Magnavox Odyssey, the world’s first commercial home video game console, was released more than four decades ago in August 1972. The game console preceded Atari’s Pong consoles by three years.
I remember as a kid getting Magnavox Odyssey for Christmas that year. My sister and I spent hours playing it.
It is funny now to think how primitive the game was compared to what we have today. You had to tape the layout screens to your TV screen, otherwise it just looked like a few white dots on your screen.
The table tennis and tennis games worked pretty well. After you hit the “ball,” you then were able to control it. I mean you could control it as much as anything else. The paddles were controlled with one knob for vertical movement and one knob for horizontal movement. And there was a separate knob to control the “ball.”
Oh, and there was no sound. And you had to keep score in your head or on paper.
Some of the other games did not work so well. We never got the add-on rifle, but the games were fun to play.
We never advanced to getting an Atari as many of my friends did. It would be many years before I owned another video game system. But in 1972, it was fun being on the cutting edge for a short time with the Magnavox Odyssey.
For you kids out there who do not know how good you have it, check out this commercials for the Magnavox Odyssey.
For even more details about the game system, including how it was hooked up to your TV in those days, this promotional video goes into more depth.
Several websites have more detailed information about the history of the Magnavox Odyssey, such as on PongStory.com, GiantBomb, and RalphBaer.com (by the designer of the game).
Finally, a video by the Angry Video Game Nerd does a good job of illustrating how you played several of the games on the Odyssey (but it is not for those who do not like swearing or poop humor).
What was your first video game? Leave your two cents in the comments.
