WPIX "TV PIXX" Video Game Show (1979-1982) [Online-Exclusive]

💫 Online Exclusive Exhibit 

Broadcast on New York’s WPIX Channel 11 throughout the late 1970s and early 1980s, TV PIXX was a pioneering interactive game show that turned the home telephone into a rudimentary video game controller. During commercial breaks of afternoon cartoons and movies, a lucky viewer would be called by the host—most famously "Officer Joe" Bolton or later, the high-energy "Captain" Jack—to play a live, on-air game of Pong or a modified version of Intellivision's "Astrosmash." The contestant would control the on-screen action by shouting the word "PIX!" into their telephone receiver, which signaled a technician in the studio to manually trigger the game's fire button or movement paddle. While the inherent "satellite delay" and the human error of the studio operator often resulted in comical mistiming, the show was a massive regional phenomenon, famously awarding prizes like $11 Gift Certificates to McDonald's or local electronics stores. This lo-fi predecessor to modern online gaming became a cultural touchstone for Tri-State area children, immortalized by the frantic, rhythmic chanting of "PIX! PIX! PIX!" that filled living rooms across New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut.