Computer Space is a computer arcade game released in 1971 by Nutting Associates. Created by Nolan Bushnell, who would later found Atari, it is generally regarded as the first ever coin-operated video game.

The player controls a rocket ship and must evade enemy fire from a pair of flying saucers using a thruster and a pair of rotational buttons. The player can try to destroy the flying saucers by firing missiles at them from the rocket ship. Today, the game would be considered a multi-directional shooter.

As the Videotopia exhibition points out, previous efforts in bringing the experience of Spacewar to a mass market were centered on the minicomputer paradigm of the college campuses where it originated - that of a central computer distributing software to various remote terminals. Computer Space was innovative for establishing the basic form of all arcade games to come - that of a dedicated computing device built to play only that one game.

Computer Space was the first widely available video and arcade game, although it was not a success. For many, the gameplay was too complicated to grasp quickly. While it fared well on college campuses, it was not very popular in bars and other venues. Bushnell later recruited Al Alcorn and created a sensation with the much easier to grasp Pong arcade game modeled on Ralph Baer's Magnavox Odyssey home system's Tennis game.

Separate cabinets were produced for either single player games or two player games in various colors.

Technical

Computer Space utilizes no microprocessor, Random Access Memory or ROM. The entire computer system is a state machine made of discrete 74 series TTL logic elements. Graphic elements are held in diode arrays. Physical configuration is made up of 3 printed circuit boards connected to a common bus. Display is rendered on a General Electric 15 inch black and white portable television vacuum tube set specially modified for Computer Space.

Trivia

Computer Space appeared in the 1973 science fiction films Soylent Green & Sleeper and the 1975 film Jaws.

Computer Space is actually not the first coin-operated video game. It was preceded by only a few months by Galaxy Game, installed in a coffee shop at UC Berkeley. Only one example was built, but it remained a popular fixture at the shop for many years.

This game was cloned/bootleged in 1972 by a game company called For-Play as Star Trek http://www.arcade-history.com/index.php?page=detail&id=3943

External links

* Computer Space entry on the Killer List of Videogames
* Videotopia exhibit
Category:Arcade games
Category:1971 arcade games


Category:Shoot 'em ups