The man recognized as “the father of video games” has donated four decades worth of illustrations in electronic game and toy design to the International Center for the History of Electronic Games at the Strong.
Ralph Baer donated his collection of original diagrams, schematics, engineering notes and patents that show the scope of his work during the formative years of the burgeoning video game industry.
“Ralph Baer changed our world when he figured out a way to play games on a home television screen in 1966,” said Jon-Paul Dyson, the center’s director. “His donation to ICHEG opens an important window into the seminal years of electronic games when individuals and companies explored the best uses for these technologies, including integration into toy products and distribution by cable broadcasting—a foreshadowing of the high connectivity of today’s games.”
Notable electronic toys and games represented in the collection include Computer Perfection, Maniac, his world-famous Simon, and numerous others licensed to firms such as Coleco, Ideal, Kenner and Milton Bradley, Strong officials said.
A working replica of Baer’s 1968 Brown Box—the first home video game, which debuted commercially in 1972 as the Magnavox Odyssey—is on display in eGameRevolution, an exhibit at the National Museum of Play.
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