As a period of console history, this has specific relevance in that the first Magnavox console – the Magnavox Odyssey was indeed the very first home video game console – the release of this console saw the birth of the home console industry which is still going strong today, now 50 years and many immense technological advancements later.​

Magnavox were a leading U.S television manufacturer and retailer who, with the help of Ralph H. Bear (08/03/1922 – 06/12/2014) who had impressed the company with his demonstration of his prototype Video Console affectionately known as the Brown-Box in 1971, released the Magnavox Odyssey in the U.S early in September 1972 at a, then, cost of $99 (Circa $560 equivalent cost to your wallet in 2015).

Sales of this console in the US are now considered to have been largely hampered by misleading marketing at the time, that may have incorrectly implied that the console would only work with Magnavox Televisions. Many interested purchasers where put-off, mistakenly believing that the console would not be compatible with their existing TV. Magnavox where not the sole television manufacturer/retailer in the U.S.

This console was then made available, via licensed UK re-sellers, “Wendaford Ltd”, to sell the console in the UK from early 1973. Each console was first modified by Wendaford to work with the PAL television systems.

When this console was being promoted to the markets, prior to release in May 1972, it was seen in operation demonstrating an included game called 'Table Tennis' by Nolan Bushnell of Atari Fame. Nolan Bushnell had seen promise in this game, and proceeded to develop, manufacture and launch his own arcade machine version of the game which he called “Pong”. This arcade cabinet hit the US pubs and clubs in the latter part of 1972, but was not converted into the famous Atari (initially branded by Sears) home pong consoles until December 1975, some 3 years after the Odyssey.

Unlike later machines, there is no dedicated CPU inside the console, just a series of digital computing components. Similarly, the game cards do not contain computer memory or any program code, they were simply printed circuit boards that modified the way in which the console components were used. The console effectively produced white moving squares (either console controlled or via the game controllers) on the black screen, the screen overlays produced the screen image/graphics, in colour for the appropriate game being selected/played.

Board games had already been well established, and a number of the games released with the console where “board game hybrids” where there was still the family board game setting environment, but with the added console interaction as the new “element” of game play. This was the initial way console gaming was being incorporated prior to the technological enhancements in later years.