Space Invaders came to the U.S. in 1978 when the video game company Midway licensed it from the Japanese company Taito. 

Space Invaders is widely considered to be the game that started the era known as the “Golden Age of Video Games”. Video games were no longer just technology but now had transitioned fully into a whole entertainment industry and culture. Space Invaders was the first game to record and display high scores, something that became very important to gaming culture. Additionally, the game also represents the growing commercialization of video games as Midway released it to compete with Atari. Space Invaders ended up being the 2nd highest-selling arcade video game of all time after Pac-Man.

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Image 12 Details:

Date: 1972

Location: Atari HQ, Sunnyvale, California

Physical Dimensions: 25” x 33” x 67”, black and white

Subject Keywords: video games, technology, research, machine

Publisher: Atari

Usage: amusement

Provider: [unknown]

Photographer: [unknown]

Original ID: [unknown]

Credits: Al Alcorn, Atari

Copyright: ©Atari

Citation:

"Midway Space Invaders Original Video Arcade game - coin operated, vintage

     *REAL* full size game, working coin mechanisms, 25 cents." Etsy. Accessed

     April 19, 2023. https://www.etsy.com/listing/1258298508/

     midway-space-invaders-original-video.

Image 13 Details

Citation:

Grace, Lindsay. "The Original 'Space Invaders' Is a Meditation on 1970s

     America's Deepest Fears." Smithsonian Magazine. Last modified June 19,

     2018. Accessed May 2, 2023. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/

     original-space-invaders-icon-1970s-America-180969393/.