1972 Magnavox Odyssey promotional film 

for those who would make fun of this. Remember, It was cutting edge technology in 1972. Making something move on your TV screen was amazing in itself!

Didn't know you had to overlay a paper graphic on the TV screen to make gaming more realistic. So was this essentially the first home gaming console that was made available to the public? Did this pre-date Atari?

Thank you pioneers of electronic entertainment to exist! But I've been lucky to discover videogames 10 years later, with the Colecovision. That was a GREAT start.

Thus home video games were born in 1972.

You cant rage quit these games.. the games rage quit you

Woah, this is awesome! Where'd you find this?

Toys that build America brought me here

Games include tennis, table tennis, super tennis, ping pong, crazy pong, tennis pong, super crazy tennis pong...

This was found in storage at an old TV store.  It's one of about a dozen 1970's Magnavox films that I am currently archiving.

When you remember that this was almost 50 years ago, I think you can only imagine how blown people's minds must have been by the fact that there was a glowing square on their TV that they could control at will.

The E3 trailer for Game Card #6 was amazing. Everyone thought it was gonna be another bouncing dots rehash, but then bam it was dots moving in a circle. It was mindblowing.

"When you want to razzle dazzle your opponent" Oh boy!

Im switching from PS4 to this, looks fun

Never in the history of mankind an illuminated Dot has caused such drama.

3:00 First example of cheating, 1972 colorized.

For 1972, this was ahead of its time. Imagine waking up on a rainy Saturday as a kid in the 70's and playing with this, it would be entertaining.

I had one of these. The awesome thing was the way the plastic overlays would stick to the CRT screen. The normal static of the screen would stick them like glue. I will never forget the "English" of the control. It was the only way to beat your siblings on the game. I can't get over the fact that we had the very first home video game ever made. I remember the haunted house and tennis. For sheer weirdness, the haunted house is a classic. I wonder if anyone realized at the time that this would be collectible and keep its resale value?

I wish they would make a game console commercial like this again. In 2018: "What do you do 24 hours a day, seven days a week, while eating hot pockets and avoiding all manual labor? Why it's the new XBOX ONE, brought to you by Microsoft. Set up your master control unit with special game discs. The game discs activate fascinating picture replications on screen!"

Graphics: -5/10 Music: 4/10 Story: 2/10 Gameplay: ∞/10 Overall: ∞/10 (recommended)

RIP Ralph Baer (1922 - 2014)

Side note: the light gun used for the Magnavox Odyssey was manufactured by Nintendo as part of a deal with company to distribute the system in Japan.

"When it comes to going back to the past, you can't go back much more than this" Imagine playing this as a kid then seeing all the games people play nowadays.

50 years... I love watching old technology commercials to see how far we've moved and how exciting tech has become

This is so weird, to see a home gaming console that long ago, during a time when much of Africa was controlled by Portugal, Dark Side of the Moon did not yet exist, and Star Wars was a figment of George Lucas's imagination.

“English Control” looks like cheat button

I remember getting this as a gift. I must have been 8 or 9 years old. I still have this thing ! It obviously has not been connected to anything in 40 plus years but I still have the unit...

Back in days when games were full content and no microtransactions

i dont know why , but watching these old games commercials make me so happy, its a strange feeling.

God Bless you Ralph Baer with out you we would not have all the game consoles we have today such as Magnavox Odyssey Atari NES SNES Sega Genesis PSX PS1 PS2 PS3 PS4 Xbox Xbox360 and every other game console out there!!!. You are not just an Epic Inventor but also a LEGEND! R.I.P Ralph Baer and I hope some day I will have the honor of meeting you in heaven and play a few rounds of Pong on the Brown Box You Have created that Got Video Gaming STARTED!!.

LOL, its just pong renamed 12 different ways.

"Player control unit","Master unit" They really wanted to make it sound technological

Man. It’s crazy how much of a game changer the Atari 2600 was

New favorite horror game: Haunted house. So scary! LOL.

Boy that plastic overlay really made it realistic, I felt like I was at a real match.

Had to laugh when they put that tennis screen thing over the tv.

must of confused the fuck out of people in 1972

can i play GTA5 on this or naw?

“Exciting games” Yeah. That maze game is the most exciting and fast paced game of them all

My Dad was working at Magnavox when I was born (1982) and we had one of these! It was always interesting when he would get out to play with.

Ah yes, my favorite characters of any game, THE DOTS

The age when video games were really challenging.

Forget the Odyssey. Where do I get that wallpaper? It matches the mother's shirt so well, she looks like a disembodied, floating head at times.

still better than my tiger electronics.. if that's possible

I know what's going on my wish list for Christmas!

When a game from 1972 is more polished than some games from 2023:

Man the seventies wear pink

Imagine if you went back and brought them an xbox one or ps4

Me and my sisters Christmas present in 1972! I still remember playing it. Mostly just pong the other games and TV overlays were a bit cheesy. LOL

Wow James Rolfe was right primitive isn't even the word, you might as well be playing with rocks

Crazy how far we've come when you compare this to a PS5 😂😂😂

It was like playing board games with the help of a TV

This is the ultimate troll system. You can steer the fucking ball XD

It is include connection for 4k ?

REST IN PEACE Mr. Baer

That is so innovative!! PS5 and Xbox Series X sucks ass!!! I'm gonna tell my friends about this Beast Maganavox Odyssey, the video game console of the future!!!

