Magnavox Odyssey 1.71 FAQ 10/29/97 Compiled by Shaun Gegan a.k.a. Loomis loomis@neo.lrun.com Please link and credit me when using the FAQ. Thanks. Inherent Mirth Odyssey Museum http://home.neo.lrun.com/skg/ Searching for info on the Odyssey 600 and 1000. Contributors: (SUPER THANKS !!!) Anthony Leckington Lee K. Seitz Jerry Greiner Van Burnham Matthew Kiehl Some info gathered from: Phoenix: The Fall and Rise of Video Games, by Leonard Herman (Rolenta Press, ISBN 0-9643848-2-5) $19.95 1st edition 1) What is the Odyssey 1? 2) What is the history of the machine's development? 3) Can you describe the Odyssey 1? 4) What items came standard with the Odyssey 1? 5) What additional games were available? 6) Were there any add-on hardware accessories? 7) Are there different versions of the Odyssey 1? 8) Didn't Atari have a hand in the Odyssey 1? 9) What technical information is available? a. replacing the battery pack b. cartridge pinouts and other info 1) What is the Odyssey 1? The Magnavox Odyssey 1 was the very first home video game system. On January 27th, 1972, Magnavox began production on the machine, and the system was released in May. The system was heavily advertised and reportedly sold 100,000 units in 1972 for around $100 each. 2) What is the history of the machine's development? (van@wired.com) In 1966 Ralph Baer, who had immigrated to the U.S. from Germany after WWII, began work on a system roughly based on a game being played on oscilloscopes in research labs. This revolutionary tennis simulation game was invented in 1958 by the late physicist William Higinbotham at the US Department of Nuclear Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory. Higinbotham programmed the "Tennis for Two" game using trajectory paths on an analog computer with two control boxes (each with direction knob and "serve" button) and a 5" B/W oscilloscope screen. He demonstrated the program as an "Instrumentation" display during Visitors' Day at the facility. He never had any plans to market his tennis simulator and chose not to patent the game. Eight years later, Baer, the manager of consumer product development for Sanders Associates (a military electronics consulting firm) further developed the game toward military training. Soon after, Baer recruited engineers Bill Rusch and Bill Harrison to assist with this top secret 'TV Game.' By 1967 the trio had completed a rather sophisticated prototype of a video game console containing both a 'Tennis' and 'Hockey' ball-and-paddle game to be shown to a Pentagon review board. The project remained classified until the Pentagon finally lost interest due to the machine's lack of defense potential. Finally, Baer was permitted to continue development for the commercial market. In 1968 Baer began applying for patents on his invention that, once approved, would entitle them to the exclusive rights to make, use and sell video ball-and-paddle games. All other makers would require licensing to manufacture the games. Later that year, they preview the game to Teleprompter, a NYC cable company, as an interactive cable game system but the company is skeptical. In 1969 the team demonstrated their final prototype for RCA, General Electric, Zenith, and Magnavox for consumer electronics licensing. In 1971 Ralph Baer patented the Television Gaming Apparatus. Patent Abstract: "The present invention pertains to an apparatus [and method], in conjunction with monochrome and color television receivers, for the generation, display, manipulation, and use of symbols or geometric figures upon the screen of the television receivers for the purpose of [training simulation, for] playing games [and for engaging in other activities] by one or more participants. The invention comprises in one embodiment a control unit, an apparatus connecting the control unit to the television receiver and in some applications a television screen overlay mask utilized in conjunction with a standard television receiver. The control unit includes the control, circuitry, switches and other electronic circuitry for the generation, manipulation and control of video signals which are to be displayed on the television screen. The connecting apparatus selectively couples the video signals to the receiver antenna terminals thereby using existing electronic circuits within the receiver to process and display the signals generated by the control unit in a first state of the coupling apparatus and to receive broadcast television signals in a second state of the coupling apparatus. An overlay mask which may be removably attached to the television screen may determine the nature of the game to be played or the training simulated. Control units may be provided for each of the participants. Alternatively, games [training simulations and other activities] may be carried out in conjunction with background and other pictorial information originated in the television receiver by commercial TV, closed-circuit TV or a CATV station. " After an initial deal with RCA falls through, the unit is further marketed and Magnavox is licensed to manufacture and distribute what is released in May of 1972 as the 'Odyssey Home Entertainment System.' On a side note, the system was sold primarily through Magnavox-affiliated stores. Retaillers (and perhaps Magnavox themselves) implied to potential customers that a Magnavox television was required in order to use the Odyssey. This was probably done to increase