Magnavox Odyssey gaming console

The Odyssey console laid the foundations for the video game era.
In 1966 Ralph Baer, a US engineer of German descent, filed a patent for a kind of ping-pong game.
This was ultimately granted in 1968.
It was not until 1972 that the game was distributed with a gaming console by Magnavox. Poor marketing meant that although the video game wasn’t a commercial flop, it wasn’t a resounding financial success either. Photo: Jan Braun, HNF