This video is a lie! I wanted to buy one of these so I went to my local stores (they didn't specify which one so I went to all of them) and there were no Magnavox salesmen to be found. It doesn't matter anyway. I'm pretty sure my old 50 inch LCD TV is incompatible with the advanced overlay and antenna screw technology. I guess I'll have to settle with my Wii U.

2:52 Ahahahahaha, they actually ADVERTISED the fact that you can steer the ball. You're actually supposed to be able to do that. That's gold.

All these people talking Playstation 5 and XBox Series X are missing out on true entertainment with the perfect real life graphics and absolutely no loading time and no season passes

I had an Odyssey 2, when i was a kid. me and my 3 siblings used to play this console so much. It's my first love far s video game consoles go. My favorite game on the O2 is a K.C. Munchkin variant, called, "KC'S CRAZY CHASE" It wasn't the same as KC's K.C. Munchkin in the fact that you are chasing a Caterpillar type insect. The goal was to eat its body until only its head is left, once you've ate his body, the level was over and a new level would begin. I loved it! It was even one of the very first games, and one of the very few on the console to have voice support! When you finish a level, KC would say things like, "incredible!" and he would laugh loudly, when he would finish a level and wink at you. lol It was so adorable and very entertaining for me as a 6-7 year old. I have very fond memories of this game as a child. There was also another game that me and my brother used to play a lot and i guess i like it but not as much as KC's Krazy chase. It was called, Armored Encounter. It was a battle between two tanks! lol I used to get killed alot by my brother. lol So yeah, i have a soft spot for the old gal, the Odyssey 2. It was for me, like a lot of people, part of their childhood. ^_^ I still enjoy the odyssey 2 via emulation on my Nintendo Wii i modded. The voice isn't supported though, so i don't get the full effect of the game, being i never hear KC yell, INCREDIBLE! OH NO!, HURRY!,WATCH OUT! or laugh uncontrollably. lol Regardless of the lack of voice, playing KC's krazy Chase on my modded wii, its still a way to get my nostalgia fix. ^_^ Thank you for posting this video, it brung back so many fond memories, hearing KC's voice. ^_^

holy fuck, batteries were included in stuff back then?

For being 50 years old it's cool. We've come a LONG way in 50 years

Ladies and gentlemen, video gaming as it was 50 years ago.

It’s amazing how far technology has gone.

From this to PS5 man we really are something...

whoever invented Pong and Oddysey style games created a TRILLION dollar industry.

The quality of this film must of been the 1080p of the early 70's haha

Still great. I wish I had one to collect

The overlays are the ultimate fuck you to technology. They did not have the technology to make more complicated games, but they did not care and worked it out anyway. I think that is really cool.

Whenever I see examples of cutting edge technology like this from yesteryear, I always imagine how much we could blow their minds if we could time travel and show the target audience of the day something that's cutting edge for us today. Like show this same family in this Odyssey ad a promo for Cyberpunk 2077. Their heads would EXPLODE.

Why this happened only 52 years ago, but it feels like it was 500 years ago?

Bruh this was almost 50 years ago

The overlay just nailed it

My rating: Graphics: 1/10 Sound: 0/10 Controls: 3/10 Games: 9/10

I respect this game set unit simply for the reason they were the first to have started the ball rolling , it's unfaiir

Memories! I'd forgotten about some of those games. Never did understand how the Haunted House game worked... but I was young then. I might still have the RF switch somewhere; I know I have one or two from later consoles lying around in a box.

i actually wouldn't mind having this today

Nah. It'll never catch on. I mean, playing games in your television? C'mon!

So futuristic with lots of games to choose from!

I’m calling my game consoles “master unit” from now on

Rip Ralph Baer

When you look at this from the 70s, you'll begin to see that video gaming tech has come a very long way in such a very short time. That makes you appreciate the nostalgia even more.

Td bem q é o iníco dos games etc, mas era bem bizarro. ahahaha

Does this have more stock than PS5?

This doesn't even look real. It looks like an SNL skit filmed through an Instagram filter

This is just pong re-released 20 times over.

Looking at the Odyssey makes the Atari 2600 look advanced

Those who call it primitive or find it funny, remember this is why modern games exist. P.S I aint a boomer but still like retro games

I have no idea why, i did not grew up with any console until some borrowed PS3, but this makes me nostalgic

Yeah, what a stupid game. How dare a game console from 1972 not be like our games in 2022! Our highly advanced games with used up space and transactions to get the most out of it!

is this the first video game console

The xbox series x and ps5 will seem this old and outdated years from now. Imagine that.

Me: *Aw shit it's the box.*

You could've owned this and watched the Apollo 17 moon landing. Live.

this is so fucking hilarious!

Dad: "hey kids, you bored? Let's play with light dots on the screen..."

Where it all began...

Look how the ratio of female to male gamers is 1:1 in the very first video game-related advertisement. You can see video game industry was never meant to exclude women.

“when you want to razzle dazzle your opponent into submission”

Now what do you do when the weather is beautiful outside? Play Xbox and pour Doritos and mountain dew down your gullet

Oh shit, there was a gun and shooting gallery game??! Why didn't we ever get that?? I still have my family's Odyssey packed away in my basement. I have great memories of playing that thing. Still works too.