The Odyssey system its design :. The Odyssey was packed in a large two-level styrofoam box. The lower level contained the system, the two hand controls, the RF cable, the switch-box in its own black Magnavox box, a pile of paper money and a roll of scotch adhesive tape.
Customers could also buy a special carrying case , an AC adaptor, the Shooting Gallery pack electronic rifle , and up to ten additional games. When stored in the carrying case, the overlays were rolled up and stored in the upper part. A special free game called Percepts was also mailed to customers who registered their Odyssey. There are several variants of the Odyssey, the rarest being the export models.
At least two Odyssey clones existed as well. The Odyssey pictured with the television set on the left is a permanent exhibit of the Wisconsin Historical Society and is set up with the Wipeout add-on game.
This specimen was originally purchased for Christmas Odyssey has also found its place in many international museums Germany, Japan, etc. Other models Rayovac, Magnavox, etc. Remember that a lot of people used batteries with their Odyssey and often changed them, so finding the originals remains very rare. The Odyssey variants between and models, production runs, serials, etc. The following table may be of interest: it shows the variants that have actually been made. This exclusive information was compiled using unique original Magnavox documents from David Winter's collection.
In case of further updates, please do not copy from this page but link to it. The model, serial and RUN numbers are written on the under side of the Odyssey unit as well as on its punched Instrument Inspection Card. The RUN number stands for the production run, which is either 1 or 2.
They mainly differ by small eletronic changes and minor variations of game accessories as listed below. Except for early renewals , renewed Odyssey units had their model updated to 1TLBL99 and a new serial number sticked over the original serials originally sticked inside the unit were left.
Serial numbers start from 06xxxxxx to 11xxxxxx the first 0 was not printed and are not incremental : some starting with 70 can date early August although some starting with 69 can date weeks later.
If you are curious about when your Magnavox Odyssey console was completed, refer to David Winter's Odyssey Dating article. When most of the stock was sold, Magnavox decided to produce another large batch of units i. Minor changes were made to the hardware. The first RUN is either printed on a small white square sticker right to the serial sticker or stamped in red on the serial sticker. The second RUN is always stamped in red.
The B letter means that the batteries were replaced by Magnavox later in in the many unsold units which have been kept in stock for one year or almost. The A letter is obviously rarer than the B but is considered being a typo.
It also does not involve earlier serials than those with the B letter: the only units known to have the A letter were all produced in October Back in the s, the few Odyssey web pages listed two types of consoles: Type A which came with 12 games and Type B which came with 10 games. Several Odyssey units were also found with a red B letter added to their RUN 1 label see above picture. Later, David Winter found that the Type B corresponded to an export version. The above pictures show the first production run both in 1A and 1B variants as well as the last model, which only exists in RUN 2.
To learn more about the export versions of the Odyssey, scroll down below. Known variants of Odyssey accessories: The circuit boards of the cartridges can be made of beige epoxy or bakelite brown or dark brown. Both types were used since and are sometimes mixed. The hand controls originally had glossy labels, but they were later replaced by mat ones.
The screens on the user manual cover were originally pink. Red ones replaced them in late For this reason, late specimens may have either colors. Export units have a slightly darker red color. The stickers were originally provided on a single sheet. When present, the Magnavox logo on the front side indicates a specimen early specimens may not show it. Operation of the Odyssey:.
The operation of the Odyssey is very basic. Most of the games used special plastic overlays placed on the television screen to simulate the background graphics that the system could not draw. Each of the twelve games had two identical overlays in order to fit on a small or a large screen.
Some games used a special scoreboard to mark the scores. Some others used plastic chips, cards, or other accessories such as a pair of dice, small chips and game decks. Several games used the same cartridge. The difference was made by using accessories or by changing the game rules, since the games were mostly played with the accessories rather than with the elementary graphics shown on the screen.
