This article is from WeChat official account:Touch Music (ID: chuappgame) author: Li Wei Xiao, from the title figure: father’s game console Ralph Baer

On June 9, after nearly 10 days of deliberation, Lili, who lives in Changchun, finally made up her mind and took out part of her deposit. The deposit was originally to prepare for buying a house, but now he has other things to do.

He first spent more than 3,000 yuan to buy the latest Redmi K30 Pro for his mother. Then open Xianyu and find the product page-click “I want”, “Buy now” and “Confirm purchase” in turn.

Lili used most of the remaining money to photograph the second-hand game console she likes.

“Mirova Odyssey”(Magnavox Odyssey) is the world’s first commercialized home console, published by Mirova In May 1972. The first generation in the history of game consoles and the splendid world of electronic games in the following 50 years all began with this not surprising device.

In the 1970s, the Odyssey console that allowed people to play games without leaving home became a milestone in the history of video games. Its release brought an end to the early history of video games.

“Playing and learning experience for all ages”

As a post-90s player, Lili had no chance to get in touch with this Odyssey host, which is nearly 20 years older than him. The last owner of this machine, Raymond from Shenzhen, is still about 10 years younger than it. Obviously, this host belongs to the common memory of older players.

In the six years since its release, Odyssey sold a total of 350,000 units, which were exported to Japan, Australia and even Eastern Europe, leaving many happy memories for players at that time. Just like the sentence on the host manual, Odyssey is “a play and learning experience suitable for all ages.” In showing everyone the home game consoleAt the same time, it also allows players from different regions and different age groups to personally feel the charm of video games.

This is a page of the “Odyssey” manual. The home game console designed with this idea changed people’s families for nearly half a century. Entertainment method

The home console “Pong” produced by Atari is also one of the first generation classics. It originated from Atari’s own and achieved unprecedented success. Arcade product of the same name

An old man in the United States, James, has experienced the first generation of players. He is the first owner of this Odyssey host photographed by Lili.

One day in 2017, James selected one of the four Odysseys in the storage room that he thought was the best, and prepared to send it in a box.

Before making an appointment, he still has to do some things. Buyers who are interested in these old machines often come from the collection industry, and most of them have high requirements for the fineness of the collection. James will always remember the doubts expressed by the buyer “Raymond” about these Odysseys when he first communicated on eBay.

Of course, this is not a weird thing. James failed to fill in the photos of the 4 machines in time. On the trading website, the 4 machines use the same set of pictures, which is really confusing..

Raymond is obviously Raymond. Raymond did not give up, and the two continued to communicate. James later learned that this somewhat cautious buyer came from China and was a young man born in the 1980s. Raymond likes to collect electronic products, especially things related to games. Raymond hopes to build his own electronic museum one day. To realize this dream, Odyssey is essential.

James told Raymond, “This machine is currently running out of the United States.” Then, he took photos of all the scratches and damages on the packaging box and sent them to the other party. He hoped that this collector friend would seriously consider it. At the same time, he promised Raymond that he would take care of the damage.

On the day of receipt of the package, Raymond saw that every damage on the box had been glued from the inside with medical tape, and every accessory in the box was lightly fixed to its foam slot by the same tape. In place. The fixed parts are to prevent them from being lost during the long transportation process. The medical tape is specially selected because it does not damage the carton or foam.

From Odyssey to PlayStation

As the number one in the world, the collection value and historical significance of the Odyssey are self-evident. However, in the daily topics of ordinary players, or in some reference materials that are written by well-known authors and focus on the development of game consoles, we may not necessarily see its name.

Even the No. 1 Odyssey will have such encounters. It is conceivable how common it is for those rarer machines to be ignored and forgotten. But in the collection circle, the situation is just the opposite. No matter how niche devices and games are, there will always be people who remember them and miss them.

It is precisely because of this pursuit of rare collections that many precious memories of the times and people have survived to this day.

In 2015, Raymond got a machine that was of great significance to him-Commodore 64. Although this host has the name “computer”, it has a very strong game lineup, which makes people think of the various “learning machines” that will almost certainly appear in the childhood memories of the 80s and 90s.

Through the opportunity of buying this Commodore 64, Raymond explored the history of it and the “Atari shock”. He felt that the story behind these collections was as fascinating as the collection itself.

Since then, Raymond “is determined to put all consoles in the history of the game, including handheldsCollect them all.” At his peak, he owned more than 300 game consoles and a large number of game works from different countries and regions across 8 generations. For these collections, he spent more than 700,000 yuan.

There are not a few collectors like Raymond. The video game collection circle formed by them is like a sponge filled with memories. Players interested in history can always find those with distinctive characteristics of the times here. Wonderful story. In their mouths, the history of the development of video games for nearly half a century is vivid and colorful. Among them, Raymond is most looking forward to the era when Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo “one-third of the world.”

“Through the Odyssey, every company has seen the possibility of home consoles and has made money…Many game developers, even some companies that are completely unconnected, all come to make related products.”

Mattel, world-famous for its Barbie dolls, Xueyan, known for its educational books and stationery, as well as Disney, the British Broadcasting Corporation, and even a European sugar factory, developed their own console models during that era and became Mi Luo Hua and Atari’s competitors.

The Disney Company, which owns one of the “Earth’s Strongest Legal Departments”, also personally end up participating in the game console industry competition

Coleco Vision is the Atari 2600 that is popular all over the world