Page 24 - TORCH Magazine - Issue #20

screen. He originally had the idea in 1951, but no one took him seriously. He was convinced that TVs were underutilised and that they could somehow become interactive, but no one he approached was prepared to listen. Ralph
was eventually able to convince his employer at Sanders, who gave him the go ahead to experiment.
Ralph recalled a time
when he met with a
patent examiner and his
lawyer, where he plugged
the console into the examiner’s TV set and “within 15 minutes every examiner on the floor was in the office wanting to play the game.”
Ralph’s invention had very little to do with the serious business of defence tech, but he convinced them that video games could make money for the company. When he was later asked how he managed to develop commercially successful home video games at a military contractor that had nothing to do with television, he quipped it was “a piece of Jewish chutzpah.” “I just did it,” he said.
After several years of development,
the Magnavox Odyssey (named after the manufacturer that licensed it) was launched for public sale. The concept was very basic compared with today’s advancements, but it possessed a likeness to what has become the familiar set up today: a console that plugged into a television set, with a game cartridge and two wired hand controllers.
Twelve games were included, all
involving a flashing light on screen that was programmed differently for each game. Users would overlay coloured, transparent sheets onto the screen for each activity, enabling games like table-tennis, ice-
hockey, cat and mouse, and more. You could even buy a separate rifle-like accessory to shoot flashing targets. Unlike game consoles today, the makers of the Odyssey thought people would still like some of the things you usually play with in normal board games. So, the system
came with dice, a card deck, and play money that could be used with some of the games.
The success of the Odyssey led to competition from household names like Atari, who brought out their first video gaming console soon after, and Baer’s table- tennis game inspired one of the first arcade games, Pong. Other household names such as Nintendo soon followed, and the video- gaming era had begun.
Baer continued to develop electronic games, including the popular handheld memory game Simon, and home consoles until retiring in 1987.
In 2006, Ralph Baer was invited to the White House where he received a medal from President Bush for his invention and he was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame, four years before his death.
This former Jewish refugee, kicked out of school for being a Jew, is today known as the Father of Video Gaming. His legacy continues today.
wIthIn 15
mInutes every
examIner on
the floor was
In the offIce
wantIng to
play the game