Retro Gaming Hacks

Collect Original “Pong” Systems

Play with two paddles and a block for maximum value.

In an early episode of “That 70’s Show,” the teenaged characters sit around a thirteen-inch television screen playing a game of Pong, marveling, mouths agape at the advance of high technology. Most of the modern-day audience laughed along at the concept of two lines and a dot on a TV screen being the pinnacle of scientific advance. But if you found yourself not laughing but seriously contemplating playing a game of Pong, this hack is for you. There’s something appealing about breaking out the most retro of retro games, and you can still do it on the (relatively) cheap.

Odyssey

Actually, let’s put “cheap” on hold for a bit to talk about the very first video game system. Invented by a brilliant engineer named Ralph Baer who had spent the last 15 years working on military projects, the Odyssey was released by Magnavox in 1972 (though Baer had completed the prototype in 1966). It played not only line-and-dot video tennis but also many other games that required only a line and dot. Magnavox failed to sell many of the systems, so the Odyssey is now a high-priced collector’s item.

And it gets worse. Because Magnavox didn’t think ball-and-dot gameplay on its own was enough to satisfy consumers in the age of color TV, a whole mess of accessories was included with the original Odyssey package—about three hundred pieces in all! Color overlays were included that stuck onto television sets to produce translucent ...