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Hi, I'm pleased to release the first version of Magnavody, an emulator/simulator for the Magnavox Odyssey. Odyssey was the very first home video game console. It languishes in obscurity but it deserves a big re-evaluation imo. Why? 1. Kooky dial devices for a unique gaming experience 2. Weirdly contemporary game design philosophy combing table top gaming with electronic mini games 3. Fabulous internal design (the "cartridge" system is bonkers cool) 28 games were made for it between 1972-75 and there are a smattering of homebrew games made since 2009 It's hard to use physically and takes a different mindset. However once you "get it", it is very rewarding. The aims of this emulator (and simulator): Accuracy, authenticity, accessibility and fun At the moment it only imperfectly plays "Table Tennis" (the first game) but I have special plans for overlays and homebrew. If you know anything about the pin connections on Odyssey let me know! Thanks!

Hello all. I recently purchased an original Magnavox Odyssey and all of the overlays are missing. Unfortunately, I haven't been successful in tracking down some replacements via eBay or any other online website. Does anyone know where I could find these overlays? Is there a place that could print them or is there someway I could make them myself? Thank you in advance for any help you can provide.

*UPDATED 22nd of February 2022* February 2022 update: Sold out! If you are interested in a 2nd run for a unit (or more) please let me know in the thread! I'll consider doing another run in the future perhaps later in 2022! Please PM/DM me if you want to make an order and get quantity confirmed before making a payment! I cannot guarantee now that your order will be fulfilled without confirmation first! I have also removed the list of users who have bought them, but I will keep that list privately. Important notice on what happens after these are sold: I think one of two things can happen if I sell out - both involve a waiting list - the waiting list will likely be years. In one solution I price up a smaller order at a higher cost and bulk buy again - the other solution is we get a set number of buyers who commit to paying me before I place the order. I prefer to do the first but its a numbers game. If I could have I'd have had a 100 produced instead of 50! but I never thought we'd get as far as this. I think it would be fair to say a second order would not total more than 50 again. If I sell out I'll ask the company who produced this batch for a new quote and go from there. Current Timescale and process: 1) I have uploaded a video showing usage, shipping costs are now outlined below. 2) I will post within 1-3 days and give you confirmation of it leaving with an image through PM. 3) We all get to enjoy our multicards! We seem to have had quite the surge in Magnavox Odyssey interest in recent weeks! For a long time I have wanted to get a hold of one of Boojakascha's Magnavox Odyssey Multicard . You can see more about his projects for the Magnavox Odyssey here on his website: http://www.boojakascha.ch/index.php?page=magnavox_projects And also his Youtube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRNVSMZe1V3yUmIA9NGB3kg Where he reviews light guns and light gun games. And also here where he shows off the multicard: My reasons for this project are simple: a) its the closest thing to a "romcart" you can get for the system. b) Boojakascha has provided files for its reproduction, and naturally has had it working on the system. c) Games for the Odyssey is really really rare. I've only seen a handful of games go on ebay since I've got the system myself, and I've failed in all attempts to win any of them. While the base games are ok, a lot of the extra features is unique to the other game cards. This search becomes harder if you are outside the United States. d) If I go ahead with my RPG homebrew, I want everyone to be able to play on the same level without having to hunt for game cards, and also make it an enjoyable experience. If I could include the multicard with it, it would also allow those users the opportunity to enjoy all the features of the original Odyssey, without relying on fighting for ebay rarities. Production of these things is always cheaper in bulk, so what I want to do is to take the cost of buying a big order of them, and then pass on the savings to everyone else. I've been in contact with Boojakascha to ensure that what I get is going to be working as designed before I make the order, but I'm now looking for who might be interested in purchasing one (or more) of these so I can get a good sense of how many I should order. I will be getting at least 20, but the more I can get the cheaper it will be. I've already got quotations from several companies who will be ready to go with the order as soon as I finalise it, so they could be ready to go as early as the end of June. How much will it cost? I'm currently setting the cost per unit at £20/€23/$25 USD/$35 AUS, this includes VAT for production at 20% and delivery to me, and this will not include postage and shipping to you. See below for Shipping Costs. Delivery costs and time? Now we seem to be at the tail end of the pandemic, delivery times and exchange rates seem to be stabilising, I'll now upgrade everyone to "international Standard" for the same price* Both tracked and untracked times is listed as 6-7 working days for anywhere outside of Europe. People in the UK and Europe should receive it in 3-5 working days. To save costs, I'll be using pre used packaging where possible. Based on quantities of 1: United Kingdom: £3 for Royal Mail 1st Class signed for, or £5 for 24 hour Tracked and signed. (Total: £23 or £25) Europe: €3.50 for regular mail, or tracked and signed for €10. (Total: €26.50 or €33) Australia (mainland): $AUS 7.50 for regular mail, or tracked and signed for $AUS 18. (Total: $AUS 42.50 or $AUS 53) United States (mainland): $5 for regular mail, or tracked and signed for $13. (Total: $30 or $38) * For those interested, during the pandemic they split untracked to two standards, really slow and faster. Price changes means I can now offer the faster rate at the same price I charge. Quantities of 2 or more: If you are from United States, 2 multicards will now cost $63 for tracking - this has gone back down by $2 because of recent currency exchange changes. Where would payment be expected? Send money via paypal to acebloke@gmail.com, under friends/family if you can - as you are all my friends, and you are getting this as close to cost as I can afford to. Please state your name and address in the note - and your username so I can tick you off! Don't worry about the amount I receive, I have rounded up costs slightly to compensate for this. If you are unable to use paypal let me know what other potential options you would like to try to pay in. What if I want more than one? Let me know where in the world you live, and I'll give you an updated shipping price. Will this work with the Rifle games? Yes, this was one of Boojakascha's original purposes for making it, I can confirm it works with my rifle set too. What games does it play? You are able to play all the original game card variants for the original Magnavox Odyssey system, and many of the homebrew that has been produced since. Note that some homebrew have custom hardware and one or two have custom game cards; these will NOT likely to be replicated with this multicard without modification (but does appear to be possible). The switches may also help to produce unique effects of merging features of gamecards. When is the earliest this could be ready? I have all the units, but I will individually test them before sending them out for verification. I will send a PM with an image of your package on the day it leaves my house. Dispatch is usually within 48 hours of payment. Have you done anything like this before? Nope! But I always deliver on everything else I've done before, and I'm not going to disappear anytime soon. By taking the hit of the immediate cost myself I'm hoping we can all benefit. Who will receive it first? Not applicable now, I still have some left. If I do run out, I'll consider costing for more units. How will I be able to pay? Paypal is widely used and has always worked for me, but let me know if this is not possible. You can pay by paypal without having an account and using your regular bank details. I will update status for these users as orders is payed/shipped

