Blast back to 1979, when a tiny triangular spaceship changed video gaming forever. That’s the year Atari released Asteroids — one of the most iconic and influential arcade games of all time.
Developed by Ed Logg and Lyle Rains, Asteroids drew inspiration from Spacewar! (1962), one of the earliest computer games, and Atari’s own Lunar Lander (also from 1979). Players piloted a small ship through a field of drifting space rocks, blasting them apart while dodging enemy saucers and debris. The action got more intense the longer you survived — and that quickening “heartbeat” sound effect kept players’ nerves on edge!
What made Asteroids so distinctive was its look and feel. Instead of pixel graphics, Atari used vector graphics — glowing white lines on a deep black background — to create a crisp, futuristic feel. The controls featured five buttons rather than a joystick, and its screen wraparound effect (objects disappearing off one side and reappearing on the other) gave it a unique, almost hypnotic motion. For the first time, players could also enter their initials on the high-score list — a small touch that made arcade bragging rights official.
The game was an instant hit. Asteroids quickly dethroned Space Invaders as America’s favorite arcade game and became Atari’s best-selling coin-op title ever, with over 70,000 cabinets sold. Atari earned around $150 million from the game, while arcade owners reportedly collected a staggering $500 million in quarters. Some arcades even had to install extra coin boxes just to hold all the change!
The fun didn’t stop in the arcades. The home console version for the Atari 2600 sold 3.8 million copies, helping drive Atari’s total home console sales past 30 million. The success of Asteroids inspired several sequels and spin-offs, including Asteroids Deluxe (1981), Space Duel (1982), and Blasteroids (1987). Decades later, in 2021, Asteroids: Recharged reimagined the classic for modern players — now competing online instead of shoulder-to-shoulder at an arcade cabinet.
The game also inspired some legendary high-score battles. In 1982, 15-year-old Scott Safran from Cherry Hill, New Jersey, set the world record with a score of 41,336,440 — achieved after an incredible 60-hour marathon session. His record stood for 27 years until John McAllister finally topped it in 2010, livestreaming his 58-hour, 41,838,740-point run.
Today, Asteroids remains a true classic. It’s preserved in the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History and, fittingly, was inducted into the World Video Game Hall of Fame at The Strong National Museum of Play in 2024.