Ralph H. Baer

Ralph H. Baer was a German-American inventor whose work on interactive television games led to the Magnavox Odyssey, the first home video game console.

Magnavox Odyssey: A 1972 home video game console that displayed simple games on a television. Baer’s team developed this console from its experimental television-game prototypes.
Television game: An electronic game that uses a television screen to display its playfield or action. Baer’s central idea was to make ordinary television sets interactive.
Sanders Associates: A New Hampshire defense electronics company where Baer developed early television game prototypes. Baer pursued his interactive television project while working at this company.
Bill Harrison: An engineer who collaborated with Baer on early television-game prototypes. Harrison helped build and test the systems that developed into the Brown Box.
Simon (game): An electronic memory game that challenges players to repeat sequences of colored lights and tones. Baer co-invented this standalone electronic game after his console work.
Home video game console: An electronic device designed to run video games on a television at home. The Odyssey established a commercial form of home console gaming.
Light gun: A pointing device that detects light from a screen to register a player's aim. Baer helped develop a light-sensitive shooting game accessory for the Odyssey.
Magnavox: An American electronics company that marketed the Odyssey home video game console. Magnavox licensed Baer’s television-game technology and brought it to market.
Bill Rusch: An engineer and game designer who collaborated with Baer on television-game development. Rusch contributed game concepts and engineering to Baer’s prototype project.
Odyssey light gun: A Magnavox Odyssey accessory that registers shots aimed at light-sensitive targets on a screen. It extended Baer’s television-game system with a distinct shooting interaction.

Linked from 11 pages