The idea for a video game console was conceived by Baer in August 1966. 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 console cannot generate audio or track scores.
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. 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.
The Odyssey consists of a white, black, and brown box that connects to a television set, and two rectangular controllers attached by wires. Baer at Sanders Associates, while Magnavox completed development and released it in the United States in September 1972 and overseas the following year. The hardware was designed by a small team led by Ralph H. The Magnavox Odyssey is the first commercial home video game console.