Hello! I've decided it's finally time to put my very first complete collection up for sale. It took me a little over a decade to start and complete this collection, as well as play through every game (would not recommend). This is a nearly complete Magnavox Odyssey collection with a few odds and ends missing (listed below). These were all tested and played about 3 years ago and were in working order then. I would like to make clear that the sets are in played-with condition. For clarity, that means the footballs and one of the yard markers were detached from the scoreboard. However, they are all included. Photos of the set can be found here (imgbb) Up for grabs: Magnavox Odyssey Run 1 CIB except for: -the box for the switch box -3 states cards -does not have original batteries (will also include the separate power adapter in box) Shooting Gallery Run 1 CIB 1972 Games: Baseball (missing original instructions, received with photocopied instructions instead) Fun Zoo CIB Handball CIB (the side of the box is a little rough, see photo) Invasion (missing: 2 black army pieces, 3 yellow army pieces, 11 green army pieces, 8 blue army pieces [all presumably KIA, RIP]) Volleyball CIB Wipeout CIB 1973 Games (all CIB): Basketball Brain Wave Interplanetary Voyage W.I.N. Percepts (complete but does not have the shipping box) While I won't break-up individual pieces from games, I will sell games individually or as part of a larger package. Happy to consider reasonable offers, including trades. My trade list is short, but sweet: CIB Channel F Checkers, CIB Sears Video Arcade II

