History of Coin Operated Games

In 1971, a coin-operated arcade version of 'Spacewar!' (see Origins of Video Games) known as 'Computer Space' was created by Ted Dabney and Nolan Bushnell, and manufactured by Nutting Associates. Although 1,500 games were produced, the product was unsuccessful due to its difficulty.

Dabney and Bushnell went on to form Atari in 1972, releasing 'Pong' that same year with widespread success. The game showed a view of a table tennis game from above, where each player had to manoeuvre their bat to return the ball back to their opponent on the other side of the court. Atari sold 19,000 Pong machines and inspired many imitators.

In the late 1970s, a company called Taito released 'Space Invaders', a hugely popular game that led the start of what became known as the 'Golden Age of Arcade Games'. Though simplistic by today's standards, it was one of the forerunners of modern video gaming and remains popular with retro-gamers even today. The game required the player to control the movement of a movable laser cannon that moved back and forth across the bottom of the screen. Rows of aliens marched from side to side across the screen, slowly advancing down towards the bottom of the screen. The player was required to shoot at the aliens with the laser cannon and destroy them before they hit the bottom of the screen. If any of the aliens successfully landed, the game ended.

Inspired by the success of Space Invaders, Atari released a game in 1979 called 'Asteroids', where the player had to shoot and destroy asteroids without being hit by the fragments. Colour arcade games such as Pac-Man were also introduced in 1979 and 1980, and arcade games became prevalent in pubs, restaurants, shops and many other retail establishments.

However, with the introduction of 16-bit and 32-bit consoles in the 1990s, home video games began to approach the level of graphics seen in arcade games, and consumers began playing at home, rather than frequenting arcades. Despite the sudden popularity of Street Fighter II and the one-on-one fighting game genre, coin-operated games became largely the province of dedicated hobbyists. Arcades have now largely been replaced by large amusement centres that can provide expensive game control systems not available to home users, including sport games such as skiing, cycling or dancing.