1970
-
- Nolan Bushnell completes his Computer Space video game machine. One player competes in a space ship against the machine controlling flying saucers. Despite the name, the machine does not incorporate a computer. Nutting Associates, a small arcade games manufacturer, agrees to build and market it. [89.6] [94.103]
- Nutting Associates releases the Computer Space coin-operated (25-cents) arcade video game, making this the first commercial video game. (1500 machines are made, but the game is not popular with players. Nolan Bushnell makes about US$500 in royalties.) [89.6,80] [124.135] (1971 [371.67] [746.48]) (2000 machines made [94.103])
1972
- November 29
- Atari ships the Pong stand-alone coin-operated video game. The Pong game debuts in Andy Capp's Tavern in Sunnyvale, California. (About 10,000 units are sold, making this the first commercially-successful video game.) [1] [2] [32.178] [76.144] [89.8] [94.106] [124.135] [371.67]
1973
- May 9
- Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer generally releases the film Soylent Green to theaters in the USA. The arcade video game Computer Space appears. [1378]
1974
- June 14
- Paramount Pictures releases the film The Parallax View in the USA. The arcade game Pong appears. [1290]
- (month unknown)
- Konami releases the Maze arcade game in Japan. [1343.193]
- Atari releases the Gran Trak arcade video game, the first video car-racing game controlled by a steering wheel attached to the cabinet. [124.138]
- September
- To date, there are about 100,000 coin-operated video game machines in the USA. [83.VI.94]
- November
- The annual Amusement and Music Operators Association convention is held. Atari delivers the Tank arcade game. Tank is the first game to use ROM chips to store graphics data. [89.14] [124.139]
1976
-
- Atari introduces the Breakout coin-operated video game. (15,000 machines are sold over its lifetime.) [94.106]
- Exidy introduces the Death Race coin-operated video game. The object of the game is to run down "gremlins". (The National Safety Council calls it "sick, morbid, and insidious".) [87.12] [89.16]
1978
- March
- Nintendo releases the Computer Othello arcade game. [865.128]
- June 5
- Taito introduces the Space Invaders game, in Japan. Original name was Space Monsters, created by Toshihiro Nishikado. (Over 350,000 machines are sold world-wide over its lifetime.) [4.46] [22.34] [89.xvi] [94.109] [297.36] [1343.193] (April 1979 [7.258])
- October
- Midway releases the Space Invaders arcade video game in the US. [389.94]
- Atari releases the trakball-controlled Football arcade game. [389.94]
- (month unknown)
- The annual Amusement and Music Operators Association convention is held. Cinematronics unveils Space Wars, the first coin-operated video game with vector-generated graphics. The game, created by Larry Rosenthal, is a duplication of the original Spacewar game of 1962. Rosenthal received several patents for the technology. [89.7,16]
- Cinematronics releases the Space Wars video game to arcades. [16.68]
- Year
- Sales of video arcade games during the year: US$50 million. [281.39]
- Market share of coin-operated games: Atari 70%. [89.20]
- Cinematronics makes US$6 million for the year, from sales of 10,000 Space Wars machines. [89.18]
1979
-
- Atari develops the Asteroids computer game. [9.78]
- October 15
- Namco releases the Galaxian arcade game in Japan. [1340.15]
- November 14
- At Atari, Jed Margolin proposes Warp Speed, a 3D perspective graphics first-person space war game played against either a person at a linked machine, or a computer-controlled enemy player. The proposal is approved. (It is later released as the Star Wars arcade game.) [1343.69]
- (month unknown)
- The annual Amusement and Music Operators Association convention is held. Atari delivers the Asteroids video game. (100,000 units are sold world-wide over its lifetime.) [9.78] [89.23] [94.109] [274.58]
- Year
- During the year, about US$930,000 is spent in coins on coin-operated video games. [94.S6.101]
1980
-
- In the case of Aladdin's Castle arcade versus the city of Mesquite, Texas, the US Federal Appeals Court for the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans rules that playing arcade video games is an activity protected under the First Amendment of the US Constitution. City council of Mesquite had issued an ordinance barring players under age 17 without parents to play video games. [55.C8] [106.7] [111.A15]
- July
- Atari releases the Missile Command video game to arcades in the USA. [1341.97]
- October
- Midway Manufacturing introduces the Pac-Man video game. The game was created at Namco by Toru Iwatani. (Within a year, 100,000 machines are sold for US$200 million in revenue, with the machines taking in US$1 billion in quarters. Over seven years, 293,822 units are sold. In 2005, the game is added to the Guiness Book of World Records book as "most successful coin operated game" in history.) [89.43] [95.S3.21] [305.37] [456.S3.21] [597] [682.77]
- November
- Atari sponsors the First National Space Invaders Competition, in New York. Bill Heineman of Whittier, California, scores 165,200 to win an Asteroids Table Top Video Game. [4.44]
- The annual Amusement and Music Operators Association convention is held. Gremlin shows Nichibutsu's Moon Cresta video game. Taito of America introduces Stratovox, the first talking video game. Centuri releases Amstar's Phoenix and Eagle video games. Midway Manufacturing introduces Namco's Pac-Man and Rally-X video games. Williams Electronics introduces the Defender video game. [89.24] (Defender introduced in October [113.D4])
- Atari releases the Battle Zone arcade game. [667.182]
- December
- Nintendo of Japan begins exporting coin-operated video games to the United States. [273.102]
- Year
- Unit sales of coin-operated video games in the United States during the year: US$500 million. [273.98]
- During the year in the US, US$3.8 billion in coins is spent on coin-operated video games. [89.xix] (US$2.8 billion [94.S6.101])
1981
- May
