The Magnavox Odyssey a Worlds First

The Magnavox Odyssey was the world first video game console. Tested in 1972 and released that same year beating Atari with its Pong game. You may recall Ralph Baer who had a working prototype by 1968.

Unlike the consoles of today the Magnavox Odyssey was powered by batteries and lacks sound capability, something that the Pong systems had corrected years later. The Odyssey uses a type of removable card that inserts into a slot sort of like a typical cartridge slot. These do not contain anything other than a series of jumpers between pins of the card.

Due to poor marketing the console was not received very well. Customers believed that the Odyssey would not work on their TV unless they had a Magnavox brand television. Pong versions later would say “Works on any television set, black and white or color” to let people know.

Total of 30 odd games were released for the Magnavox Odyssey from 1972 – 1975 titles such as: Baseball, Basketball, Brain Wave, Dogfight, Fun Zoo, Invasion, Shootout, Haunted House and many more.

Here’s a 70’s commercial for the Magnavox Odyssey.