I have to send my multicard in the post soon, as my Odyssey is having some repairs done, so I modified a shockbox-style case for a NES, and lined it with anti-static material so that the PCB won't get damaged. Just for fun, I threw together an insert for the case. The file attached is an A3 sized page, and when you cut out the insert, it should fit in a case designed for a NES cartridge. It's nothing special, but just thought I'd upload it here in case anyone wants to use it. @Boojakascha @Mikebloke final draft.tif

Morning all, I’m very close to getting my original Magnavox Odyssey console back to life – I’ve Frankenstein’d together a working power solution from an Atari 2600 after-market power adapter, with a travel adapter and a 3.5mm-to-2.5mm tip adapter. I also got a multicard from @Boojakascha and @Mikebloke (thanks guys ), and got a handle for it from Laserbear The only remaining problem is the video cable. I mentioned previously in this post that original Odyssey RF cables are rarely listed for standalone eBay sales, and looking for other Odyssey pong consoles (100, 200 etc) with Magnavox’s weird proprietary RF connector hasn’t brought me any luck either. So I think the most practical solution would be to solder a new video cable to the back of the console’s main board, and that this cable will probably need to be at least 7 feet long. Question 1 (RF or composite?): In this video (around the 54min20sec mark) That Tim Guy from YouTube, soldered video and ground directly to the console's motherboard but it's not clear (to me anyway) exactly what cable he's using - in the most recent comment at the top of his comments section, he refers to the cable as carrying a composite video signal. And I guess in theory it's possible that the console could maybe generate composite video on the board, and the original external RF box turned it back to RF? But I'm a little bit confused by this as 1) I had always assumed a stock 1972 Odyssey only outputted RF, 2) I thought you could need something like @Boojakascha's mod board to output composite, and 3) later in the video, he appears to de-modulate the signal through a VCR to get to the CRT, which seems to suggest that the console itself is outputting RF. It's not going to make a huge difference to my setup - the Odyssey doesn't output sound, so either way, I'm going to be running a single cable with either an RCA or a coax connector. I have a well-shielded 7 foot RF video coaxial cable from Blue Jeans Cables (Belden 1505A) that I'm not using at the moment - does anyone know if this would be a good cable to use? If so, I could remove one of the connectors, and solder it to the two points on the board, as per the video. Question 2 (Safety) The video from That Tim Guy is quite long, but the relevant part where he displays the cable solution is only from 52m50s to 54m40s I don't know very much about soldering, and this would be the first mod I've tried myself, but I'm a little bit apprehensive because it seems like this should be more complicated than what's presented in the video (which shows that it's as simple as soldering two wires). It seems to me that there should usually be a little more to it than this. If he is pulling the video signal in this way and the youtube video isn't skipping over anything, does anyone have any opinion on whether wiring it directly in this way is creating a circuit that is safe, and not going to damage the console?

Hello I am looking to buy a copy of Percepts more than anything but I am also looking to complete my collection of magnavox odyssey 1 and 2 games. I’d even consider buying a complete collection. If you have any games at all that I don’t please let me know. All i have currently for the odysseys 1 is a complete American system with everything it came with. I need the international system with everything it had and all the single games that were sold. I also need any of the rare games for odyssey 2 but have about 25% of the second consoles games. I’m also interested in the systems and games and systems from radofin and any other of the very early systems predating Atari. Thanks for any help!

Hello folks, I have an old Wonder Wizard I am working on that initially had no video. The unit is essentially a pong machine with a couple of game modes. I took apart the switch box used to convert the odd coax connector it had to the two antenna leads and noticed that the center peg of the coax connector was broken off the board. I re-soldered it on and now I can get a picture but it is decently grainy. From what I had read, the converter box for this thing is the same one used on the original Magnavox Odyssey though I don't know how true that is. I currently have the unit hooked up to a small 1080p LCD TV. Does anyone happen to have experience with one of these units (or an old Magnavox Odyssey) and dealing with a grainy picture? Is it a factor of me trying to get it to work on a modern TV or is there something else I should be looking at to try and clear up the image?

