When I was preparing my lecture on game controllers this semester, I stumbled on Spacewar! and its mysterious control boxes. I had the intention to argue that the technology behind the major control scheme hasn’t really changed that much over years and they are based on a few key sensors – switches, buttons, and potentiometer. However, I didn’t pay much attention to Spacewar! because I didn’t know there were custom controllers made for it at the beginning until I came across this interview in the August 1981 issue of Creative Computation magazine:
… a separate control device was obviously necessary, but joysticks (our original idea) were not readily available in 1962. So Alan Kotok and Robert A. Saunders, who just happened to be members of the Tech Model Railroad Club, trundled off to the TMRC room, scrabbled around the layout for a while…there on the CRT table were the first Spacewar! control boxes…The box is wood with a Bakelite top. The two switches are double-throw; The button is a silent momentary switch…
G.M. Graetz, 1981
Martin Graetz was one of the original developers that helped refine the game in 1962. I was very excited not only to discover there were controllers made for the game but also to realize the birth of the controllers has something to with the Tech Railroad Club. This interview only showed a drawing of the control box, however, Mr. Graetz’s recount of creating the control box gave me lots of useful information.
The two switches are double-throw. – Based on the drawing, these switches could have been leaf switches with double-throw. The flat disc underneath the handle is a signature feature of vintage leaf switches. I am replacing these switches with SPDT (single pole double throw) switches that I have. When I was looking into these electronic parts and their relationship with the Model Railroad Club, I realized that switches with double-throw play an important role in designing model railroad control.
A vintage DPDT leaf switch 
An SPDT switch
