If any of you, or any of your fathers talk about the good old days when games were the only thing that mattered growing up and that technology was so simple back then? If you have played a video game console at all, you’ll want to credit Ralph Baer, who created the first modern console The Brown Box, also known as the Magnavox Odyssey. Many see him as the inventor of video games, and rightfully so.

The Magnavox Odyssey is considered the first game console, developed by Ralph Baer.

The Odyssey, which only played a version of Pong, was revolutionary for the time. This version allowed you to move your paddle in more than one axis and also accounted for “english” as in pool.

But that wasn’t the only contribution to the game industry. He’s noted as the first person to develop the light gun (which became prominent in the first Nintendo Entertainment System) and invented the memory game Simon.

He’s the recipient of the G-Phoria Legend Award for 2005, the IEEE Masaru Ibuka Consumer Electronics Award in 2008, the Game Developer’s Conference “Pioneer” Award in 2008, and the IEEE Edison Medal in 2014.

Ralph died in his him in New Hampshire on December 6, 2014, he was 92. At the time of his death, he had over 150 patents to his name.

We will miss you, pioneer.