I am interested in buying a non working Magnavox Odyssey. I want the main console itself (the white box).

HI my name is Carlos and i have found an OVERKAL console in a family deposit, i dont know if it works i havent tested it, it seems that is incomplete, it doesnt have the chips or the money, all the 14 transparencies are there, the board too. i want to sell it i have no use for it, even though i´m a gamer i know someone would really like this one for their collection if anyone is interested, fell free to contact me

I’ve had this for the past few years and figured I’d post here for any serious Odyssey collectors who might be interested. The card is complete with the sleeve, instruction sheets, and Apex Manual. It differs from the two documented variants of the card in that it is not solid blue, but rather a translucent turquoise (see pictures for further detail). Besides one that recently surfaced in Brazil, I have not seen another like it. The same goes for the Apex-Magnavox manual. It is a photocopy of the Odisea manual and is probably rarer than the card itself. Until the last few months, I’ve never seen any of these come up for sale during my time collecting. An incomplete “holed-version” of the card sold with an incomplete Odyssey in extremely poor shape for $800+ while another (the one in Brazil) sold for $1200 with a complete set this past December. I also know of another card that was recently sold to a fellow collector for $625 (though it did not come with the Apex Odisea manual). The manual is in beautiful condition with no creases or tears. The card itself has minimal wear. The sleeve has two small indentations on one side and the traces on one side of the card have been imprinted onto a portion of one of the instruction sheets from years of sitting (see the 4th photo for a better idea of what I mean). Due to its scarcity and the prices at which that the last few have sold for, I’m asking $800 OBO for the card and manual. Feel free to visit my eBay listing as well for additional info and pictures: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Extremely-Rare-Magnavox-Odyssey-Apex-Blue-Card-with-Instructions-and-Manual/254819849782

I have a working rifle with everything it needs to play all the games, I have extra overlays from the main games and extra rifle overlays, and then I have three of the extra gAmes from 72, invasion, baseball, and handball, I also have a flattened empty wipeout box. If you’re interested in any of them comment below and I’ll tell you what price I’m thinking!

I’ve had my odyssey for a while now and it’s worked perfectly since purchase, I’ve been using it on a ‘94 or so CRT and just recently bought a Curtis Mathis ‘81 to better fit the era (believe me i looked for a 70s... impossible) but now that it’s hooks to this older tv, it’s grainier (not the main issue) but now the wall won’t show! I’ve heard this being an issue before but it was never one for me so I never knew how to fix it. Also there are so many dials on this tv that I have no clue what they do I’ll attack some images if anyone could help me out

all gone

I'm setting up my Magnavox Odyssey (the original from 1972), and I have a few questions about TV's, given the overlays that are required for the Odyssey games. I have a 40" LED Vizio and the Odyssey works on it and gives a pretty decent image, however given the size of the screen the the bezel is too far for me to safely tape the overlays onto it. The other option for getting the overlays to stay on the TV during game play would be to tape it onto the TV screen itself, would there be any potential harm to the TV in doing that? Or is there some type of tape or adhesive which would be safe for using on the TV screen itself? Another thought I had is that I could get a smaller cheap flat screen TV, I used to have a 26 inch in which the overlays fit very nicely actually, I could possibly get a new TV in the 20-something inch range that would be just for the Odyssey (and since it would be a back up if there were any damage to the screen it wouldn't be too bad). Or would the ideal set up be a traditional CRT TV? Thank you for your thoughts and comments, and I hope everyone is doing well.

