We had the 1972 first-run Odyssey and a game where you identified the capitals of the US states was the one I remember and a haunted house. An acetate screen layover of the US and the outlines of the various states in different colors clung to the TV screen via static. You set up the paddles and ball so that the ball would land on a part of the screen, and then you had to identify the state capital. Those controllers with the tapered sides and dials on top were bulky for sure! We
Did Atari have a haunted house game with a physical screen overlay? My mom’s late brother, Robert Padilla III, used to work at Atari in the 70s and she seems to remember him bringing home “an Atari” to play “pong” and “haunted house”. She said there were overlays that you would stick to the screen. But perhaps he brought home an Odyssey console? Sadly I’m not able to ask him to clarify as he passed away after a long later career at NVIDIA.
I don't know, but it sounds like the Odyssey. Both were relatively close in time - 1972...sorry, about your uncle. Sounds like he was on the early adopter curve like my Dad. We were dirt poor, and yet my Dad somehow pulled this off (probably hit the triple at Aqueduct!).
> 350,000 units was more than any other video game console before it sold
My grandmother had one of these when I was a kid in the eighties. The story I remember is that it was a free gift with the purchase of an air conditioner. I wish I knew what happened to it! Many hours playing the car racing game. But - I wasn’t allowed to play the dungeons & dragons game.
I had one of these growing up. good fun was had bouncing the ball off of your own paddle, then turning knobs back and forth as fast as possible to make the ball nearly impossible to hit by your opponent.