1961-62
Spacewar! is programmed at MIT by TMRC, the Tech Model Railroad Club, some of the very first hackers. [2] The first space-themed game, Spacewar was a huge influence on dozens of games to follow, and featured the first implementation of hyperspace, as well as bells and whistles like "expensive planetarium," a subroutine that drew stars in the background in their correct relative astronomical locations (see also Star Castle, Sept. 1980).
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1971
- Nolan Bushnell and Nutting Associates release Computer Space, the first arcade video game, which introduced many of the features that have persisted in arcade games to this day: a wooden cabinet, printed circuit board(s), monitor, control panel, audio speaker, power supply, and lighted marquee. Computer Space is inspired by TMRC's Spacewar!. Also this year, Ralph Baer patents the "Television gaming apparatus" (the Odyssey prototype).
- Galaxy Game, another port of Spacewar, is also released this year. In 1971 the idea of "war" is not a popular one on campus, so the intrepid creators change the name to Galaxy Game. It runs on a PDP-11 minicomputer with a coin mech attached. It is claimed that Galaxy Game was the first commercially released video game - it was installed in Tressider Union, Stanford University, in September 1971 and cost 10 cents to play (or three plays for a quarter.) A later version "drove four to eight consoles" but it is unknown if all players were interacting; more likely, the minicomputer was simply running four to eight terminals, each with two players only. So while Galaxy Game may have beaten Computer Space to market in September of 1971, Computer Space still established the concept of a dedicated computing device which only played one game (rather than using the minicomputer paradigm of a CPU connected to various terminals.)
