"The 8244 video-game chip had 40,000 transistors. The ‘‘random logic’’ was hand- drawn using color pencils. At the time, there weren’t many CAD tools to assist in get- ting an error-free chip, so Salmon offered cash bonuses to draftsmen for each design rule violation they found—a nickel on the first day to a quarter on the last. Recently, Nvidia announced the GT200 graphics processor unit that has 1.4 billion transistors—a 35,000 times increase. Al- though the Nvidia chip’s power is impressive, the 8244 was also impressive for the day and provides a nostalgic glimpse of the modern chip industry’s history." - Ray Cromwell

For another great read on the state of the art in the '70s, checkout Warren Robinette's (Atari 2600 Adventure) presentation on how it was designed and written. - Joel Webber