If you were familiar with video games, you would naturally assume the carts were the games. If you were transported back to 1972 and unboxed an Odyssey, you would find a console, six carts (as they called the cartridges back then), two controllers, a large instruction manual, a set of plastic overlays for the television screen, and other supporting materials.

In some ways, the Odyssey was just ahead of its time. Rather than looking at the Odyssey in stark binary terms such as success or failure, it is useful to look at its unappreciated features and attributes-many of which found their way into future games and game consoles. However, the Odyssey did not capture the public imagination the way that Atari did, and the Odyssey line did not continue after its successor, the Odyssey². A demonstration of its table tennis gameplay earlier that year provided the inspiration for Atari’s Pong, the popular arcade game and eventual home console, which was trialed shortly after the release of the Odyssey. Sold over a period of three years in the United States, the Odyssey has been described as a success or a failure depending on the metrics used. In September 1972, the Magnavox Odyssey appeared in American Magnavox stores, making it the first video game console that could be played at home with your television. The Magnavox Odyssey with its cover box, controllers, and carts.

Magnavox odyssey 2000