Games of the Magnavox Odyssey Trivia Quiz

Answer: Simon Says

While it was possible for "Simon Says" to be a two-person game if the other two split the duties of the controller, it was more commonly played with three people. The overlay had a picture of a young boy with a dog and a young girl with a cat. There were twenty-eight "Simon Says" cards which provided various instructions. The game used Card 2 and was released in 1972.

Due to the limited graphics of the Magnavox Odyssey (often only 1-3 pixels and a line), most games included plastic overlays that would provide additional details.

Answer: Football

"Football" was released with the Magnavox Odyssey itself in 1972 and used Game Cards 3 and 4. The overlay had a gridded football field. The three squares on the screen were the two players and the football. As this release was only in the United States, it was not titled "American Football". Players drew from one deck for information about pass plays, kickoffs, and punts. They drew from the other deck for running plays.

The Magnavox Odyssey was advertised as being suitable for both color and black & white televisions (still a real issue in 1972). This was because the images on the screen were very simple and in black & white. The games also had no sound.

Answer: States

"States" was released on 1972 and used Game Card 6. The game had a deck of fifty cards, one for each state. There were three trivia questions on each card. The overlay had a map of the United States with the states grouped into nine groups based on color. The groupings looked like they were mostly based on time zones. Players might have found the game interesting on its first play through, but compared to some of the other games, "States" might have had limited replayability.

Many of the games often included several extra physical components. In some cases, these may have helped with the "realism" of the game.

Answer: Cat and Mouse

The overlay screen for "Cat and Mouse" had various blue squares marked on a 14 by 11 grid. These represented areas where neither the cat nor the mouse could enter. The cat won by capturing the mouse before it reached home. The mouse won by safely making it home. This game was released in 1972 and used Gane Card 4. As usual with the Magnavox Odyssey,the cat and mouse were represented by large pixels.

Most games for the Magnavox Odyssey were released in 1972 (several packaged with the original system). Four games were released in 1973 packages with the Shooting Gallery gun.

Answer: Roulette

"Roulette" used Game Card 6 and it was released in 1972. The multicolored roulette wheel was on the overlay. Player Control #2 was used to play the game. Only a single pixel was needed to move around the screen. The game came with chips that players would place on an accompanying board to make their bets and players would receive their winnings via paper money. Players were actually encouraged to hand the controller to each other in various positions with their eyes closed to increase the randomness of the game.

The physical system was a brown, white, and black box that attached to the television. The game came with two controllers that had a pair of knobs that were turned to move the pixels on the screen.

Answer: Brain Wave

"Brain Wave" first appeared in 1973 as it was sold separately. It used Video Game Card 3. Brain Wave also used a physical game board. Players attempted to acquire spaces on the board to build a path from one side of the board to the other. They would earn spaces by hitting their opponent on the screen. The overlay of the game looked similar to the game board.

69,000 Magnavox Odysseys were sold in its year of release (1972). 350,000 units were sold through 1975 when manufacture of the Magnavox Odyssey was discontinued. The product was initially sold for $99 (in 1972 US dollars).

Answer: Dogfight

The overlay for the game showed a path for a biplane to follow with certain marked circles on the path. One player would use a controller to move a pixel across the screen following the biplane's path. The other player would use the light gun to attempt to shot the pixel. "Dogfight" used Game Card 9 and was released in 1973 as a package the player could by with the Light Gun. Unlike some other games, the light gun (called the shooting gallery) was not designed to look futuristic, but rather like a traditional hunting rifle.

The light gun and the controllers were the primary way that players could impact what occured on the video screen.

Answer: Ski

The overlay for "SKi" showed the path the player (as skier) would follow down the mountain. The game used Game Card 2 and was released in 1972. The player had to navigate around various flags and hazards. The video game had no capability to record a score or keep track of time--players themselves would do that. Different levels of the game were available.

Ralph H. Baer was the developer of the idea of the Magnavox Odyssey. With associates such as Bob Tremblay and Bill Harrison, attempted prototypes of the game system would date back to the late 1960s.

Answer: Table Tennis

"Table Tennis" used Game Card 1. It was one of the only games for the Magnavox Odyssey that had no overlay for the television screen. The game was simply a pixel representing the ball that players knocked back and forth across the screen with their paddles (represented by additional larger pixels). Table Tennis was one of the inspirations for the 1972 arcade game "Pong".

Designer Bill Rusch would help to design the games that were developed for the Magnavox Odyssey. He also suggested the idea of a third pixel that the game system itself would control (as opposed to the two that were controlled by the two players).

Answer: Analogic

This 1972 release came with the system. The overlay had a 11 by 14 grid of numbers. Certain mathematical conditions would need to be met for a player to move from one square to another. Conditions could include the number being even or odd and the sum of two of the squares. No additional equipment was needed for this game. "Analogic" was located on Video Card 3.

The company itself described the Magnavox Odyssey as the "Electronic Game of the Future". It would eventually be released in several different countries. After 1975, Magnavox attempted selling Odysseys that had specific games hardwired into the system (somewhat similar to the 1975 home "Pong" game. In 1978, Magnavox released Odyssey 2 which had better graphics and did not require plastic overlays.