Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Galaxy Game, The First Coin-Operated Game


"Spacewar," created by three MIT students in 1961, had great success amongst the engineering students.  However in the 1960's computers were very expensive; thus not allowing enthusiasts to freely work on the creation of games.  Only universities and the wealthy were able to afford computers at that time.  The situation changed however, in 1970 with the launch of the minicomputer PDP-11 by DEC.  Its price was about $14000, which means that computers became available for purchase by a wider range of consumers.  Bill Pitts and Hugh Tuck did not fail to seize this opportunity.

Pitts and Tuck had an idea in which they would create a game that required money to play.  Meaning that they are the founders of the video arcade game concept. They wanted to create the analog version of "Spacewar" for a wider audience.  Their work resulted in the creation of "Galaxy Game."

"Galaxy Game" was installed in a cafeteria at Stanford.  To play this game, you had to insert coins, one game cost 10 cents.  If player inserted a quarter however, he could play three times.  Thus, the "Galaxy Game," became the first coin-operated game.