Who Invented the First Game System? (Evolution, Not One Person)

No single inventor — evolution over decades:

• 1940s: Claude Shannon theorizes chess-playing machine.
• 1951: Nimrod (Ferranti) plays tic-tac-toe at Festival of Britain.
• 1958: William Higinbotham creates Tennis for Two on oscilloscope (Brookhaven Lab) — first video game + console-like device.
• 1966: Ralph Baer develops "Brown Box" prototype.
• 1971: Nolan Bushnell & Ted Dabney → Computer Space (arcade).
• 1972: Magnavox Odyssey (Baer's design) = first home console with cartridges.

Many contributors; Baer often called "Father of Video Games" for the commercial console.