television sales. But alas, the limited distribution combined with the shady/uninformed retaillers proved to be fatal blunders that ultimately backfired and killed the machine within a year. 3) Can you describe the Odyssey 1? The Odyssey was a very simple machine by today's standards. The unit could not keep score, was black and white, and had very minimal graphic capabilities. Microchips were very expensive in 1972, for Intel had just released the microprocessor in 1971. Subsequently, the Odyssey was designed with only 40 transistors and 40 diodes. To get around this simplistic design the Odyssey's games came packaged with color overlays, which were to be taped onto one's television or stored when not in use. The Odyssey also came bundled with over 300 parts, including cards, paper money, dice, and poker chips. These items helped to improve the machine's aforementioned simplicity. The Odyssey's packed-in games came on six small numbered circuit boards, and it should be noted that these were not cartridges so to speak, for they held no ROMs. These circuit boards merely reprogrammed the machine. (A detailed description of this can be found in the technical section). 4) What items came with the Odyssey 1? Hardware: Master control unit (ITL 200 1of 4 pcs.) 2 Player control units (ITL 200 1of 4 pcs.) Game cord (ITL 200 1 of 4 pcs.) Antenna game switch with 2 hanging hooks (ITL 001) came in its own box. 6 red-label Eveready C batteries Game cards #1 #2 #3 #4 #5 and #6: #1 Table Tennis #2 Ski, & Simon Says #3 Tennis, Analogic, Hockey, & Football (for passing & kicking) #4 Cat and Mouse, Football (for running) & Haunted House #5 Submarine #6 Roulette & States Overlays (2 each, one big and one small for different televisions): Anologic Cat and Mouse Football Haunted House Hockey Roulette Simon Says Ski States Submarine Tennis Standard game accessories: Stick on numbers (642978-2) Football Game board field/Roulette Layout board (642898 0001) Odyssey stadium scoreboard (642964-1) 2 Football tokens (attached to the Odyssey stadium scoreboard) 2 Yardage markers (attached to the Odyssey stadium scoreboard) 20 Pass cards 20 Run cards 10 Kick off cards 10 Punt cards 2 Pass card 2 Run card 2 Punt card 30 Clue cards 13 Secret message cards 50 chips (16 red 16 blue 18 white) with ziplock bag Money (approximately 100 each of $5 $10 $50 and $100) 28 Simon says cards 50 States cards Affairs of states (answer folder) (591549-1) States study map (591550-1) Pair of dice Loose documents: Odyssey installation and game rules book (IB2622-2) 36p ("Run 1 a" and "Run 2") 1972 24p ("Run 1 b") 1974 "How to get service" card (EL2811-2) "Thank you" card (EL3018-1) "Notice" card (EL3028-1) 2 key punch inspection cards A coupon that promised "free games" with registration (Percepts?) 5) What additional games were available? * Fun Zoo, add-on game which came in a black box, 1x 4 x 17 long. #ITL900. Included two overlays, 28 Fun Zoo Cards, and instructions. Used card #2 supplied with base system. * Percepts, add-on game which may have been a "freebie" or included as a pack-in with some systems. Very very scarce. Included two overlays, two decks of 15 Percepts cards (one green, one purple) and instructions. Used card #2 supplied with base system. * Baseball, add-on game which came in a black box, 1x 4 x 17 long. #ITL700. Included two overlays, game board, scoreboard, 26 Line Up Cards (13 Red, 13 Blue), 10 Power Cards, 10 Big Break Cards, 12 runner tokens (4 red, 4 blue, 4 white), a pair of dice and instructions. Used card #3 supplied with base system. * Invasion, add-on game which came in a black box, 1x 4 x 17 long. #ITL801. Included two overlays, 40 Treasure Loot Cards, 300 army tokens, 4 token ships, dice, invasion game board and instructions. Used cards #4, #5 and #6 supplied with the base system. * Volleyball, add-on game which came in a black box, 1x 4 x 17 long. #ITL702. Included two overlays, game card #7 and instructions. * Handball, add-on game which came in a black box, 1x 4 x 17 long. #ITL701. Included two overlays, game card #8 and instructions. * Wipeout, add-on game which came in a black box, 1x 4 x 17 long. #ITL800. "... advance your car along the game board as you complete your laps. you must be fast, but also accurate, as you are timed and penalized by the timer light. (For 2 to 4 players)" Included two overlays, game board (folds into thirds), 25 pit stop cards, four car tokens (small, skinny plastic cars similar to the one in monopoly- red, yellow, green, and blue), and instructions. Used game card #8 (or 5?) and instructions. Electronic rifle games: #9 Shootout, Dogfight, and Prehistoric Safari #10 Shooting Gallery 6) Were there any add-on hardware accessories? Carry case with loading instructions (EL2942-1) AC adaptor (1A9179) output is 9V DC 40 mA Electronic Rifle 7) Are there different versions of the Odyssey? So far, four different versions of the Odyssey have been discovered. The first style is marked "Run 1" on the tab located on the bottom of the machine (attached to the serial number). This machine will be called "Run 1 a". Run 1 a- games (included the corresponding parts): Table Tennis Tennis Football Hockey Ski Submarine Cat and Mouse Haunted House Analogic Roulette States Simon Says The instruction book for this combination is copyrighted 1972 and is 36 pages long. The second Odyssey is also marked "Run 1", but it is marked in red ink from a handstamp