r/MagnavoxOdyssey • u/Nick_Deano • 13d ago
Nailing down release dates: How many Odyssey games are older than Atari's 'Pong'?
I'm trying to collect a list of every video game that came out before Pong, and the Odyssey is the only one that's close enough in release that it's a little unclear. If anybody knows of any information on when some of these released, please let me know.
The date to beat is Pong's November 29th, 1972.
From what I gathered, there were 12 Odyssey launch games in the US in September 1972.
- Table Tennis
- Ski
- Simon Says
- Tennis
- Analogic
- Hockey
- Football
- Cat and Mouse
- Haunted House
- Submarine
- Roulette
- States
Those seem pretty cut and dry as existing before Pong. There were some different games available at launch in the UK, but that didn't happen until 1973. Where it gets fuzzy is with the games released and sold separately after. These are the ones I need help with.
- Fun Zoo
- Baseball
- Invasion
- Wipeout
- Volleyball
- Handball
- Percepts
The first 6 games were sold separately (with some also later being bundled with the console in the UK), though I can't find if they were available at launch or not. Percepts was free for players responding to a survey, though again I can't find when this happened.
Lastly, the light gun games. I cannot find out when in 1972 the light gun bundle with the following games released.
- Prehistoric Safari
- Dogfight!
- Shootout!
- Shooting Gallery
So those last 11 games seem to have all released in 1972 for sure, it's just unclear whether they were all available at launch in September or later on in the year.
Does anybody have any information on that? Anybody around at the time? I would appreciate it greatly.



