Computer Space is a space combat arcade video game released in 1971. Created by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney in partnership as Syzygy Engineering, it was the first arcade video game as well as the first commercially available video game. Computer Space is a derivative of the 1962 computer game Spacewar!, which is possibly the first video game to spread to multiple computer installations. It features a rocket controlled by the player engaged in a missile battle with a pair of hardware-controlled flying saucers set against a starfield background. The goal is to score more hits than the enemy spaceships within a set time period, which awards a free round of gameplay. The game is enclosed in a custom fiberglass cabinet, which Bushnell designed to look futuristic.
Single-player cabinet
Single-player Computer Space gameplay; the player's rocket is in the center, with the flying saucers on the right above and below the player score, computer score, and time remaining.
Computer Space control panel
2-player Computer Space cabinet in 2006, with buttons instead of joysticks
An arcade video game takes player input from its controls, processes it through electrical or computerized components, and displays output to an electronic monitor or similar display. All arcade video games are coin-operated or accept other means of payment, housed in an arcade cabinet, and located in amusement arcades alongside other kinds of arcade games. Until the early 2000s, arcade video games were the largest and most technologically advanced segment of the video game industry.
Police 911 (also called The Keisatsukan and Police 24/7) is a light gun arcade game.
Pong is the first commercially successful arcade video game
The inside of a Neo Geo MVS arcade cabinet
Sega Rally arcade racing games at the Veljekset Keskinen department store in Tuuri, Alavus, Finland in 2017