Google's interactive doodles are my favorite kind, like the Halloween Ghost Duel game doodle (opens in new tab) or the history of swing rhythm games (opens in new tab) Google's doodles have evolved over the years, with full-blown RPGs (opens in new tab).

Today's is no exception, named after Jerry Lawson (open in new tab), the black video game pioneer who brought us the commercial game cartridge (open in new tab). In the mid-1970s, Lawson was developing the Fairchild Channel F console where he developed the Fairchild Channel F console, and made a major contribution to the history of video games.

The Fairchild console was not always a success, but some of its ideas were brilliant and were incorporated into other consoles, including Atari. Lawson played an important role in this work, pioneering machines with swappable cartridges.

This doodle (opens in new tab) is an affectionate tribute to Lawson's career on his 82nd birthday. In this doodle, you take on the avatar of an engineer with a mustache as you walk through a simple pixelated landscape and learn about his accomplishments. Finally, we see that the game is really a level editor, allowing you to create games based on a variety of templates. Of course, as Lawson intended, these can all be interchanged and played on a whim.

The games are all 2D, with simple graphics that make it easy to jump in and out of, and can be edited and played. Most games have a basic goal, with an emphasis on platforming, brick breaking, and puzzle solving. Lawson's joystick was the first home console controller to feature this useful button.

So not only should we honor Jerry Lawson every time we hot-swap one cartridge for another, we should also honor him when we pause the game. He is a man who put our convenience first. Next time that pesky cartridge doesn't seem to work right, thank Jerry Lawson, and then take a breath.