Magnavox Odyssey
The first home video game console, sold from 1972, built from analog circuits without a microprocessor.
Ralph Baer began sketching ideas for playing games on a television set in 1966 while working at Sanders Associates. His 'Brown Box' prototype of 1968 led to a license with Magnavox, which sold the system as the Odyssey beginning in 1972.
The Odyssey had no processor and no software in the modern sense. Players inserted circuit cards that changed which signals the machine produced, and taped plastic overlays to the television screen. Games included table tennis, which impressed Atari's Nolan Bushnell and was part of a patent dispute that Magnavox later won.
Why it matters
The Odyssey established the home console as a product. Magnavox's patents on its ideas earned the company money from later game makers, and Baer is often called the father of video games.
Key facts
- Released in 1972.
- Used plastic overlays on the television screen.
- No microprocessor; built from analog and discrete parts.
- Magnavox licensed Baer's patents and sued other game makers.
Sources
- Campbell-Kelly, Martin, and William Aspray, et al. Computer: A History of the Information Machine. 3rd ed. Westview Press, 2013.
- Baer, Ralph H. Videogames: In the Beginning. Rolenta Press, 2005.
- Kent, Steven L. The Ultimate History of Video Games. Three Rivers Press, 2001.