What was the first games console ever made?

The first video game console ever made was the TV Game Unit #7. It eventually came to be known as "The Brown Box" due to the brown wood-grain, self-adhesive vinyl used to make it.

The Brown Box was developed in 1967 by Ralph Baer and his fellow associates at Sanders Associates, Inc. The prototype was developed with the hope that future investors would licence the technology. Baer developed a method of programming the system by flipping various switches to change what type of game could be played. These games included ping-pong, checkers, several sports games and target shooting via a light gun. Baer eventually licensed the product to Magnavox, where they released it as the Magnavox Odyssey in 1972.