Ralph Baer, a German-American engineer, created a ping-pong style game.
The Odyssey was manufactured by Magnavox and released in North America in September of 1972. It’s considered the very first home video game console. Ralph Baer, a German-American engineer, created a ping-pong style game. Baer’s creation inspired gaming pioneer Nolan Bushnell of Atari to create his own version: the much more popular and world-renowned Pong, programmed by Al Alcorn.