Magnavox Odyssey

The Magnavox Odyssey is the first commercial home video game console. It was designed by a small team led by Ralph H. Baer at Sanders Associates and released in the United States in September 1972. The console looks like a box with two controllers attached by wires. It could show simple shapes on a television screen, and players used plastic overlays and controllers to play different games.

The idea for a video game console started with Baer in 1966. Over the next few years, he and his team made several prototypes before Magnavox agreed to produce the final design. The console sold many units and helped start the video game industry. One of the games on the Odyssey inspired the famous arcade game Pong, made by Atari.

The Magnavox Odyssey began the first generation of video game consoles and led to many more consoles being made. It was an important moment in the history of games and technology.

Design

The Odyssey looks like a box in black, white, and brown, with two controllers connected by wires. It plugs into a TV using a special switch box, showing up like a TV channel. Each controller has one button to reset the game and three knobs for different actions.

The Odyssey can show simple shapes, such as dots and lines, on the TV screen. Players use dials on the console to move these shapes. It can run many games using special cards that fit into the console, and some games use plastic sheets that stick to the TV to help players imagine the action. The console also came with extra items like dice and score sheets. A special light gun called the Electronic Rifle was made to play shooting games, created by Nintendo.

Development

In 1951, engineer Ralph H. Baer had an idea while working for Loral Electronics to build something that could be controlled on a television besides its normal broadcasts. This idea reemerged in 1966 when Baer, now at Sanders Associates, proposed a "game box" that would connect to a TV for about $25. With help from technician Bob Tremblay, Baer created an early prototype called "TV Game #1" that could show a moving line on a screen.

Over the next few years, Baer and his team improved the prototype, adding more games like a light gun shooter and a ping-pong game. They showed the device to many companies, but it wasn’t until 1969 that Magnavox agreed to produce it. After working together, the final product, called the Odyssey, was released in September 1972. It connected to a TV and came with simple controllers and game cards.

Reception

Magnavox started showing the Odyssey on TV in September 1972, including on the game show What's My Line?. They called it "the new electronic game of the future." At first, they made 50,000 units but ended up making more because people liked it. The Odyssey could work with any TV, not just Magnavox brands.

Even though Magnavox made many units, they only sold 69,000 in 1972 because it cost a lot and people weren’t sure if it would work with their TVs. By 1973, Magnavox decided to keep selling it because people kept asking for it. They made new games and even ran ads with famous singer Frank Sinatra. The Odyssey became popular in many countries, and by 1975, Magnavox had sold hundreds of thousands of them around the world.

Legacy

The Magnavox Odyssey was the first home video game console. It stopped being made in 1975 because it became too expensive to produce. Magnavox then made simpler, smaller consoles that could only play a few games, like ping-pong.

Even though it didn’t sell a lot, the Odyssey helped start the video game industry. Ralph Baer, who helped create it, was called the “Father of Video Games” and received many awards for his work. The Odyssey is now in the Museum of Modern Art as an important piece of technology history.

Games

The Magnavox Odyssey had 28 games that came on 11 special cards. Thirteen games were included when you bought the console—twelve in America and ten in other countries. You could also buy six more games separately or in a group. These extra games used the same cards but had different pictures and rules on the screen. There was also a special game called Percepts that you could get for free by sending in a survey card. You could buy a light gun called Shooting Gallery, which had four games on two cards. Finally, four more games were sold in 1973. The console didn’t follow the game rules or keep scores—you had to do that yourself.