When you have a video game collection like mine, it can be hard to play all of the games. This is especially true when additions are made on an almost weekly basis. Still, I appreciate nearly every game I’ve accumulated for this reason or that. In the hopes of improving my writing through continuous effort and promoting ongoing learning of these games, I’m going to compose brief, descriptive articles.
With Ralph Baer’s recent passing, it’s fitting that one of the random games that gets pulled for me to discuss is an Odyssey2 game. As far as I know, there’s little connection between him and Casino Slot Machine!, outside of the fact that it appeared on the successor to the video game console he invented. As was typical with home video games during this era, the casino genre was prevalent on every platform. Personally, it’s hard to get invested in this style of game when there isn’t actual money on the line, and thus, no chance of a payoff. Especially when it’s a single player game! As far as I’m concerned, a slot machine’s best video game representation is as a distraction in the Pokémon games.
Apparently, a single person developed the majority of the Odyssey2’s library. Ed Averett is the name and from 1978 to 1983, he was the primary programmer at Magnavox. He developed Casino Slot Machine! and it was released in North America and 1980 and, like the bulk of the platform’s library, published by Magnavox.
My Brain on Games 
If I could hit the ‘Like’ button more than once here, I would. I never actually played this particular title – but I grew up playing the Magnavox Odyssey 2.
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Sweet! I picked one up at a pawn shop last year and have a decent collection of games now. It’s an interesting platform, especially the keyboard on the unit itself.
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Any experience with the voice module add-on? Ours fortunately had one, which made it a lot of fun. Games like Space Invaders had speech to taunt you between levels. Games like Type and Tell were a hoot to play with, even though it had a lot of trouble pronouncing my name, among other (less socially acceptable to be sure) words.
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I have not acquired one yet. I know Intellivision had something similar, but I’m unaware of the extent it was used.
The Space Invaders bit sounds incredibly unique. Something different compared to the other ports of the era.
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