page_title: History of video games
section_title: Golden age of arcade video games (1978–1982)
hierarchical_section_title: History of video games / Golden age / Golden age of arcade video games (1978–1982)
caption_attribution_description: Català: Màquina arcade "Videoval" d'Iturbe, una de les més populars a l'Estat Espanyol. El joc és Space Inavders. English: Space Invader cabinet Français&#160;: Borne d'arcade de Space Invader
context_page_description: The history of video games goes as far back as the early 1950s, when academic computer scientists began designing simple games and simulations as part of their research or just for recreation. At M.I.T. in the 1960s, professors and students played games such as 3D tic-tac-toe and Moon Landing. These games were played on computers such as the IBM 1560, and moves were made by means of punch cards. Video gaming did not reach mainstream popularity until the 1970s and 1980s, when video arcade games and gaming consoles using joysticks, buttons, and other controllers, along with graphics on computer screens and home computer games were introduced to the general public. Since the 1980s, video gaming has become a popular form of entertainment and a part of modern popular culture in most parts of the world.
  One of the early games was Spacewar!, which was developed by computer scientists. Early arcade video games developed from 1972 to 1978. During the 1970s, the first generation of home consoles emerged, including the popular game Pong and various "clones". The 1970s was also the era of mainframe computer games. The golden age of arcade video games was from 1978 to 1982.
context_section_description: By 1978, video games were well established in the U.S. coin-operated amusement industry, but their popularity was secondary to the industry stalwarts of pool and pinball.  That changed with the introduction of a new game developed in Japan.  While video games had been introduced to Japan soon after hitting the United States, the Japanese arcade industry had remained primarily focused on electro-mechanical driving and shooting games and a type of slot machine called the "medal game" that accepted and paid out in medals instead of currency so as not to be classified as a gambling game.  In 1977, the arrival of Breakout, distributed locally by the Nakamura Manufacturing Company, and the advent of table-top game units, pioneered by Taito, created new demand for video games in snack bars and tea houses.  Taito designer Tomohiro Nishikado decided to build on the popularity of Breakout by replacing the paddle in the game with a gun battery and the bricks in the game with rows of aliens that descended line-by-line while firing at the player.  Taito released this game in 1978 as Space Invaders.
  Space Invaders introduced or popularized several important concepts in arcade video games, including play regulated by lives instead of a timer or set score, gaining extra lives through accumulating points, and the tracking of the high score achieved on the machine.  It was also the first game to confront the player with waves of targets that shot back at the player and the first to include background music during game play, albeit a simple four-note loop.  With its intense game play and competitive scoring features, Space Invaders became a national phenomenon as over 200,000 invader games—counting clones and knockoffs—entered Japanese game centers by the middle of 1979. While not quite as popular in the United States, Space Invaders became the biggest hit the industry had seen since the Great Depression as Midway, serving as the North American manufacturer, moved over 60,000 cabinets.  The one-two punch of Space Invaders and the Atari game Asteroids (1979), which moved 70,000 units and popularized the recording of multiple high scores in a table, resulted in video arcade games completely displacing pinball and other amusements to become the central attraction of not just the shopping mall arcade, but also a variety of street locations from convenience stores to bowling alleys to pizza parlors.  Many of the best-selling games of 1980 and 1981 such as Galaxian (1979), Defender (1980), Missile Command (1980), Tempest (1981), and Galaga (1981) focused on shooting mechanics and achieving high scores.  Starting with Pac Man in 1980, which sold 96,000 units in the United States, a new wave of games appeared that focused on identifiable characters and alternate mechanics such as navigating a maze or traversing a series of platforms.  Aside from Pac Man and its sequel, Ms. Pac-Man (1982), the most popular games in this vein were Donkey Kong (1981) and Q*bert (1982).
  According to trade publication Vending Times, revenues generated by coin-operated video games on location in the United States jumped from $308 million in 1978 to $968 million in 1979 to $2.8 billion in 1980.  As Pac Man ignited an even larger video game craze and attracted more female players to arcades, revenues jumped again to $4.9 billion in 1981.  According to trade publication Play Meter, by July 1982, total coin-op collections peaked at $8.9 billion, of which $7.7 billion came from video games.  Meanwhile, the number of arcades—defined as any location with ten or more games—more than doubled between July 1981 and July 1983 from over 10,000 to just over 25,000.  These figures made arcade games the most popular entertainment medium in the country, far surpassing both pop music (at $4 billion in sales per year) and Hollywood films ($3 billion).
caption: Space Invaders was a popular game during the golden age. The game introduced many elements which would become standard in video games.
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