Collectors interested in the complete set of accessories can have a look at the list of Odyssey accessories. Some games even used two or three cartridges: the game started with a specific cartridge and continued with another one after specific events. Since both players are located by the horizontal and vertical controls, turning the system off by changing the cartridge did not alter their positions.
In addition to the games provided with the console, customers could purchase additional games from Magnavox retailers, or order them by mail. Ten different games were released: six in and four in All were available individually or in packs of six. Apex-Magnavox Miami, FL released a special 2-in-1 blue card to play Handball and Volleyball which were available individually from Magnavox dealers or by mail order.
It is possible that this blue card was a bootleg. Shooting Gallery, the Odyssey add-on Rifle:. The original Brown Box prototype allowed playing some games with a light gun. Thus, the Odyssey had a special connector to plug in a rifle which allowed playing four extra games using two additional cartridges 9 and This rifle pack is called Shooting Gallery.
Because of its limitations, the system could not determine whether the rifle was pointed to the television screen, so one could point it to a light bulb, thus simulating a true shot on the screen.
The picture below shows the four games included with the Shooting Gallery pack. Credit: unknown eBay auction. Misc Odyssey pictures and videos:. Various Odyssey pictures can be seen on another page by clicking the pictures below. How the Odyssey sold in the USA:. Odyssey was first announced to the public in May Although a couple pre-production units were distributed in May for demonstration purposes, the production started in August.
Nationwide advertising of this system on television and radio resulted in a real success: over , Odyssey and over 20, rifle packs were made in Perhaps this was done by Magnavox to increase the sales of their own name-brand TV sets, but persistent rumors to this effect confused potential customers and did not help sales. The system was removed from the stores in late and replaced by two new, simpler models: the Odyssey and Odyssey As can be seen in the advertisements below, Magnavox made significant discounts to sell more Odyssey units.
The very first law suit in the history of video games:. Sanders Associates and Magnavox successfully sued Atari, though in truth Baer and the companies saw any kind of video game an infringement on the patent and later sued manufacturers like Nintendo, often winning. Baer later invented the Simon interactive tabletop game. While there was an optional AC power cord available for purchase separately, Magnavox expected that most consumers would power the Odyssey using six C batteries that were included with the system.
The Odyssey was incapable of rendering complex graphics; instead, it used two bars of light manipulated by the controllers, and backgrounds were left up to the included plastic overlays. If a player wanted to play football, for example, they would tape the appropriate plastic over their television set, which was held in place against the screen with static electricity. Possibly feeling as though consumers might want more conventional methods of play, Magnavox included a number of odd accessories with the Odyssey.
The system came with dice, a card deck, play money, and poker chips that could be used with some of the games. Possibly anticipating some parental complaints, Magnavox included at least one educational game with the Odyssey.
In States , an overlay of a map of the United States was placed over the television, with states lighting up one at a time. Players were expected to guess which state was being identified.
They provides a very flexible and tunable system. Here are the modules from the main board separated and set aside. The Odyssey contains eight types of internal modules. Two of them live in the metal RF box we saw earlier.
The others are labeled thus: spot generator, vertical sync generator, horizontal sync generator, gate matrix, flip-flop, and summer board. It sounds like a regular beach party going on in there. This simple box was the first of its kind in the video game world, establishing the template for dozens of similar designs that would follow in the next few decades. The RF switch, which hooks to the antenna jack on the back of a TV set, has one simple function: to allow you to switch easily between watching broadcast TV and playing the Odyssey game console.
The RF switch performs a very simple function, but it shows how well thought-out the Odyssey system was from the beginning. Ease of use was key. To display an image on a TV set back then, the game console had to generate its own broadcast TV signal with an RF modulator.
That was perhaps his most profound innovation. We hope it will bring you and your family many hours of pleasure. The Odyssey was a resounding success, selling over , units worldwide. It launched a line of Magnavox home consoles and dozens of clones. Its underlying patents proved very lucrative.
And perhaps most important, it directly inspired Pong, the game that launched Atari. So please join me in wishing Mr. Baer a very happy belated birthday.
0コメント