Computer Space
1971 · Space Shooter · Arcade
Overview
The first arcade video game and the first video game sold commercially: Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney's 1971 cabinet, adapted from the earlier computer game Spacewar!
Deep Dive
Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney built Computer Space in 1971 while working together as Syzygy Engineering, the partnership that soon became Atari. It took its idea from Spacewar!, the 1962 computer game that had spread between university installations, and turned it into a coin-operated machine — making it both the first arcade video game and the first commercially available video game of any kind. The player steers a rocket through a starfield, trading missiles with two flying saucers controlled by the hardware. The aim is to score more hits than the saucers before time runs out; doing so earns a free round. Its controls and rules were demanding for a public that had never played a video game, and its modest sales led Bushnell and Dabney towards a simpler idea for their next machine: Pong.
Developer Story
Computer Space was created by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney in 1971, inspired by Spacewar! which Bushnell had played at the University of Utah. Bushnell and Dabney founded Syzygy Engineering to build the game and licensed it to Nutting Associates for manufacturing. It was the first commercially sold arcade video game. Despite modest sales, the experience gave Bushnell and Dabney the confidence to found Atari the following year.
Did You Know?
- Computer Space was housed in a distinctive fibreglass cabinet shaped like a futuristic pod — designed to look like something from a sci-fi film.
- Bushnell designed the game while working at Ampex and reportedly drew the initial schematics on a napkin.
- The game appeared in the 1973 sci-fi film "Soylent Green," making it one of the first video games to appear in a Hollywood movie.
- It sold around 1,500 units — modest by later standards but enough to prove coin-operated video games were commercially viable.
- The game was considered too complex for bar audiences, which directly motivated Bushnell to commission the simpler Pong.
Sources & further reading
- Computer Space — Wikipedia
