Magnavox Odyssey

The Magnavox Odyssey is largely accepted as the first video-game console to be commercially sold to the ordinary home. Initially, the concept was born in 1966 by Ralph H. Baer of (military contractor) Sanders Associates, and seven prototypes later created the Brown Box for military purposes. But, this was sold to Magnavox in 1971, which they published as the Magnavox Odyssey ( a project led by George Kent) a year later in 1972.

The Odyssey had two controllers and a switchbox to connect to a television set, the latter of which enabled the owner to flip between the normal TV input and the console’s input, much like switching between two channels. This method is the foundation of accessing a console’s data on a TV screen and persists to console development today.

Furthermore, the Odyssey was powered by six C-cell batteries, provided monochrome graphics, utilized game cards created with printed circuit boards (these functioned as a way to turn the console on as well, so one always had to remember to take the game card out to turn it off) and was fixed with diode-transistor logic (an evolution of the former transistor-transistor logic) circuitry. Color was only an option when using the transparent overlays as backgrounds to play certain games, while other games, such as tennis (which Pong was later based on a few months later) didn’t require any overlay to play. The first video game light gun was also released as another “controller” option for the Odyssey in order to play some of the shooting games the console offered.

In the end, the Magnavox Odyssey wasn’t all that successful, in part due to a failure in marketing. Even so, this console nonetheless pioneered the video game console industry.

“Magnavox Odyssey.” Wikipedia. Last edited, Oct. 11, 2021. Web. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnavox_Odyssey. 

Cohen, D. S. “Magnavox Odyssey - The First Gaming Console.” Lifewire. Last edited, Sept. 25, 2020. Web. https://www.lifewire.com/magnavox-odyssey-the-first-gaming-console-729587. 

“Magnavox Odyssey Gaming Unit, 1972.” Smithsonian. Web. https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/search/object/nmah_1302004.