Insert Coin to Start: A History of Arcade Video Games in the 1970s

Inspired by the 1962 mainframe computer game Spacewar!, future Atari cofounders Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney created the 1971 cosmic combat game Computer Space. Although its complex controls limited its commercial success, it laid the foundation for future arcade video games.

Former Stanford students Bill Pitts and Hugh Tuck installed their coin-operated, updated version of Spacewar! in the school’s student union in 1971. Dubbed Galaxy Game, it drew crowds of players, but running the game on a $20,000 minicomputer made it impossible to mass produce

Pong’s success transformed the coin-operated game industry. Many electromechanical arcade and pinball game manufacturers rushed Pong knockoffs to market with names like Paddle Ball, Pong Tron, and TV Tennis. Nutting Associates released Computer Space Ball in late 1972.

Atari subsidiary Kee Games expanded the maze game genre with its popular 1975 title Tank. Two players operated dual joysticks to steer their tanks, avoid explosive mines, and shell their opponents. The player to score the most points before time ran out won.

In Atari’s Gran Trak 10 (1974), the first driving arcade video game, players raced against the clock. A steering wheel, accelerator, gearshift, and sound effects like roaring engines, squealing tires, and thunderous crashes transported players to the racetrack.

Microprocessors revolutionized arcade video games with improved graphics and more sophisticated gameplay. Midway’s 1975 bestseller Gun Fight, the first game to use the new technology, pitted two players against each other in a Wild West shootout.

Sometimes the simplest games are the most satisfying. Originally prototyped by future Apple Computer Company cofounders Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, Atari’s hit 1976 game Breakout challenged players to smash bricks with a bouncing ball.

Exidy’s 1976 driving game Death Race rewarded players with points for running over pixelated “gremlins” that looked like people. Moral guardians warned the game promoted violence, but the media attention ultimately helped sell more cabinets.

To challenge Atari’s industry dominance, upstart Cinematronics resurrected the 1962 mainframe computer game Spacewar! in a new form. The first vector graphic arcade game, Space Wars (1977) used bright electron beams instead of blocky pixels to display spaceships on its screen.

Space Invaders inspired dozens of similar space shooters, but few of them truly improved on the original. Namco’s Galaxian (1979) set itself apart with its vibrant color graphics and challenging enemies that broke free of their vertical formation to attack a player’s ship.

Searching for a hit product to challenge Space Invaders, Atari took inspiration from past games like Spacewar! and Computer Space in which ships roamed the entire screen. Asteroids (1979), the company’s rock-blasting response, became its bestselling coin-op game of all time.

Arriving in bars, student unions, and arcades in the 1970s, games like Pong and Asteroids introduced millions of people to the new medium of video games—and the promise of computers—one coin at a time. For the general public, the digital revolution had begun.