Pong is one of the greatest games ever made. Maybe not for its compelling gameplay, but for its simplicity that brought video games to millions of households. Atari has never really captured that kind of magic again, but they are going to try this year.

Atari has announced via their Web site a contest for indie developers to remake Pong for the iPhone. They don’t just want a straight up remake of Pong, but they want indie developers to reimagine Pong as something completely unique and exciting.

Finalists will also have their games submitted for review with the winners being decided by a panel of industry judges and the community.

Speaking of industry judges, one of them is Nolan Bushnell, founder of Atari. I wouldn’t want to be under his scrutinizing eye, but I’m sure somebody will please this giant of video games.

The winner will receive $100,000 and a publishing agreement with Atari.

If you want to enter, you can do so here. Atari wants any interested parties to have a design document ready at time of submission.

The last proper Pong game was Pong The Next Level for the PlayStation. I never played it myself, but I remember the box art looking really trippy.