Make-It-Yourself projects
Popular Electronics, November 1972

Here is what is believed to be the earliest video game construction article ever published.

It is very interesting because it is a nearly identical remake of the first video game ever built in 1966 by Ralph Baer.

This "TV Tag" game is ovbviously inspired from the Magnavox Odyssey games where only the two squares representing the players are shown. The Magnavox Odyssey (first video game console) began to sell in may 1972. This article was published only a few months later, and appears to be a very reduced version of the Odyssey, even if the circuits are a bit more advanced (use of integrated circuits). The strange side of this project is that it does not allow playing the Tennis game. A possible reason is that the author wanted to publish an easier project to explain how to build a video game. Another reason could be the video game patents, since back in 1972, everybody who wanted to enter the video game scene had to purchase a special license from Magnavox.

What is interesting is the game itself. As a matter of fact, Ralph Baer intially built almost the same game in 1966 and called it "Chase Game". His game displayed two squares that the two players could move in both vertical and horizontal directions using knobs. TV Tag hide the player that was caught by his opponent. Baer's game did not do so in the first version, but later employed a "crowbar" circuit that could hide a player. Magnavox Odyssey (which contained a crowbar circuit) played the Chase Game like TV Tag.

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