Remembering The Father of Video Games

Photo of Ralph Baer in his Manchester, NH, home,October 2011. 
Photo by Jeremy Clowe for Norman Rockwell Museum. All rights reserved.

I was sorry to hear about the recent passing of Ralph H. Baer (1922-2014). Considered "the father of video games," Baer held over 150 patents in the U.S. alone, and was responsible for the creation of such early games as Ping-Pong in the 1960s; and Odyssey, the first home video game console, in the 1970s.

As someone who was obsessed with video games in middle school/early high school, I was thrilled when I had the opportunity to travel to Manchester, New Hampshire in October 2011, to meet Baer and conduct a videotaped interview in his home/studio for Norman Rockwell Museum (where he had been an art donor). Then 89 years old, Baer seemed as active as ever, still tinkering in his studio and trying out new ideas. He was also quite generous with his time, offering a quite thorough interview and explanation of his early experiments in television engineering, which lead to the idea of interactive video gaming. Here is a quick edit I created yesterday of some of the footage: 

Yes, that's Baer trying out Simon, which he also created. I remember being quite taken with that musical toy as a kid, and it's pretty wild to realize that this pioneering engineer also advanced the electronic toy and greeting card industry—I enjoyed having the opportunity to literally see his creativity at work during our meeting. 

Photo by Jeremy Clowe. All rights reserved.

Five decades later, video games are a billion dollar industry (today it's my pre-teen nephew hooked on such games as Minecraft). It's nice that Baer had the opportunity to see just how far his ideas had come; it was an honor for me to spend some time getting to know him.

Related Links:

"Video game designer Ralph Baer invented your childhood," Washington Post, December 8, 2014

"Portrait of a Game-Changer," my 2011 article for Norman Rockwell Museum