Back-to-school webinar connects the origins of video games with the skills and career pathways available to students creating games today
September 10, 2026, 7:00 PM Eastern. FREE & open to teachers, students, school leaders, families, and others interested in game design and creative technology. Register Here!
As students head back to school this fall, national nonprofit Urban Arts and independent studio Tilt Five are highlighting something that captures the attention of millions of young people: video games. But this webinar is about more than playing games. It is about what students can learn by creating them, and how game design can open doors to careers in computer science, engineering, art, design, and creative technology.
On September 10, Urban Arts and Tilt Five will host “From Pong and Atari to Today’s Generation of Game Creators 👾,” bringing together two generations of game creators: Al Alcorn, the Atari engineer who created the original PONG, and an Urban Arts graduate who designs, builds, and teaches games.
For educators, the webinar provides a look at how game design can engage students in CS while connecting classroom learning to real-world careers. For students, it offers a chance to hear how one of the earliest commercial video games was created, see projects from Urban Arts alumni, and learn what it takes to turn an idea into something people can play.
The 40-minute conversation will be led by Philip Courtney, CEO of Urban Arts, and Jeri Ellsworth, CEO and co-founder of Tilt Five.
Urban Arts has spent nearly three decades creating opportunities for young people to build skills through art, technology, and creativity. Its growing game design and computer science programs give students the opportunity to move from being consumers of technology to becoming creators.
Game On is their College Board-endorsed AP Computer Science Principles course in which high school students learn computer science by designing and building original games in Unity. Creative Coders is their middle school introduction to computer science, where students learn foundational coding and game design skills through Minecraft Education and other hands-on creative projects.
Tilt Five creates a new form of games and interactive technology. Its augmented reality platform creates shared 3D experiences around a tabletop, allowing multiple people to interact with digital worlds while remaining together in the same physical space.
Meet URBAN ARTS and TILT FIVE
Ellsworth, an inventor and technology entrepreneur whose career has spanned hardware, gaming, and augmented reality, will help connect the history of game development with where the field is going next, and what today’s young creators are now capable of building. Ellsworth states it clearly:
“What excites me is that the barrier to making something has almost disappeared. When I was a kid, I learned by taking things apart, playing with broken electronics, and teaching myself to program. Today, kids have access to game engines, affordable hardware, 3D printers, open-source tools, and communities willing to share what they know. You can have an idea in the morning and be experimenting with it that afternoon. Take it apart, change it, break it, and build something we haven’t thought of yet.”
At the other end of that history is Al Alcorn. In 1972, while working as one of Atari’s first engineers, Alcorn was given an assignment to build a simple electronic table-tennis game. The result was PONG, one of the games that helped introduce video games to a mass audience and launch a new entertainment industry.
“PONG was simply the application of the latest technology being used to solve an old problem. I would invite young people to be familiar with the latest technology and play with it.”
—Al Alcorn, Inventor
During the webinar, Alcorn will share stories about what it was like to create games when the industry barely existed. He will also talk directly with an Urban Arts student creator, who will showcase a game they developed and discuss their own design process, challenges, skills learned, and ideas for what they want to build next.
That conversation will highlight how much game development has changed since PONG, yet how many of the underlying skills remain the same: creativity, experimentation, problem solving, persistence, collaboration, and the ability to turn an idea into something that works. As Alcorn puts it, “PONG was simply the application of the latest technology being used to solve an old problem. I would invite young people to be familiar with the latest technology and play with it.”
The webinar is also an opportunity to show teachers and students the many roles behind the games they play, including programmers, engineers, artists, designers, writers, producers, and entrepreneurs, and to help more young people see that they do not have to just play the next generation of games. They can help create it.
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WEBINAR INFORMATION
From Atari to the Future: Game Design and Creative Technology Careers
September 10, 2026 | 7:00 PM Eastern
Free and open to teachers, students, school leaders, families, and others interested in game design and creative technology.
