Magnavox Odyssey 300

The Magnavox Odyssey 300 dedicated console was released in October 1976 for US$69. Unlike Magnavox's previous two dedicated console products, the Odyssey 300 was meant to compete directly with the Coleco Telstar. Like the Telstar, the Odyssey 300 uses the AY-3-8500 chip as its logic and was among the first dedicated consoles to use a single IC chip as the focus of its design rather than multiple computer chips or transistor–transistor logic. The Odyssey 300 has the same three games as the Odyssey 200, although, owing to its usage of the AY-3-8500, their gameplay more closely resembles Atari's Pong than Magnavox's previous games; horizontal control was absent, ball angle was automated, and the games are controlled with a single dial instead of three. Unlike the 200, the Odyssey 300 console has three difficulty levels: Novice, Intermediate, and Expert. Also owing to its implementation of the AY-3-8500, the 300 introduced digital on-screen scoring.