over the serial number sticker. This machine will be called "Run 1 b". Run 1 b- games (included the corresponding parts): Table Tennis Tennis Ski Hockey Volleyball Analogic Wipe Out Soccer Submarine Simon Says. The manual is copyrighted 1974 and has 24 pages. Note that games Wipe Out and Volleyball are the same as the add on games of the same name and the parts included reflect this. Missing are the games, instructions, and parts for Football, Cat and Mouse, Haunted House, and Roulette and States. Note that the boxes are also different in that each reflects the corresponding screen shots and names of the enclosed games. The third Odyssey is marked "Run 2", on the tab located on the bottom of the machine (attached to the serial number). This machine will be called "Run 2 a". "Run 2 a" is identical to "Run 1 a". It has the same games and the same 36 page instruction book from 1972! One would think that it would have the later 1974 instruction book but apparently not so. Whether or not "Run 2" used the "Run 1 a" box I do not know. The fourth variation, "Run 2 b" is identical to "Run 2 a" except that the white "Magnavox" logo, which is usually located on the right side of the woodgrain is absent. 8) Didn't Atari have a hand in the Odyssey? Nolan Bushnell attended one of the early Odyssey demonstrations in Burlingame, CA on May 24, 1972. After founding Atari on June 27, 1972, Bushnell and Al Alcorn (his first employee) built the famous prototype coin-op Pong machine and installed it in Andy Capp's, a local Sunnyvale bar. Soon after Magnavox sued for copyright infringement. Although Bushnell insisted that he did not copy PONG from the Odyssey, US District Court Judge John F. Grady was not convinced that Bushnell had conceived Pong prior to seeing the 1972 Odyssey demo and ruled that Atari must pay royalties to Magnavox in order to market its games. A $700,000 settlement was awarded in the first ever video game lawsuit. 9) What technical information is available? a. replacing the battery pack After 25 years of sitting in the attic, basement, or garage, batteries leak. In their nasty little leakage the create havoc for the Odyssey's battery area. This can easily be remedied. You can get these two parts from any decent electronics shop: Caltronics 6 "C" size battery holder #BH-118 $4 Workman battery snap #L11 $1 Even though the battery snap appears to be a normal 9 volt style, it is not. This snap is half an inch wider. You will have to remove the old solder with some solder wick and solder the new snap in place, making sure to allow enough wire length to reach the battery pack. b. cartridge pinouts and other info The following are excerpts from old news group posts, written by Greg Alt. There are no components of any sort on the cartridges, I took out my trusty ohmmeter and found the following: First of all, here's how I number the traces: ----------------- | | | (3) | Front: ----------------- ||||||||||||||||| ||||||||||||||||| 1 22 ----------------- | | | | Back: ----------------- ||||||||||||||||| ||||||||||||||||| 1 22 In the following, 1-2-3 would mean that traces 1, 2, and 3 are connected to each other. Cartridge # Front Back 1 16-20 18-19 6-8 12-13-15-16-19-20 21-22 2 19-20 21-22 3 16-20 18-19 1-2 6-8 12-13-19-20 21-22 4 11-12 17-19-20 14-19-20 21-22 5 11-12-13 16-17-20 18-19 12-13-18-19-20 21-22 6 2-3-5 4-9-10 21-22 9 11-12 21-22 10 12-13 18-19 6-8 11-12-13-18-19-20 21-22 I think I have #7 and #8, but they were buried too deep to get to at the moment. Anyway, as you may have noticed, 21 and 22 on the back are always connected. I would guess that's the power switch. You can see some other common occurrences. Now, if you looked at the docs, you could probably find out what most of the connections do just comparing which ones have the same features and which connections are the same. Also, if you pop open the Odyssey, you could trace the lines and see where they really go. Since the cards are so well labeled inside, I bet you could tell a lot that way. Oh, I am almost certain that the front sides are never connected to the back sides. I tested this by putting a piece of tin foil across all the traces on each side and tested resistance and found that there is no connection. I did this sloppily, so I don't know 100% for sure. Also, doing anything mentioned above or trying to build your own cartridges could fry your Odyssey or the carts. Who knows? (that's a disclaimer in case you didn't notice) Anyway, chips were barely available at the time, and if they couldn't use any chips for the system, they sure wouldn't use any for the carts. Also, if you pop it open, you can see that there are cards that take care of everything (they are fairly well labeled). All that is needed is a few things like whether or not each thing is displayed, whether or not collisions work, etc. My bet is that all you have to do is take an ohmmeter and find which are shorted. Should only take N*(N+1)/2 comparisons to find all the shorts, assuming that is all there is. My bet is that really there is one that gets +5, and then one that always is connected to the +5 (for a power switch), then each of the other traces is either connected to the +5 one or not, creating 2^(N-2) different possible games (N-1 if you count all the ones where there is no power getting to the system. So, it shouldn't be difficult to "program" our own games, though we would have to make our own overlays.