The Magnavox Odyssey is the first commercial home video game console. The machine was manufactured by Magnavox and released in September of 1972. The console consists of a black, white and brown box that connects to a regular television set. It comes with two rectangular controllers that are attached to the machine by wires. The console can display three square dots and one straight line of variable height on the television in black and white. The different games determine the function and the behavior of the dots on the screen.

To add more detail to the games, players could place plastic overlays on the tv screen for various extra visual elements. The console did not produce any sound, nor did it keep score, this was up to the players themselves to do by means of pen and paper. The knobs and buttons could be used to control the dots on the screen, and depending on the type of game played the behavior changed.

Magnavox later released a light gun, that could be used in a sort of shooting gallery. The player was to aim the light gun on a moving dot on the television set, and pull the trigger.

The idea for the Odyssey was from Ralph H. Bear. He created seven prototypes with his associates Bill Harrison and Bill Rusch, and only the seventh prototype was put into production by Magnavox. The designers had shown the prototype to several other manufacturers, but ultimately went with Magnavox. The company sold 69 thousand units in the first year of production. By the time the machine was discontinued in 1975, 350,000 units had been produced and sold.