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Game over for the father of gaming

by on08 December 2014



Thomas Edison of the home TV game

The father of video games, Ralph H. Baer, has died age 92.

Dubbed the "Thomas Edison of the home TV game" by Popular Electronics Magazine in 1980, Baer's Odyssey game system was the first home video game system. The patent for the idea was filed on August 10, 1970 and the system was released by Magnavox in 1972.

Baer, his father, mother and sister fled Nazi Germany and arrived in New York in 1938. Working a job in a small leather factory in his teens, a magazine ad with the headline "Make Big Money In Radio" caught his eye.
He signed up for the learn-by-mail lessons in the ad, finding work repairing radio and television sets. In 1943, Baer was drafted to serve in World War II, assigned to military intelligence. After the war he moved into the workforce with a variety of jobs in the electronics industry.

Also among Baer's contributions is the first home light gun game, an add-on for the Odyssey called Shooting Gallery, and the popular Simon handheld game. In 2006 his contributions were recognized with a long series of awards, including receiving the National Medal of Technology by President George W. Bush.

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