Magnavox Odyssey Video Game Unit, 1972
date: label: Date made
content: 1972
name: label: inventor
content: Baer, Ralph H.
label: manufacturer
content: Magnavox Company
notes: label: Description
content: When most people think about the first video game, they think of Pong, the ping-pong arcade game released by Atari in 1972. However, months earlier, Magnavox had released its Magnavox Odyssey, a home video game system based on the <a href="http://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/search/object/nmah_1301997">“Brown Box,”</a> a prototype invented by Ralph Baer. Additional games and accessories, like a lightgun, were sold in separate packages.
label: Description
content: Since the Odyssey had limited graphic capabilities and displayed only a few small white blocks and a vertical line on the screen, Magnavox included translucent color overlays to provide settings and layouts for the games. Perhaps most surprising to modern gamers, the Odyssey also came with nonelectronic game accessories such as dice, decks of cards, play money, and poker chips. These accessories were possibly included to make the Odyssey more like the physical games that existed at the time.
label: Description
content: With approximately 350,000 units sold, Magnavox Odyssey was not considered a commercial success, especially in comparison with Pong’s runaway popularity. Among the contributing factors, poor marketing played a large role. Many potential consumers were under the impression—sometimes encouraged by Magnavox salesmen—that Odyssey would only work on Magnavox television sets. Despite these setbacks, Magnavox Odyssey made its mark by starting the video game console industry.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Computers
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content: Popular Entertainment
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content: Baer
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content: Family & Social Life
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content: Computers & Business Machines
publisher: label: Related Publication
content: Baer, Ralph H.. Videogames: In The Beginning
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Ralph H. Baer
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2006.0102.08
label: catalog number
content: 2006.0102.08
label: accession number
content: 2006.0102
objectType: label: Object Name
content: video game system
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: plastic (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 3 3/4 in x 16 1/2 in x 16 1/2 in; 9.525 cm x 41.91 cm x 41.91 cm