Watch Chiefs players try their hand at one of the oldest football video games around

For some, one of the biggest video game crazes of the 1970s elicits childhood memories.

For others, like the three Kansas City Chiefs who gave it a shot on Thursday, it’s more likely to induce flat-out confusion.

“Electronic Football” was a hot holiday gift item some 40 years ago. And it retains a niche following today. Both you, as the player, and the computerized opponent against which you battle are represented by red, electronic blips of light.

Using simple key presses, you try to scramble across the small screen without running into the defense. It’s a little fun, a little frustrating, and even today, four decades later, pretty addicting.

Longtime Chiefs punter Dustin Colquitt, 36, and offensive players Gehrig Dieter, 25, and Byron Pringle, 24, all agreed to give it a shot during a break at training camp on the Missouri Western campus.

One might expect that, as the elder of this group and the longest-tenured (and oldest) current Chief, Colquitt would fare the best.

Nothing doing. He admitted he’d never seen the game before.

“I do not know what it is, but it looks about as old as I am, so I’m anxious to see what it does, for sure,” he said.

After playing briefly, he suggested the point of the game was “to frustrate us. To frustrate me.”

Then it was Dieter’s turn. The University of Alabama product and second-year pro caught on pretty fast, then poked fun by saying “Dustin probably couldn’t see it because he has old eyes.”

Dieter, a wide receiver who spent last season on the Chiefs’ practice squad, scored 21 points. “This game is easy,” he shrugged before leaving.

Pringle, the youngest of the three and a recent graduate of Kansas State, recognized the game on sight. He came within a touchdown of tying Dieter for high score.

“This game is kind of hard,” Pringle said.

Colquitt had one last shot to make before heading off to more important duties with the team. This one he leveled at a fellow career punter who played for more than 20 seasons, most recently with the New York Giants in 2009 (Colquitt’s fifth season in the league), and is now 52.

“Jeff Feagels used to play that,” Colquitt said with a chuckle.

And he was probably right.

This story was originally published August 2, 2018 at 4:45 PM with the headline "Watch Chiefs players try their hand at one of the oldest football video games around."