The G.B.C. Italiana Odissea

Hi again folks,

Third post today...i'm on fire!! LOL!! Do some of you knows or heard about the G.B.C. Italiana Odissea ? This one is an Magnavox Odyssey clone released in Italy in 1975 but this is the second release in Italy as the Magnavox Odyssey (export) was available in 1974 in Italy.

Even after all these years, not one Italian or worldwide collector has one or showed (in pictures or video) the G.B.C. Italiana Odissea except for a minor review in the magazine "Sperimentare" (in English: Experiment) dated October 1975 on page 863:

You can see that in the middle of the first photo is a TV displaying "Ping-Pong" (aka Table Tennis) and on the left is a Rifle Gun. On the second photo (which is closer), now we can see a "dude" playing with the Odyssey (i think that's the representative of G.B.C. Italiana) and under the TV is written: Il nuovo gioco elettronico (which translate to: The new electronic game).

But...i don't get it...if G.B.C. Italiana called it the "Odissea", so why it plainly says "Odyssey" ?! The only thing i can think of is that they rename it to "Odissea" a few days afterwards before they announced it in the next Sperimentare (Novembre 1975) in the back of the cover:

A full page advertisement in color! Now we see the name "Odissea" and not "Odyssey" and shows all twelve games we all know with a weird acception taht Ping-Pong (Table Tennis) has a blue background screen and a red spots ?!??!!

And just above the color game images, we can read: "* Un fucile elettronico, fornito a richiesta, permette di realizzare altri 4 giochi." (translated: * An electronic rifle, supplied on request, allows you to create 4 more games."). So they also offer the Rifle Gun to play for more games, as we saw the same Rifle Gun in the first picture posted above.

And then, the month after, they re-plublished the same advertisement (slightly modified) in the Sperimentare December 1975 on the back cover but in black & white:

And after that, nothing more...because by then, there was another game console which been more popular and was the first game console made in Italy...yep, you guessed it, the Zanussi/Seleco Ping-O-Tronic:

And guess what appeared in the Sperimentare January and February 1976 ?

A Do-It-Yourself "Ping-Pong Elettronico"! So looks like the "Odissea" sales has been screwed.

So that's still leaves the big question: Has the G.B.C. Italiana Odissea has been sold (at all) ??

Well, before i reveal the response, i can tell for sure that the instruction manual of the Odissea has 36 pages and it features 16 games! Yes...16 games! Here's the list of the games:

* Ping-Pong (aka Table Tennis)
* Tennis (hope i don't need to translate this one ?! lol!)
* Football Americano (aka Football)
* Hockey
* SCI (aka Ski)
* Il Sotto Marino (Submarine) (is called: Battaglia Navale in the advert)
* Il Gatto E Il Toppo (Cat and Mouse)
* La Casa Degli Spettri (Haunted House)
* Il Gioco Analogico (Analogic)
* La Roulette (Roulette...pretty obvious...lol!)
* Gli Stati Uniti (States)
* Simone Dice (Simon Says)

Ok, but there's 4 games missing, and they are:

* Il Safari Preistorico (Prehistoric Safari)
* Combattimento Aereo (Dogfight)
* Arrivano i Nostri (Shootout)
* Tiro Al Bersaglio (Shooting Gallery)

The same four games for the Rifle Gun, so no exclusive games (like Soccer). But how the %?%?& that i know the names of the games ?! Well because i'm waiting for this from Italy:

Your not seeing a mirage or day dreaming, it is the instruction manual of the "Odissea" so for now, this is the only proof that G.B.C. Italiana sold the Odissea and once i have received it, i'm gonna tear it and use it to make confettis....HELL NO!!! LOL!!!

What i'll really do is scan the whole manual and put it as a PDF file in the Magnavox Odyssey Archive (on Archive.org) so anyone can read the manual and especially, to preserve it digitally.

So until then, take care folks!

--- Sly DC ---