View Single Post
  #12  
Old 12-20-2016, 06:57 PM
AdamAnt316's Avatar
AdamAnt316 AdamAnt316 is offline
Collector of heavy things
 
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: MA
Posts: 140
I know this thread is a bit old, but I'll throw my hat in the ring anyway...

I managed to find an original Magnavox Odyssey at a hamfest, of all places, a couple of years ago for $125. It came with the controller boxes, the 'cartridges', the overlays, and most of the accessories which go with it. I have only played it fairly briefly, but found it rather fascinating, given that they were able to manage a decent amount of gameplay from extremely limited graphics (two player-controlled squares, a bouncing square 'ball', and a line on the screen).

In addition, I also own three of its follow-ups: an Odyssey 100 (still in its original box!) and an Odyssey 300 (signed by its inventor, Ralph Baer; more on that below), and an Odyssey^2 (a later follow-up meant to compete with the Atari 2600). I also own some Atari Pong home systems (Super Pong and Super Pong Ten, plus a Sears Super Pong IV which was made for them by Atari), and a number of Pong clone systems made from the mid '70s to the early '80s. They might not be as capable as the systems which came later, but they still provide a fair amount of amusement.

A few years ago I, along with members of the antique radio club I belong to, got to meet the inventor of the Odyssey (and home video gaming in general), Ralph Baer. The conversation was quite fascinating; among other things, he talked about his days in the radio repair business, his service in the military during WWII, coming up with the concept of playing games on a home television, and his design work on toys and whatnot afterwards. In addition, I got to play against him on one of the replicas of his "Brown Box" prototype he'd had made for museums (the original protos are in the Smithsonian, of course), and was schooled handily by the master!

A few months later, Ralph gave an excellent talk at one of the radio club's swapmeets. I had my Odyssey 300 set up there (I didn't yet own an original Odyssey at the time), and a fair number of people played it, including some kids. When I mentioned this to Ralph, he said that "A game is a game." Sadly, he passed away a couple of years ago. I feel privileged to have been able to meet him, and am proud to own some examples of his creations.
-Adam
__________________
Visit my site!

Stereo: Pioneer SPEC-4, Pioneer SPEC-1, Kenwood KT-7500, Dual 1219, Nakamichi BX-100, Pioneer PD-M60, Paradigm Studio Monitors
Reply With Quote