Basketball (1973)

About

Basketball (1973) is a simple arcade sports title from Magnavox’s Odyssey. Each player manipulates a dot onscreen to control a ball, bouncing it off walls to simulate dribbling and aiming shots into opposing baskets. The single-player mode lets you compete against the system, with steals allowed to disrupt the opponent’s flow. It arrived as part of a six-game pack for the Odyssey, bundled alongside titles like Volleyball and Interplanetary Voyage. The physical set included a blue screen overlay to mimic a basketball court’s overhead layout, adding a faint sense of context to the abstract action. The game’s standout is its historical role as one of the earliest home basketball simulations, though play feels rudimentary by modern standards. With no scoring beyond basic win/loss logic and minimal mechanics beyond directional movement, it’s more of a novelty than a challenge. Still, it holds a niche place in arcade history, using just a single cartridge to replicate a sport’s chaos in 1973’s limited hardware. Fans of retro gaming oddities might find it worth a look.

Storyline

Each player moves a dot around the screen, deflecting a ball off of walls (dribbling) and into their respective basket (shooting). Steals are allowable. Basketball is packed with home and visitor cards ans a blue screen overlay depicting an overhead view of a vertical basketball court.