Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Tony Rehagen

Tony Rehagen is a freelance writer whose work has appeared in Popular Mechanics, The Columbia Journalism Reviewand USA Today, among others.

Stories from Tony Rehagen

Magnavox’s Odyssey cost $99.95 in 1972—about $625 in today’s money. By comparison, today’s web-ready, famously portable Nintendo Switch sells for around $300.

The Failure of the Magnavox Odyssey Led the Way for the Future of Gaming

The first console reached homes 11 years before Nintendo, marking the beginning of a multibillion-dollar industry