In the same fashion as Jonathan Schwartz's current blog, I'll drop the big line here: I was honored to meet the Father of Videogames last week. While certainly not on the same political level as the President of Brazil, I think my meeting may have actually been cooler

I mean, how often is it that you get to meet someone who's work has made an impact the world over? Typically, you hear about such famous men and women but rarely do you get to be in the same room with such people, let alone shake their hand and thank them for their contributions. Well, last week I was invited to visit the home of one such man and spend the day with him. That man is Ralph Baer.

For those of you who don't know who Mr. Baer is, he is the man who invented home videogames while working as an engineer at Sanders Associates back in 1967. Let me be perfectly clear:

Ralph Baer IS the "Father of the Videogames Industry".

Some of you may remember the story of Steve "Slug" Russell's Spacewar that was programmed on a PDP-1 at MIT back in the early 1960's or recall the story of Willy Higginbotham's "Tennis for Two" demo done on an oscilloscope in 1958 (Interesting side note: Willy's game came into the public eye when Nintendo lawyers brought his creation forward in a lawsuit against Magnavox which tried to void Mr. Baer's patents. Nintendo lost the case!). These game required computers and systems that no consumer could afford, fit in their home or power. It was Ralph Baer who came up with the idea of creating a videogame for the home and at a price that almost anyone could afford.

Mr. Baer and his skunk works project at Sanders produced a home video game system that could be programmed to play several games through a series of switches that one flipped on the front of the box. This game system has become lovingly known as “The Brown Box” due to the fact that Mr. Baer actually covered the device in brown contact paper with a wood grain print on it. The Brown Box eventually became a real product, called Odyssey, and was produced and shipped by Magnavox in 1972. During the course of it's life, the Odyssey shipped over 350,000 units and was a hit for Magnavox. In fact, the game was so good that it "inspired" another enterprising young man to pay the device it's highest compliment: he copied it.

Nolan Bushnell started a company that was manufacturing a stand alone version of "Slug" Russell's Spacewar, called Computer Space. Unintuitive and difficult to play, Computer Space was a failure with consumers (Trivia!: a Computer Space game can be seen in the movie Jaws). On May 24, 1972, Nolan went to the Airport Marina in Burlingame, California where he encountered the Odyssey. Obviously impressed, Nolan decided to build a version for him to sell. That game was Pong.

It is unfortunate that history incorrectly notes Nolan Bushnell as the "Father of the Videogames Industry" but the mistake is sort of understandable. Nolan started one of the fastest growing companies of the time, Atari, and the company and it's practices became legend. Looking back, and having all of the facts, it is easy to see who actually started the march of the videogame into our homes. Mr. Baer was the engineer who saw the potential and Nolan was the huckster. Again, to be clear, Pong was a direct rip-off of Ralph Baer's Brown Box/Odyssey invention. While Pong improved on a few things, on screen scoring and sound to name two, it was basically the same game.

Aside from "just" being the father of the videogames industry, Mr. Baer also invented many other electronic games including one of the most famous games the modern world has ever known: Simon. Ralph Baer is the man behind Simon, Amaze-A-Tron, Computer Perfection, Smarty Bear, Laser Commander, and many more. You can read all about these inventions and the fascinating life of this amazing man in his biography, which can be found by clicking the cover below:

Below you will find over an hour of video footage that was shot during my visit to Mr. Baer's home, along with some photos of the day. As well, you will find never before seen footage of Mr. Baer's demonstration video which he prepared for Sanders executive management back in 1973 in which he outlines some of his ideas.

Thank you Mr. Ralph Baer for opening your home to me, for walking me through your history and for your games that launched an industry! Make sure you check out Mr. Baer's website at RalphBaer.Com