Elon Musk created a video game when he was 13, sold it to a magazine for USD 500 (2024)

New Delhi,UPDATED: Sep 22, 2023 17:10 IST

Elon Musk is known for his eccentric leadership, love for electric cars, hardcore working style, and a lot more. And his love for gaming is also making headlines every now and then. But did you know that Musk’s obsession with games began when he was just a child? Not only this, the billionaire also developed a video game at age 13 and even got paid for it.

In his recently-released biography penned by Walter Isaacson, Musk’s love for gaming has been explored widely. The book also discusses how the SpaceX owner, when he was 13, created a video game and sold it to a magazine.

When Elon Musk created a video game at age 13

The book mentions how Musk taught himself programming using Pascal and Turbo C++. When he was 13, he created a video game called Blastar that involved destroying an alien space freighter carrying deadly hydrogen bombs and status beam machines. Musk sold this video game to a magazine and was paid USD 500. After that, the 13-year-old Musk sold two more video games to the magazine. While one game was similar to Donkey Kong (popular arcade game that gained immense popularity in the 90s), another was a roulette and blackjack stimulator.

Musk’s love for gaming

In May this year, Musk was in the limelight for showing off his build for popular open-world fantasy game Elden Ring. The game, developed by FromSoftware Inc, gained immense popularity last year and was one of the best games to have released in 2022. Anyone who has played Souls games knows how challenging they can be. And Elden Ring was released for those who were looking forward to starting playing Souls games. Yet, many players found the game to be quite a force to reckon with.

Musk, at level 111, proudly posted his character build on Twitter. However, Souls games veterans criticised the nature of his build and called it inefficient. Nevertheless, one thing is clear - Musk loves gaming.

Returning to his biography written by Walter Isaacson, it quotes his cousin Peter Rive saying, “If you are playing with Elon, you play pretty much nonstop until finally you have to eat.”

The book also reveals that on a vacation trip, Musk once figured out how to hack all games in a mall and he and his cousins enjoyed playing games for free without needing coins.

As a teenager, Musk also wanted to create an arcade of his own and figured out how to turn it into a profitable business. However, problem arose when he and his cousins were asked to get city permits. An adult was needed to shut the application and since Musk couldn’t ask his father Errol to do so, the idea never came to fruition.

The book also contains a quote by his ex-girlfriend Grimes, who recalled how Musk stayed up playing Elden Ring till 5 in the morning after he offered to buy Twitter.