Introducing My Daughter to the Magnavox Odyssey — Every* Game Console in Order
For the first console entry in the series where I introduce my daughter Sarah to every video game console in order, we have the Magnavox Odyssey.
The Magnavox Odyssey
Released in 1972, the Magnavox Odyssey is considered by many, myself included, to be the first video game console. Some consider the Odyssey to not be a true video game console, as the interchangeable game cards it comes with do not contain any ROM chips or software of any kind, and instead act as jumpers that tell the console how to draw content on the screen. I find this to be pedantic and I do not agree, because from a user’s perspective, a game card is inserted, the game changes, and that’s all that matters.
The Odyssey features the first virtualized sport, “Table Tennis”, accessible to consumers (“Tennis for Two” predates the Odyssey, but was not sold as a consumer product), and predates similar virtual tennis, ping-pong, or “Pong” style games from companies like Atari.
Games on the Odyssey are mostly variations of one to three squares moving across the screen, augmented by screen overlays and a lot of imagination. The game cards often work for multiple games, for example game card 3 being for Tennis (slightly different from Table Tennis on game card 1), Hockey, Football, and Analogic.
Going into this, I thought the simplicity of Odyssey games and their variations would make it simple for a toddler to grasp. I figured if she could grasp the basic functionality of one game, the slight variations in the other games would be easy to understand and adapt to.
Sarah and the Controller
While the games on the Odyssey are simple, the controller is rather complex, and this ended up being something Sarah struggled with in her time playing with the Odyssey. The Odyssey came with two controllers and most games require two players. Each controller has three knobs, one on the right to control vertical position and two on the left to control both horizontal position and “English” (curve/spin on the ball in various games), and a “Reset” button on top. Controlling the on-screen paddle/character on the Odyssey is similar to moving the cursor on an Etch A Sketch; coordination between both knobs is required.
It took Sarah, 3 years old at this point, quite a while to grasp the coordination needed to move the paddle on screen. She quickly understood that pressing the single “Reset” button on top launches the ball in tennis games, but moving the paddle on screen was difficult for her. She was able to figure out that the big knob on the left (horizontal movement) and the knob on the right (vertical movement) did something on the screen but she was unable to put together that both can be used simultaneously to move the paddle anywhere on screen, similar to how one would draw on an Etch A Sketch (note, she has never used an Etch A Sketch before). The “English” knob on the left, which controls spin/curve on the ball in tennis-based games, seemed to confuse her more, as its use was not apparent in most games. The English knob seemed to be more of a distraction than anything and appeared to cause her some frustration. While it was immediately apparent that something happens on screen when you move any other knob, or press the “Reset” button, turning the “English” knob only has an effect on the ball when it is in motion and visible, so not seeing the result of her input likely led to confusion and frustration.
After a few play sessions, I began coaching her on what each knob and button does, first showing her what I was doing, showing what it does on the screen, then holding and moving her hands while explaining to demonstrate how to move across the screen and play various games, mostly “Table Tennis” and “Tennis”. After this, and a few more play sessions, she was eventually able to understand that not only was she doing something on screen with each input, but she was in direct control of when that “something” happened and was aware of how her speed affected the movement of the paddles on screen. She was able to understand that when turning a knob slowly, she could see the paddle move slowly, and when she turned it fast, the paddle moved fast. I watched her play with this speed discovery for most of her play sessions, but it did not appear that she really understood how turning the knobs affected the axis the paddles traveled on, or how they can be moved together to move diagonally. She understood that she was in control of the paddle on screen, but she did not appear to understand how to move it with any amount of precision or understanding of direction.
This confusion caused by coordinating each knob to move on the screen, and the “English” knob existing at all, made me think that when she tries Pong (Atari), she may have a much easier time grasping the controls and concept due to its simplified control scheme, only having one knob instead of three, and only allowing for vertical movement.
The Games and Overall Experience
Sarah played with the Magnavox Odyssey for around a month. Her experience has been mixed, and while she was able to understand that she was in direct control of something on the screen, she was never able to accurately move her paddle/character on-screen. Because of this, she was never able to hit the ball on her own in “Tennis” or “Table Tennis” and was unable to grasp the concept of either of these games.
The Odyssey comes with several games, most of which have complex rules and require physical pieces, for example chips for the “Roulette” game and playing cards for “Football”, but we eventually made our own rules for simplicity. The game Sarah seemed to enjoy the most was “States” (she was really into states at this time), where a US map overlay is placed on the TV, one of us (usually me) picks a state, and the other says the name of the state.
These asymmetrical games worked best for her, as she really struggled to use the controller. She was always eager to play and would ask to “play games” throughout the day, so playing games like “States”, where she could participate by pointing or talking, were great for us.
Another issue Sarah experienced was with the paddle/character moving off the screen. As seen in the image below, the Player 2 paddle is off the screen. Players can move their paddles/characters rather far off screen and are not bound by screen dimensions, likely due to simplicity of the hardware. This means that it is easy to lose your paddle off screen if you are unfamiliar with the controls, or you’re a 3-year-old testing the limits of the controller.
Overall, Sarah seems to have enjoyed her time with the Odyssey, but her enjoyment appears to have been greatly limited by the controllers. She did not fully pick up on the controls, appeared slightly frustrated at times due to coordination, and was not able to understand how the games work because of it. The Magnavox Odyssey is an old console and pioneered many new mechanics, but I believe the complex controller was a bit too ambitious for the simplistic content the console was able to output. At least, for a 3-year-old.
What’s Next
I am a little out of sync with posting, as Sarah has already moved on to her next game console, but I hope to improve my frequency of posting soon. Up next, I will discuss Sarah’s experience with the home release of Atari’s Pong, a dedicated game console with no interchangeable cartridges, but significant in gaming history.
