Editing Game port (section)

===Initial IBM PC type game ports===
The IBM PC game port first appeared during the initial launch of the original [[IBM Personal Computer|IBM PC]] in 1981, in the form of an optional US$55 expansion card known as the Game Control Adapter.<ref name="lemmons198110">{{cite news | url=https://archive.org/stream/byte-magazine-1981-10/1981_10_BYTE_06-10_Local_Networks#page/n27/mode/2up | title=The IBM Personal Computer / First Impressions | work=BYTE | date=October 1981 | access-date=19 October 2013 | author=Lemmons, Phil | page=36}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://mysite.du.edu/~etuttle/electron/elect57.htm |title=The Game Control Adapter |website=A Review of Electronics |date=18 August 2002 |last1=Calvert |first1=J. B.}}</ref> The design allowed for four analog axes and four buttons on one port, allowing two joysticks or four [[paddle (game controller)|paddle]]s to be connected via a special "Y-splitter" cable.<ref>{{cite journal |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=V2588uIxmAQC&pg=PA155 |title=ABM advertisement |journal=PC Mag |date=July 1983 |page=273}}</ref>

Originally available only as add-on that took up an entire slot,<ref name="lemmons198110"/> game ports remained relatively rare in the early days of the IBM PC, and most games used the keyboard as an input. IBM did not release a joystick of its own for the PC, which did not help. The most common device available was the [[Kraft Systems|Kraft]] joystick, originally developed for the Apple II but easily adapted to the IBM with the addition of another button on the back of the case. When IBM finally did release a joystick, for the [[IBM PCjr]], it was a version of the Kraft stick. However, it connected to the computer using two incompatible 7-pin connectors, which were mechanically connected together as part of a larger multi-pin connector on the back of the machine.<ref>{{cite book |title=PC jr. Technical Reference  |url=http://www.retroarchive.org/dos/docs/ibmpcjrtechref.pdf |date=1983 |page=2.12}}</ref> This eliminated the need for the Y-adapter.<ref name=":0">{{cite web |url=http://nerdlypleasures.blogspot.ca/2012/02/pc-gameport-joysticks.html |title= DOS Games Joysticks & Other Gaming Device Support |website=Nerdy Pleasures |date= 10 February 2012}}</ref> Adapters for Atari-style "digital" sticks were also common during this era.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.allpinouts.org/index.php/Joystick_PC_Gameport |title= Joystick PC Gameport Connector Pinout |website=AllPinouts}}</ref>

The game port became somewhat more common in the mid-1980s, as improving electronic density began to produce expansion cards with ever-increasing functionality. By 1983, it was common to see cards combining memory, game ports, serial and parallel ports and a realtime clock on a single expansion card.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Super 12 Pak Multi-Function |journal=PC Mag |date=17 April 1984 |page=342}}</ref> The era of combo expansion cards largely came to an end by the late 1980s, as many of the separate functions normally provided on plug-in boards became common features of the [[motherboard]] itself. Game ports were not always part of this supported set of ports.