In the early 1970s, in a small garage cluttered with wires, circuit boards, and a flickering soldering iron, a young engineer named Max was knee-deep in building his first hardware Pong game. The hum of the electronics mixed with the smell of burning solder as he carefully adjusted the circuits. Max had been following the burgeoning video game industry with enthusiasm, dreaming of creating a game that would capture the excitement of the arcade.

One rainy afternoon, while soldering a particularly stubborn resistor, a sudden flash of light illuminated the room. Max squinted through the brightness, and when it faded, a figure emerged. Dressed in vibrant clothes that seemed out of place, the stranger had wild hair and a peculiar device strapped to his wrist, which Max could only describe as a "tiny computer."

"Uh, hi?" Max said, bewildered but intrigued.

“Greetings! I’m Zane, a time traveler from the 2020s!” the man exclaimed, looking around as if he had just stepped into a museum. “What’s this marvelous contraption?”

“It’s a Pong game,” Max replied, pride swelling in his chest. “I’m building it from scratch. Want to help?”

Zane’s eyes widened with excitement, but his face quickly morphed into confusion. “Pong? Is that like… that new social media app?”

Max raised an eyebrow. “No, it’s a game. You hit a ball back and forth on a screen.”

“Oh! I see! I’ve heard of those! But I’m much better with things like… digital rights management and pentalobe screws.”

Max chuckled. “Pentalobe screws? What are those?”

“They’re the little star-shaped screws they use in Apple products!” Zane said, waving his hands. “It’s all about keeping people from fixing their own devices.”

“Right… but I’m trying to build a game here,” Max said, gesturing to the circuit board. “Any tips?”

“Oh! Oh! Have you considered using Electron?” Zane suggested enthusiastically. “It’s a framework for building cross-platform apps with web technologies!”

Max frowned, scratching his head. “Electron? I’m not sure how that helps me with hardware. I’m working with physical components, not apps.”

Zane’s expression didn’t waver. “You could do so much more! Like, integrate it with the cloud, and then you could offer features like DRM to prevent cheating! You know, to safeguard your game!”

“DRM? For a Pong game?” Max echoed, incredulous. “No one’s going to pirate Pong!”

Zane nodded vigorously. “Exactly! And if you used pentalobe screws, nobody could even open the console without the right tools! Very secure!”

Max tried to refocus. “Listen, I just need to get this game to work so people can play it at the arcade. Any insights on the hardware?”

“Oh! You could add a VR headset to it!” Zane suggested, his eyes sparkling with enthusiasm. “Imagine playing Pong in virtual reality! It would be so immersive!”

“I just want to build a basic Pong game,” Max replied, feeling the weight of his tools. “I don’t have the tech to do VR!”

Zane looked around, still taking in the array of circuit boards. “Maybe you could incorporate some gamification elements. That’s a big thing in my time! Or perhaps you could leverage some synergies between the players!”

Max groaned. “I really don’t think any of that applies to a simple Pong game.”

“Oh, I get it! You could use blockchain to ensure authenticity!” Zane suggested excitedly. “And how about some augmented reality features? Everyone’s into AR these days!”

Max threw his hands up. “No! Just… no!”

Realizing the futility of his plea, Max sighed, resigned. He resumed soldering, and Zane, undeterred, continued to ramble about the wonders of the future—everything from obscure programming languages to buzzwords like “disruption” and “big data”—while Max tried to ignore the incessant chatter.

As the evening wore on, Max couldn’t help but smile at the absurdity of it all. Here he was, in the midst of crafting a simple game, and yet, in the unlikeliest of ways, he had gained a glimpse into a bizarre future where technology ran rampant and the simplest joys of gaming could get lost in a sea of complexity.

As Zane droned on about the latest tech trends, Max thought about his Pong game. Sometimes, he mused, it was okay to keep things simple, even if the world around him seemed to be spiraling into chaos.