Mary Kay Carson - Who Invented Home Video Games?. Ralph Baer

COOL INVENTIONS!

LOTS OF PEOPLE HAVE PLAYED VIDEO GAMES AT HOME, BUT DO YOU KNOW WHO INVENTED THE FIRST ONE? LEARN ABOUT RALPH BAER'S LIFE AND THE FIRST HOME VIDEO GAMES EVER MADE. INVENT YOUR OWN GAME, TOO!

"WANT TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE ORIGINS AND HISTORY OF THE VIDEO GAMES YOU PLAY AT HOME? READ ABOUT THE MAN WHO INVENTED THEM, AND THEN INVENT YOUR OWN GAME!"

"YOUNGER READERS WILL WANT TO READ MORE AFTER LEARNING ABOUT SOME OF OUR NATION'S GREAT INVENTORS. EASY-TO-READ AND INFORMATIVE, THIS SERIES MIGHT INSPIRE SOME FUTURE INVENTORS."

About the Author

Author Mary Kay Carson is a full-time science writer who has written more than forty books for young people and their teachers. In 2011, she received the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Children's Literature Award. She has her BS degree in biology.

collegeA school people can go to after high school.

home video gamesGames played on TVs.

inventTo make something for the first time ever.

table tennisGame played with paddles. It is also called Ping-Pong.

White HouseWhere the President lives in Washington, DC.

Do you play home video games? Which ones do you like most? If you like video games, say thank you to Ralph Baer. He invented home video games.

Many people enjoy playing video games.

Ralph Baer was born in Germany in 1922.

Ralph Baer moved to America when he was sixteen. His family needed money. So he worked in a factory. Then he learned to fix radios. Later he went to college. He learned about making TVs.

Ralph worked in a factory like this one when he was young.

Ralph Baer made these drawings of his ideas.

One day Baer was thinking about TV. In 1966, people just watched shows. Baer wondered what else TVs might do. What about games like soccer? Baer quickly drew a picture. It showed how a video game would work.

Most families in the 1960s had only one TV.

Baer invented the first video game with a special TV. He worked in a tiny locked room. Baers ideas were a secret. Inventors must protect their ideas. People sometimes try to steal them.

Baer sits in front of one of his first home video games. This one is a hockey game.

What was the first video game? It was a chase game. Two people played. Each player moved a spot around on the screen. The players made the spots chase each other. When one spot caught the other, that player won!

It took inventors many years to make the kinds of video games you play.

Baer wanted everyone to play his games. So he invented a machine. It turned a TV into a video game machine. It had simple games like table tennis.

Baers invention became a big success! Baer did not stop inventing. He made other games and toys, such as Simon and Maniac. You might have played some of them.

Baer built this first video game machine, called the Brown Box. It was just the start of video games to come.

In 2006, Baer went to the White House. President George W. Bush gave him a medal! He called him the father of home video games. So when you play video games, think of Ralph Baer.

Ralph Baer received the National Medal of Technology from President George W. Bush in 2006.