We are readying our next release of newly developed Odyssey hardware and games: OdysseyNow Game Pack 2! The largest focus will be on hardware, as this will contain the most consequential hardware add-on in the Odyssey’s history. It will make new games possible, as well as have a major impact on many existing games. We call it the English Splitter. In the original Odyssey controller, three knobs and one button control every aspect of the player spots and the ball. The problem is that the human body only possesses two hands, and thus we can operate a maximum of two knobs simultaneously. This affects every Odyssey ball game, as the hand and brain must “switch gears” from controlling the Vertical knob to controlling the English knob (ball spin). This gap of time involved slows down the games. One of the greatest Odyssey ball games, Volleyball, is terribly hindered by this: there just isn’t enough time to lunge after the ball, hit it, then switch to the English knob fast enough to direct the ball over the net and then down into the opposite court. As a result, the game has to be played on a relatively low ball speed. The English Splitter is a device that plugs into your controller socket (there’s one for the Left and one for the Right; each is electronically equivalent but physically different). Each English Splitter is connected by a cable to a special English Controller, which contains one knob and one button. The Splitter also contains a duplicate controller port into which you plug your original controller. Thus when both Left and Right Splitters are plugged in, you will have four controllers in total. Each Splitter contains a switch that turns the English Controller on or off. When on, it takes over control of the English knob from the main controller (turning the main controller English knob will have no effect, but turning the knob on the English controller will give that player full control over ball spin). When the Splitter’s switch is turned off, full control is transferred back to the main controller. This way you will never have to plug and unplug your controllers and Splitters in order to instantly switch between classic and split modes. In addition, the yellow button on each English Controller allows the holder of that controller to serve the ball. This makes it possible for a single player to, for instance, return the ball to their own side without requiring possession of the other player’s main controller. This can be used in the original game Submarine or the OdysseyNow game Tannhauser Gate, for instance, to greatly ease gameplay. The English Splitter system can also be used to multiply the number of players from 2 to 4. Any ball game can now be played with 3 or 4 players, with English control transferred to a second player on each team. It can be used to great effect in nearly any ball game. Our new version of Volleyball, Team Volleyball, makes full use of this capability: Note: This image is a simulation. Our game comes with a half-height overlay. In addition to Team Volleyball, this game pack includes Danceoff, a new ball game that is meant to be played for the duration of one pop song. It involves attempting to “knock” the opposing side’s dancers off the dancefloor. This game can be played 2-player, but when played with 4 players using the English Controllers, it becomes a team dance in which one player defends the team’s dancers while the other goes after those on the opposing side. The dancers are plastic chips that are physically stuck to the overlay and removed as they are defeated. Before the game begins, players may either choose a pattern for their dancers to occupy or randomly generate their positions with two included, color-coded dice. The third game included in this game pack is a reproduction of the rarest of all original Odyssey games: Soccer. Soccer was only released as a bundled game with some European releases of the Odyssey. Because the Odyssey did not do well in Europe, and not many sets have been preserved, the game is almost impossible to find. We have lovingly reproduced the overlay, instructions, and dual-wheel scoreboard in all of their detail, allowing this game to be played by a new generation. Note, however, that our scoreboard is 85% of the size of the original. We had to made it slightly smaller to be cost effective to produce, and to fit in our tube box. The overlay is reproduced with filled-out corners for a rectangular shape, to better fit more contemporary televisions. However, the original rounded contour is preserved as a thin line in the overlay, so players may cut out the original shape if they wish. The English Splitter sounds deceptively simple, but inside it is anything but: the unique analog nature of the Odyssey makes simple pass-through circuits impossible, and multiple versions of this device failed before a year of development finally lead to the breakthrough (specially implemented diode logic) that made it possible. It is also very time consuming and expensive (using obsolete, discontinued components) to manufacture, or we would be able to make more and charge less! In order to get the most out of Team Volleyball (or even regular Volleyball), this Pack comes with a Wall Height Adjustment kit. This is an optional upgrade. It requires two solder points on the Odyssey’s motherboard, and some hot glue for the final adjustment pot. It is an easy upgrade to perform and comes with fully illustrated instructions. When used with the Team Volleyball overlay, you can adjust your wall height to exact spec. Most Odysseys are well out of spec for wall height, which can greatly diminish this game. This game pack confers a couple of advantages to Tannhauser Gate, for owners of OdysseyNow Game Pack 1. First, you can adjust the height of the open gate with the Wall Height adjustment. Second, the Scan player can utilize an English controller to return their ball without needing to reach over and utilize the Explore player’s controller. We have several more amazing games in development that make special use of the English Splitters. Those will appear sometime in the future. Because our last game pack sold out within a few hours of being posted, we’re trying to manage this release a little more equitably, in two tiers. The notice for the first 10 copies will be posted in the OdysseyNow Facebook group (only), to give that community the best chance of picking these up. We're letting everyone know this in advance, to give you time to join that group and turn your notifications on so you are ready. Once those copies are gone, we'll post elsewhere (such as in this forum). At that time, anyone who wants one will have to let us know (very briefly) why/where/who. We'll give it a few days to ensure that more people will know about this in time, then select the homes we think will be happiest, and then process payments. This will also help us get to know more of you better! We will produce only 15 of these sets in total. Stay tuned to the Facebook group for orders to open soon! https://www.facebook.com/groups/odysseynow/

