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After returning to Atari, Steve Jobs immediately sought out Nolan Bushnell to share his idea. When the Atari boss learned that Ethan Jones was interested in leading a delivery team across state lines, he discussed it briefly with Donald Valentine, then gave his approval.
Walking up to Ethan, Nolan said, "Since you're willing to help Steve make money, donald and I have no objection. With you on board, we can sell more game motherboards at the same time. But let me be clear—delivery pay is the same for everyone: seven dollars per circuit board. donald and I won't take more, and we can't give you more either. I know the profit is small compared to direct sales commissions, but without the delivery step, we wouldn't have any profits at all. We're making money for ourselves—I think you understand what I mean. So… okay?"
Nolan extended his right hand. "Okay," Ethan replied with a smile. "No problem."
"Good. Ethan, welcome aboard." Nolan patted him on the shoulder and added, "Rest up for the next few days. Soon, you'll experience what a real country on wheels looks like!"
Ethan didn't quite understand what that meant, but he followed the advice. Over the next few days, he stayed home, relaxing and avoiding any physical work.
When May 10th arrived, Steve Jobs came to pick him up. Ethan followed him to Atari, and upon stepping into Nolan's office, his eyes were immediately drawn to a large map of the United States hanging on the wall.
Three routes had been marked on it in red: Route One: Starting in San Jose, California, heading south through Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas, then turning north and ending in Oklahoma.
Route Two: Also starting in San Jose, heading east through Nevada, Utah, Colorado, and Kansas, before turning north to end in Nebraska.
Route Three: Again starting in San Jose, but this time going straight north to Oregon and Washington, then east to Idaho, diagonally to Montana and North Dakota, and finally turning south to end in Wyoming.
After everyone had gathered, Nolan Bushnell patted the plan book on the conference table and grinned.
"Brothers! After a week of testing, the market response to Snake Game has been excellent—100% success rate in the state. More than 80 entertainment venues now have at least one Snake Game machine. Some owners told us that, at peak times, a single machine could bring in $150 a day. Customers are hooked, pushing for higher scores and faster runs."
He leaned forward. "Because of Snake Game's popularity, stores in Arizona, Nevada, and Oregon have been calling us non-stop after hearing the news, asking us to deliver game motherboards as quickly as possible. So starting today—and for the next month—we're going to be very busy.
Based on how fast news travels, within a month at most, word that Snake Game is making arcade owners huge profits will reach America's central region. That's why I've drawn this delivery map along the fastest routes."
He pointed at the map. "The bottom and simplest route belongs to Ethan, the central region is mine, and the northern route—the troublesome one—goes to Don."
Bushnell handed out delivery lists to each person. Then he slammed the table with his fist. "Come on, brothers! It's time to grab the money!"
When Ethan looked over his list, he finally understood what Bushnell had meant earlier about experiencing "a country on wheels."
The delivery schedule was brutal. On Day 1, Ethan would leave San Jose at 8 a.m. with Jobs and the others, carrying 100 game motherboards.
Their first target: Yuma County, Arizona, on the California border. The nearly 350-mile trip would take about six hours, meaning they'd arrive around 2 p.m.
Because Yuma had a small population, they only needed to replace 24 circuit boards for local arcade owners. With two people working quickly, the job could be finished that same night.
Then came the "fun" part. They would drive overnight to Tucson, in Pima County, on Yuma's eastern edge, to supply Arizona's second-largest city. Departing at night meant they'd likely reach Tucson by 4 a.m. The remaining installations there would take one to two days to complete.
From Tucson, it was a ten-hour drive back to San Jose. According to the plan, Ethan's team should ideally return to Los Gatos by the afternoon of Day 4, grab a night's rest, and then—based on new orders—head straight to Phoenix, Arizona's capital.
Ethan's jaw tightened. Bushnell hadn't scheduled any actual rest time. Or rather… all the "breaks" were on the road.
The six-hour drive from San Jose to Yuma was "rest" for the engineers.While the engineers worked in Yuma, the driver rested.The drive from Yuma to Tucson was "rest" for the engineers again.Once in Tucson, engineers worked while the driver napped.Even the long ten-hour return drive from Tucson to San Jose doubled as rest time for the engineers, who could sleep in the vehicle.
Sure, the front line was long—but with the team staying in Tucson for 18–24 hours, Bushnell figured it was fine. After all, rest could always happen in the car.
To be honest, this kind of continuous schedule was downright crazy!
If you complained to the union, they'd fine you into the ground!
But when Ethan left with Jobs and another Atari employee, the rest of the people who weren't chosen looked regretful.
No wonder—Atari was offering too much to pass up.
For a four-day business trip, you could earn almost two months' worth of a regular person's salary! That kind of treatment simply couldn't be matched by an ordinary job.
As for whether it was exhausting or not... Well, that was a matter of perspective.
On the first day, after six hours of driving, Ethan felt fine—he even joked around with Jobs and the others along the way.
But in the early hours of the morning, after driving through the night, his backside hurt so much it barely felt like it belonged to him anymore.
When they finally returned after delivering the goods, Ethan felt like his body had stayed in the car but his soul was still running to catch up. The deep, persistent numbness made him uncomfortable—yet at the same time, strangely excited.
Three days, one hundred game motherboards, and not a single face-to-face sale—just pure delivery runs. It was exhausting but exhilarating.
What's more, while he was out delivering, Nolan Bushnell and Don Valentine were also on the road. Three hundred boards in three days—at seventy-two dollars each—that was $21,600 in sales!
For the next month, Ethan lived in this cycle of pain and happiness.
He went to Phoenix, but never had the time to admire its prosperity.
He reached Albuquerque, but didn't pause to look at the ruins of the Spanish fleet.
He passed through Houston without catching a glimpse of Space City's charm. He even visited Oklahoma City, where... well, there weren't any grand Native American landmarks to see.
Although he never enjoyed the beauty of these cities, Ethan still felt satisfied. After a month of constant travel, he felt like he had spread a across the country.
When the final trip ended, all he wanted was to go back—back to Los Gatos, back to Atari—and find out just how many Snake Game machines had been sold in the past month.
However, while driving past the edge of Las Vegas, Steve Jobs suddenly asked for a restroom break. Ethan pulled into a gas station, and a few minutes later, Jobs came running back—pants half-lifted—waving a newspaper in his hand.
"Ethan! Ethan!! We're in the newspaper!!! They covered the Snake Game! They covered the Snake Game!!!"
The outburst made Ethan Jones raise his eyebrows.
He took the paper, and the first thing he saw was the Los Angeles Times logo.
On the inside page, in bold black letters, a very clear headline jumped out at him—