In 1966 Ralph Baer, Chief Engineer for Equipment Design at the defense contractor, Sanders Associates, began to create a technology where a game could be played on a television monitor. One year later, this became a reality when Baer and his team created a simple game consisting of two dots chasing each other around the screen, known as Pong.

The government continued funding the — now top-secret — Brown Box project as a military training tool. Baer’s team continued their innovations improving the tech and also creating the very first video game peripheral — a light gun that would work with the TV system.

As it says in the manual, “With Odyssey you participate in television, you’re not just a spectator!”

From the Brown Box to the Odyssey

The plan to use the Brown Box for military training didn’t quite work out. Six years later, the top-secret status was dropped and Sanders Associates licensed the tech to electronics company Magnavox. The Brown Box was renamed, slightly redesigned and released as the very first gaming console system for the home market--the Magnavox Odyssey--and an industry was born.

In 2006 President George W. Bush presented Ralph Baer with the National Medal of Technology award for inventing the home video game console.

The Basics

Year of Release: 1972

Manufacturer: Magnavox

Creator: Ralph Baer

Original Packaging

The original Magnavox was packaged with:

Master Control Unit.

2 Player Control Units.

Game Cord.

Antenna-Game Switch with mounting hooks.

2 sized sets of 11 Overlays for medium and large television screens.

6 Game Cards.

Multiple games and scorecards.

Master Control Unit

The original Odyssey was a battery-powered rectangular unit with a front-loading game card slot. The back housed ports for the two controllers, the light gun rifle accessory and the audio/video RF Cord. On the bottom, sat the center control knob which adjusts the graphics display and a compartment for 6 C-cell batteries with a Channel 3/4 switch inside. The side base also had a small external jack for a power adaptor (sold separately).

One end of the game cord plugged into the Master Control Unit and the other into the Antenna-Game Switch.

Player Control Units

Unlike the joystick or modern controllers, the Player Control Unit was square and designed to sit on a flat surface. At the top sat a reset button with the control knobs placed on the sides, and an English Control (EC) node at the end of the right knob. The knobs controlled the vertical and horizontal movement of the “paddle”, while the EC adjusted the “ball.” To place the ball in the center of the screen, you turned the EC to the raised mark indicator.

The system was designed to accommodate two players. A multiplayer game was activated by pressing the reset button on the second Player Control Unit.

Game Switch Antenna

This type of switch was common in the '70s and '80s but became obsolete with today’s modern units. TVs used to receive their signals from a wire connection through the VHF terminals. To install the switch, you disconnected the antenna’s U-shaped wires from the VHF terminal, attached them to the connection screws on the Antenna/Game Switch, then took the lead from the switch and connected it to the TV's VHF terminals. When you flipped the switch from Antenna to Game, the signal from the Odyssey went to the TV.

Graphics and Screen Overlays

The only graphics the Odyssey offered were white dots and lines. Although the games didn’t have background graphics, the system came with transparent screen overlays. These stuck to the screen and were used as color backgrounds for the games. Some of the games could be played without a background, such as table tennis, while others required them.

The system came packaged with two sets of differently sized overlays. The large was for 23 and 25-inch TVs while the medium ones were for 18 to 21-inch screens.

The overlays included:

Anologic

Cat and Mouse

Football

Haunted House

Hockey

Roulette

Simon Says

Ski

States

Submarine

Tennis

Game and Score Cards

The system lacked any writeable memory to track scores and not enough graphics capabilities to generate elaborate text, so many of the games required the use of game or scorecards, like those used in board games. Because these additional accessories were often discarded or lost, it is extremely difficult to find a complete Odyssey system, today.

Game Cards and Cartridges

The game cards also doubled as the power switch for the Master Control Unit. Placing the game card firmly into the Game Card Slot turned the system on, so you had to be sure not to keep the card in the unit when you were done playing or you'd drain the batteries. Each Game Card could be used for multiple games when combined with different Overlays.

The system came packaged with six Game Cards:

#1 Table Tennis

#2 Ski, Simon Says

#3 Tennis, Analogic, Hockey, & Football Part 1 (for passing & kicking)

#4 Cat and Mouse, Football Part 2 (for running), Haunted House

#5 Submarine

#6 Roulette, States

Because the Football game was split between two cartridges, (one for running, the other for passing & kicking) plus the Odyssey had no save feature, you needed to keep track of your score and positions using the included game and scorecards, as you switched between cartridges on the console.

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