- Atari completes work on the Centipede arcade video game. [89.65]
- (month unknown)
- Sega/Gremlin introduces the Frogger video game. [89.29] [672.148]
- A man dies of a heart attack while playing Berzerk in a video arcade. This is the first video game-related death. [685.136]
- Namco releases the Galaga arcade video game in the US. [304.148] [672.148]
- Atari releases the Centipede arcade video game in the US. (50,000 units are sold during its lifetime, second best for Atari.) [672.148]
- Centuri releases the Vanguard arcade game in the US. [672.148]
- July
- Nintendo releases the Donkey Kong video game. The first location in the USA to host one of the games is the Spot Tavern in Seattle, Washington. The hero Mario was originally called Jumpman. (In the first year, 60,000 units are sold for US$180 million.) [44.TD7] [89.29] [124.49] [672.148] [1343.186]
- October 10
- At the Citicorp Center in Manhattan, New York, Atari sponsors an open tournament of arcade games. Frank Cretella scores 118,740 in Asteroids, setting a new national record. [93.45]
- October
- General Computer Corporation completes the Crazy Otto arcade game. The game is based on Pac-Man, with a two-legged character, moving bonus point fruit, four mazes, and more intelligent ghosts. The company contacts Midway to obtain licensing permission, and they end up renaming it Ms. Pac-Man with a redesigned main character. [1341.98]
- October 28
- At the Expocenter in Chicago, the Atari Coin-Op $50,000 World Championship is held, over five days. Participation is only 250 players, on expectations of 10-15,000. [94.102] [672.150]
- November 14
- In Washington, D.C., Atari sponsors a week-long international finals tournament in arcade video game playing, including contestants from ten European countries. [93.45]
- November 19
- President Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines bans video games in the country, because of parent and teacher complaints regarding youth morality. [96.23] [278.51]
- (month unknown)
- The annual Amusement and Music Operators Association convention is held. Taito America introduces the Qix and Lock 'n' Chase video games. Atari introduces Tempest, Atari's first color vector graphics game, second in the industry to Sega Enterprises's Space Fury. Exidy shows the Mouse Trap video game. Williams Electronics shows the Make Trax video game. Stern shows the Turtles video game. Centuri shows the Round Up video game. Nichibutsu shows the Frisky Tom video game. Nintendo shows the Donkey Kong video game. Sega Enterprises shows the Frogger video game. [89.30,42] [672.148]
- Steve Juraszek plays arcade game Defender for 16 hours and 34 minutes on one quarter, scoring a world record 15,963,100 points. [278.49]
- Midway releases the Ms. Pac-Man game. Original game title was Crazy Otto. (Over 119,000 units are sold in its lifetime, making it the most popular arcade game ever.) [304.142] [305] [672.148] [682.77] [1341.98]
- December
- The city council of Oakland, California, votes to ban minors from arcades during school hours and after 10 PM weeknights, 12 PM weekends. [89.122]
- Year
- During the year, Bally's Midway Manufacturing Division sells 96,000 machine sales of Pac-Man, for US$200 million profit on revenues of US$1.2 billion. [55.C8] [60.S2.13] [109.D1] [672.148]
- Arcade video game revenue for the year: US$5-5.7 billion. [89.xix,138] [278.49] [672.148] (US$7 billion [281.39]) (US$8 billion [53.D1])
- Unit sales of video game machines for the year: 4.5 million. Revenue: US$1-1.2 billion. [58.D5] [63.21] [278.49] [287.110] [672.148]
- During the year, Atari ships 50,000 Centipede video game machines. [89.143] [161.S3.19]
1982
- January
- At Atari, the Warp Speed game project officially becomes the Star Wars project, with a license agreement with LucasGames. [1343.69]
- February 1
- Coleco signs a contract with Nintendo for exclusive rights to home and table-top conversions of Donkey Kong. [1343.187]
- February 8
- Council of Bradley, Illinois, bars children under 16 from playing video arcade games. [292.7]
- February 9
- The Boston suburb of Marlborough, Massachusettes, passes an ordinance barring the use of video games by anyone under age 18 during school class hours or late at night, and bans placement of the games within 1500 feet of public schools. [108.14] (February 8 [292.7])
- February 23
- The US Supreme Court announces it will not decide on the Mesquite versus Alladin's Castle case. The Federal Appeals Court must determine if the circumstances of the case are specific to the Texas constitution, in which case the US Supreme Court would have no jurisdiction. [89.128] [111.A15]
- March
- Stern releases the Frenzy arcade video game. [89.188]
- May 3
- Walt Disney Productions files a suit against Williams Electronics for infringing Disney's Tron trademark, by the arcade video game Robotron. [118.D5]
- June 15
- New York state Supreme Court justice Thomas Galligan rules that New York City could limit locations of video game arcades, saying that the games are not protected by the First Amendment of the US Constitution. [129.B3]
- June 17
- Atari grants Centuri exclusive worldwide rights to manufacture and distribute the Tunnel Hunt arcade game. [130.D4]
- June (month)
- Number one arcade game at end of June: Zaxxon by Sega Enterprises. [59.D4]
- July 9
- Bally Manufacturing debuts the TRON arcade game. [59.D4]
- July
- Paramount airs television commercials promoting Sega Enterprises's Zaxxon arcade game. This is the first television commercial for an arcade game. [59.D4]
- November 1
- The Columbia Broadcasting System airs the Cagney and Lacey TV show in the USA. A short scene takes place in a video games arcade, showing Stern's Astro Invaders game. [1326]
- Year
- Arcade video game shipments for the year: 480,000. [53.D9] [145.C11]
- Arcade video game revenue (from coins) for the year: US$7.3 billion. [53.D1] [145.C11]
- Sales of arcade video game machines during the year: US$4.5 billion. [305.37]
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