PBS Inventors profiles Ralph Baer, the Father of Video Games, on his 91st birthday

Before Cliff Bleszinski… Before John Carmack… Before even Shigeru Miyamoto… there was Ralph Baer. While not known as a game designer, Ralph Baer gave the video game industry something much more important: the first home console.

Today is Ralph Baer’s 91st birthday and PBS has decided to celebrate with the “Father of Video Games” by profiling him as part of their Inventors digital series.

Baer began work on his “Brown Box” console all the way back in 1966. It would eventually be released to the public in 1972 as the Magnavox Odyssey. The prolific inventor is also responsible for the first light gun and the first light gun game, Shooting Gallery as well as the Simon handheld game. Happy birthday Ralph! Never stop inventing.

I’d also like to wish a happy birthday to Warp Zoned’s Senior Editor, Nicole Kline. I’ll bet she had no idea she shared a birthday with video game royalty.

This entry was posted in Etcetera, News, Retro. Bookmark the permalink.
John Scalzo is Warp Zoned's Editor-In-Chief and resident retro gaming expert. You can email him at john AT warpzoned DOT com.