Magnavox released the first commercial home video game console, the Magnavox Odyssey, in 1972. The company launched it in the United States in September, making the Odyssey the starting point of the first generation of home video game systems.
The console’s underlying technology came from Sanders Associates, where engineer Ralph H. Baer led a team that developed the “Brown Box” prototype. Magnavox agreed to manufacture and market the system, selling it through its dealer network. Unlike later consoles, the Odyssey displayed simple monochrome shapes and had no built-in sound, scorekeeping, or conventional game cartridges.
Players used plastic screen overlays to turn the basic dots and lines into different games. The package also included cards, dice, paper money, and other board-game accessories. One included tennis-like game later became associated with Atari’s Pong, although Pong was an arcade game and was not the same product.
The Odyssey sold about 69,000 units in its first calendar year and approximately 350,000 before production ended in 1975. Its release helped establish the commercial home-console market and led to a long series of patent disputes and licensing agreements involving Magnavox and Sanders Associates.