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Did you know: Nokia's Snake is not the world's first mobile game

By Cosmin Vasile

Updated: Sep 26, 2016, 12:31 PM

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Did you know: Nokia's Snake is not the world's first mobile game

Mobile gaming is one of the biggest slices of the entertainment industry, but it wasn't always like that. In fact, the mobile gaming phenomenon has taken a major boost in the last 5-6 years when major companies like EA, Gameloft, and others took an interest in the market.

Hagenuk MT-2000

But do we really know where it has all started? Despite the fact that many see Nokia's Snake as world's first mobile game, a little bit of research shows that there are a few other games that came installed on a mobile phone a few years ahead.

A little reminder is in order. The major smash hit Snake was launched by Nokia on its feature phones back in 1997. The game achieved popularity due to the fact that it was widely available on just about any Nokia phone that was launched on the market.

However, few know that three years earlier, a customized version of Tetris came pre-installed on a phone called Hagenuk MT-2000. The phone launched in 1994 was manufactured by a Danish company and is considered among the first to come with “soft keys,” which are very useful for gaming activities.

Another interesting piece of information that you might not know is that the Hagenuk MT-2000 is the world's first mobile phone with a built-in antenna. But no, the Tetris variant on the Hagenuk MT-2000 phone launched in 1994 is not the first mobile game ever released on the market.

Long before Apple could launch its first iPhone and mark the beginning of a new era for the communication industry, IBM and BellSouth teamed up to develop a new project that resulted in the first smartphone, the Simon Personal Communicator.

IBM Simon

The device was presented officially in late 1993 but didn't make it to market until August 1994. Among the many features that the smartphone possessed, including fax, IBM also added a game called Scramble, some sort of puzzle where you have to move squares to form a picture.

The general opinion among techies is that Scramble is the first game to come on a mobile phone, slightly earlier than the Tetris variant included on the Hagenuk MT-2000. That means that Nokia's Snake is probably the third mobile game that came to market.

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Cosmin, a tech journalist with a career spanning over a decade, brings a wealth of experience to PhoneArena. His expertise lies in brands like Samsung and Nokia, and he has a keen interest in innovative technologies. After a brief stint in PR, Cosmin returned to tech journalism in 2016, committed to delivering clear and objective news. When he's not writing or appearing as a guest on TV and radio shows, Cosmin enjoys playing RPGs, watching Netflix, and nurturing his passion for history and travel.

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Did you know: Nokia's Snake is not the world's first mobile game

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