Haunted House

About

Haunted House is a rudimentary adventure game where you navigate a spooky mansion to collect items while avoiding spectral threats. Played on the Magnavox Odyssey’s cartridge system, it uses a physical clue card and a transparent overlay to guide moves on a static TV screen. The goal is to gather three treasures without being caught by the house’s ghostly inhabitants. Controls are limited to basic directional inputs, and the gameplay loops around simple exploration and evasion. It’s a stripped-down experience that leans heavily on its novelty as one of the earliest home video game titles. Released in 1972, this game holds a niche place in history as part of the Odyssey’s original 12 titles. While modern players might find the lack of interactivity jarring, collectors and retro enthusiasts appreciate it as a foundational artifact of early gaming. The use of physical overlays was a clever workaround for the system’s technical limitations, blending tactile and digital elements in a way that feels oddly ahead of its time. It’s not much to look at by today’s standards but remains a curious footnote in the evolution of interactive entertainment.