The Father of the Video Game: The Ralph Baer Prototypes and Electronic Games - Introduction
By the 1960s, millions of Americans had invested in televisions for their homes, but it soon became clear to that this technology could be used for more that passively watching television shows. In 1966, while working for Sanders Associates Inc., engineer Ralph Baer began to investigate how to play games on a television. Between 1967 and 1969, he and colleagues Bill Harrison and Bill Rusch created several video game test units. This result was the “Brown Box,” a prototype for the first multiplayer, multiprogram video game system. Sanders licensed the system to Magnavox. In 1972, Magnavox released the design as the Magnavox Odyssey, paving the way for all video game systems that followed.
Ralph Baer donated his video game test units, production models, notes, and schematics to the Smithsonian National Museum of American History in 2006. His papers are kept in the Museum's Archives Center.
"The Father of the Video Game: The Ralph Baer Prototypes and Electronic Games - Introduction" showing 5 items.
TV Game Unit #1, 1967
- Description
- From this assemblage of metal, wires and glass tubes, the future of video games would be built.
- In 1966, while working for Sanders Associates Inc., engineer Ralph Baer began to look into new ways to use television, focusing specifically on interactive games. In 1967, he created the first of several video game test units. Called TVG#1 or TV Game Unit #1, this device, when used with an alignment generator[hyperlink], produced a dot on the television screen that could be manually controlled by the user. Now that he was able to interact with the television, Baer could design increasingly sophisticated interfaces and programs.
- TV Game Unit #1 was designed by Baer and built with the assistance of Bob Tremblay, a technician who worked with Baer at Saunders. Though transistors were available, Baer, who had received his bachelor’s in television engineering, choose to use the familiar and proven technology of vacuum tubes for this early test unit.
- Like all the Ralph Baer prototypes, TV Game Unit #1 was used as evidence in many patent infringement cases. It still bears many of the court exhibit labels left over from these trials, as may be seen from the photograph.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1966
- inventor
- Baer, Ralph H.
- patent holder
- Baer, Ralph H.
- ID Number
- 2006.0102.01
- accession number
- 2006.0102
- catalog number
- 2006.0102.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
The Pump Unit, 1967
- Description
- The first video games were played on this machine.
- With the use of changing screen color and moving dots, TV Game Unit #2 allowed two players to compete against each other in seven different games. These games included a variety of chase games, a target-shooting game, and games that required the wooden handle attached to the unit’s lower right hand corner (see photograph). The handle was moved up and down, like a pump, in the course of certain games. In honor of this unusual game play, TV Game Unit #2 was rechristened “The Pump Unit.”
- Baer and his team demonstrated the "Pump Unit" to Sanders senior management on June 15, 1967. The presentation was successful and now the team had a new goal: to turn this technology into a commercially viable product. After a few years and numerous test and advancements, Baer and his team delivered the “Brown Box,”[hyperlink] a prototype for the first multiplayer, multiprogram video game system. It would be licensed to Magnavox, who released the system as the Magnavox Odyssey[hyperlink] in 1972.
- Like all the Ralph Baer prototypes, the "Pump Unit" was later used as evidence in many patent infringement cases. It still bears many of the court exhibit labels left over from these trials, as can be seen from the photograph.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1967
- patent holder
- Baer, Ralph H.
- inventor
- Baer, Ralph H.
- ID Number
- 2006.0102.03
- accession number
- 2006.0102
- catalog number
- 2006.0102.03
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
The Brown Box Program Cards, 1967–68
- Description
- These oddly cut index cards are actually programs for the very first video games.
- These program cards were used with the “Brown Box,”[hyperlink] prototype for the first multiplayer, multiprogram video game system. Users of the "Brown Box" could play a variety of games by flipping the switches along the front of the unit. The games included ping-pong, checkers, four different sports games, target shooting with the use of a lightgun[hyperlink] and a golf putting game which required the use of a special attachment[hyperlink].
- To play these games, the user placed one of these program cards between the two sets of switches on the "Brown Box" (as you can see in the picture). The dots on the card indicated in which position the switches should be set. Magnavox licensed the "Brown Box" and released the system as the Magnavox Odyssey[hyperlink] in 1972, with the switch system replaced by a plug-in game slot and plastic program cards.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1967
- patent holder
- Baer, Ralph H.
- inventor
- Baer, Ralph H.
- ID Number
- 2006.0102.05
- catalog number
- 2006.0102.05
- accession number
- 2006.0102
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
TV Game Unit #8, 1968
- Description
- What do you do after you invent the video game? Try to make it better!
- While preparing their video game system prototype, the “Brown Box”[hyperlink] to be presented to potential investors, Ralph Baer and his colleague Bill Harrison created TV Game Unit #8. They wanted to demonstrate a more advanced technology that would allow the user’s paddle to determine, in the direction and speed of the game ball, when the two would collide. This would allow for games such as baseball and more realistic hockey game play.
- This TV Game Unit #8 interfaced with the "Brown Box," but proved too expensive to pursue in these early stages. Since it was not going to be shown to investors just yet, it was never covered with brown wood grain self-adhesive vinyl to match the "Brown Box." A few years later, this technology was key when Baer and his colleagues started to design and build arcade games.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1968
- patent holder
- Baer, Ralph H.
- inventor
- Baer, Ralph H.
- ID Number
- 2006.0102.07
- catalog number
- 2006.0102.07
- accession number
- 2006.0102
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
The Brown Box Golf Game Accessory, 1968
- Description
- This strange-looking contraption was actually used to play an early video game.
- To play the golf game on the “Brown Box,”[hyperlink] a prototype for the first multiplayer, multiprogram video game system, Baer and his colleagues mounted a golf ball on a joystick handle. This allowed the player to use a real golf club to practice his or her putting skills. Magnavox licensed the "Brown Box" and released the system as the Magnavox Odyssey[hyperlink] in 1972. Though it was never produced commercially, the golf accessory was covered with brown wood-grain, self-adhesive vinyl so that it would match the "Brown Box."
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1968
- patent holder
- Baer, Ralph H.
- inventor
- Baer, Ralph H.
- ID Number
- 2006.0102.11
- accession number
- 2006.0102
- catalog number
- 2006.0102.11
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center