OdysseyNow Game Pack 2 is now available to pre-order! It includes 3 games, an Odyssey system upgrade, and a set of major new peripherals: Left and Right English Splitters. We've set up a simple Paypal webstore for this, here. We are only producing 15 copies ever of this set. Paypal is keeping track of inventory. It will only take your money if copies are still available! I'll update this post once they are sold out. Read about Game Pack 2 in this thread. For more discussion on this, and early announcements, please consider joining our Facebook group devoted to Odyssey and early video games. We are have produced everything included with this set except for the scoreboard listed below; we are waiting for those to be produced. When we receive them, all orders will ship. It could be in December, or at the latest, early January. All proceeds from these sales go toward funding the OdysseyNow project, to research and develop more hardware and games for the system! Here's the complete list of contents: Left English Splitter set (Splitter Base + English Controller) Right English Splitter set (Splitter Base + English Controller) English Splitter Instructions Wall Adjustment Upgrade kit Danceoff overlay Danceoff plastic dancer pieces (6 red and 6 blue) in velveteen bag Dice X2 (black and red) Danceoff Instructions Team Volleyball Overlay Team Volleyball Instructions Soccer overlay (recreation) Soccer Instructions (reproduction) Soccer dual-wheel scoreboard (85% scale reproduction)

The schematics for the original Odyssey are available online as are the schematics for the Oydssey2. However, I can't find schematics for the Odyssey 100-5000 systems. I'm not sure if my google fu is failing me or if this information really has been lost. If you have any knowledge on where any of these might be found then please let me know. I'm planning on starting several projects with the Odyssey systems and while the original machine should keep me busy for a while, I figured that I should probably think ahead to see what's available for the dedicated machines.

I'm teaching a university seminar on computer archaeology/history, and I and my students have spent a few weeks studying the 1972 Magnavox Odyssey. We've looked at contemporary advertisements, watched commercials, played (and dismantled) the hardware, and even made new 'software' for the system. However, what's most difficult to find are accounts of how players reacted to the Odyssey when it was still new. Despite their importance, these stories don't often get written into history. So, if you played the Odyssey when it was new (or know someone who did), I'd love to ask you a few questions. Even if your recollection is vague or spotty or you were very young, I'd like to get a better picture of how Odyssey fit into peoples' lives. Here's a few things I'd like to know. + Why did you (or your parents) buy the Odyssey? + How did you hear about Odyssey? + Where did you buy it? + How old were you at the time? + What games did you play? Which were the most interesting? Which weren't? + How long did you play Odyssey? Days, months, years? + Who in your family played? + Where did you play (living room, basement, friends' house, etc.)? + Did you play videogames after Odyssey? If so, which ones? + What seemed novel or interesting about the Odyssey? Did it remind you of other media or did it seem completely new? + Did you own other accessories or games beyond the basic set? + How did Odyssey compare to other games you played (e.g., sports, board games, electronic handheld games, etc.)? + Was anything about Odyssey difficult to learn or understand? Feel free to answer here or contact me privately. Thanks for your help!

I recently acquired a Magnavox Odyssey system from a family member. The system power on fine and one is able to make out images on the TV. The issue that I am currently encountering is that for game cart #1 the vertical center line is not appearing on the screen and the pong paddle on screen for player one is stretching across the screen. I was wondering if anyone would be able to help me with this issue.