This article is about the first Magnavox Odyssey console in the series released in 1972. For the series of video game consoles, see Odyssey series.
Magnavox Odyssey
A Magnavox Odyssey and one of its two controllers
Developer
Sanders Associates
Manufacturer
Magnavox
Product family
Odyssey series
Type
Home video game console
Generation
First
Release date
NA: September 1972
UK: 1973
EU: 1974
Introductory price
US$99.95 (equivalent to about $730 in 2023)
Discontinued
1975
Units sold
350,000
Controller input
Two paddles, light gun
Successor
Magnavox Odyssey 100/Magnavox Odyssey 2
The Magnavox Odyssey is the first commercial home video game console. The hardware was designed by a small team led by Ralph H. Baer at Sanders Associates, while Magnavox completed development and released it in the United States in September 1972 and overseas the following year. The Odyssey consists of a white, black, and brown box that connects to a television set, and two rectangular controllers attached by wires. It is capable of displaying three square dots and one line of varying height on the screen in monochrome black and white, with differing behavior for the dots depending on the game played. Players place plastic overlays on the screen to display additional visual elements for each game, and one or two players for each game control their dots with the knobs and buttons on the controller by the rules given for the game. The console cannot generate audio or track scores. The Odyssey console came packaged with dice, paper money, and other board game paraphernalia to accompany the games, while a peripheral controller—the first video game light gun—was sold separately.
The idea for a video game console was conceived by Baer in August 1966. Over the next three years he, along with Bill Harrison and Bill Rusch, created seven successive prototype consoles. The seventh, known as the Brown Box, was shown to several manufacturers before Magnavox agreed to produce it in January 1971. After releasing the console through their dealerships, Magnavox sold 69,000 units in its first calendar year and 350,000 by the time the console was discontinued in 1975. The console spawned the Odyssey series of dedicated consoles as well as the 1978 Magnavox Odyssey 2. One of the 28 games made for the system, a ping-pong game, was an inspiration for Atari's successful 1972 Pong arcade game, in turn driving sales of the Odyssey. Patents by Baer and the other developers for the system and the games, including what was termed by a judge as "the pioneering patent of the video game art", formed the basis of a series of lawsuits spanning 20 years, earning Sanders and Magnavox over US$100 million. The release of the Odyssey marked the beginning of the first generation of video game consoles and was an early part of the rise of the commercial video game industry.
The MagnavoxOdyssey is the first commercial home video game console. The hardware was designed by a small team led by Ralph H. Baer at Sanders Associates...
The MagnavoxOdyssey 2 (stylized as MagnavoxOdyssey²), also known as Philips Odyssey 2, is a second generation home video game console that was released...
includes the original MagnavoxOdyssey console, the MagnavoxOdyssey series of dedicated home video game consoles, and the MagnavoxOdyssey 2 ROM cartridge-based...
of games for the MagnavoxOdyssey 2 video game console. In the United States the following 47 game titles were released by Magnavox. Alien Invaders -...
number 1,105,924 for telephone receivers. Six decades later, Magnavox produced the Odyssey, the world's first home video game console. On January 29, 2013...
electronic ping-pong game included in the MagnavoxOdyssey, the first home video game console. In response, Magnavox later sued Atari for patent infringement...
Notable consoles of the first generation include the Odyssey series (excluding the MagnavoxOdyssey 2), the Atari Home Pong, the Coleco Telstar series and...
The first console that played games on a television set was the 1972 MagnavoxOdyssey, first conceived by Ralph H. Baer in 1966. Handheld consoles originated...
Fairchild Channel F. This was followed by the Atari 2600 in 1977, MagnavoxOdyssey² in 1978, Intellivision in 1980 and then the Emerson Arcadia 2001,...
GameCube and Wii sales figures. Wii U and Switch sales figures. MagnavoxOdyssey, MagnavoxOdyssey² Philips CD-i Intellivision sold 3 million units. The Sega...
which later became the basis of the MagnavoxOdyssey in 1972. Inspired by the table tennis game on the Odyssey, Nolan Bushnell, Ted Dabney, and Allan...
equipped with an EPOCH TV-1 video processor, uses a 16-color palette. The MagnavoxOdyssey 2 is equipped with an Intel 8244 (NTSC) or 8245 (PAL) custom IC, and...
released in the early 1970s. The first home video game console was the MagnavoxOdyssey, and the first arcade video games were Computer Space and Pong. After...
numerous home video game consoles since the first commercial unit, the MagnavoxOdyssey in 1972. Historically these consoles have been grouped into generations...
generation and the rarest game on the MagnavoxOdyssey 2. It is considered the holy grail of the MagnavoxOdyssey 2 video game system due to its rarity...
Odyssey units sold per year contradict those of official figures disclosed by Magnavox in 1974. 1972 in games "Agreed Statement of Facts". Magnavox Company...
inventions and licensed them to Magnavox, which commercialized it as the first home video game console, the MagnavoxOdyssey, released in 1972. Separately...
Frogger is a 1981 arcade action game developed by Konami and published by Sega. In North America, it was distributed by Sega/Gremlin. The object of the...
for the MagnavoxOdyssey² as Pick Axe Pete!. In Brazil, it was re-branded as Didi na Mina Encantada (Didi in the Enchanted Mine) for the Odyssey. Pickaxe...
beginning of the first generation of video game consoles with the MagnavoxOdyssey, both in 1972). During this time there was a wide range of devices...
board as the MagnavoxOdyssey 300 and the same bottom part housing as the MagnavoxOdyssey. The paddles are larger than those of the Odyssey 300. The console...
generation of consoles were on sale between 1972 and 1980 and included the MagnavoxOdyssey, Telstar, Home Pong, and Color TV-Game. Typical characteristics of...
from 1972 to 1983. The first console of this generation was the 1972 MagnavoxOdyssey. The last new console release of the generation was most likely the...
consoles was introduced with the first generation video game console MagnavoxOdyssey in 1972, using jumper cards to turn on and off certain electronics...
of the final product was granted to Magnavox, a home electronics company, and sold under the name MagnavoxOdyssey. The company was founded in Waltham...
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