever. Today, gamers have access to hundreds of video games at the push of a button, all thanks to him. Game on!

Weight: 510g
Dimension: 229 x 292 x 10 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781665919081