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International Arcade Museum® — Killer List of Videogames®


Asteroids Asteroids - Japanese Logo - Katakana / Kanji

Asteroids - Cabinet - Video Game Marquee

Description

Your space craft is dangerously situated among fast moving asteroids in an asteroid belt that can destroy your ship on contact. Armed with a front mounted weapon and the ability to hyperspace, you fly through the debris, destroying each rock one piece at a time. Alien saucers visit the playfield from time to time with an eye towards destroying your ship!

Asteroids was produced by Atari in 1979.

Atari released 136 machines in our database under this trade name, starting in 1972. Atari was based in United States.

Other machines made by Atari during the time period Asteroids was produced include: Sky Raider, Fire Truck, Avalanche, Orbit, Skydiver, Hercules, Superman, Lunar Lander, Atari Soccer, and Atari Baseball

Asteroids - Cabinet - Machine
Cabinet

Specs

Name Asteroids
Developer Atari (United States)
Year 1979
Type Videogame
KLOV/MOG # 6939
Class Wide Release
Genre Space
Monitor
  • Orientation: Horizontal
  • Type: Vector
  • Color: Black and White
  • 19-inch Electrohome G05-802/805

Conversion Class unique
Game Specific Asteroids Pinout
Dipswitch Settings

Asteroids Dipswitch Settings (user contributed)

Asteroids (rev 4) Dipswitch Settings (MAME)

Asteroids (rev 2) Dipswitch Settings (MAME)

Asteroids (rev 1) Dipswitch Settings (MAME)

# Simultaneous Players 1
# Maximum Players 2
Gameplay Alternating
Control Panel Layout Single Player
Controls
  • Buttons: Rotational (left, right)
  • Buttons: 3 [FireThrustHyperspace]
Sound Unamplified Mono (requires one-channel amp)
Cabinet Styles
  • Upright/Standard - 262 lbs
  • Cocktail
  • Cabaret/Mini
Bezel Asteroids Bezel Image
Control Panel Asteroids Control Panel Image
PCB Asteroids PCB Image

Game Play

The most famous play tactic for Asteroids is the "hunting" strategy. The player destroys all asteroids except for one that almost clears the playfield and makes it relatively safe. This allows the player to hunt for alien saucers without worrying about being smashed by a lot of flying debris.

Asteroids KLOV/IAM 5 Point User Score: 3.98 (36 votes)

Fun Factor: 4.17

Overall Like 4.35
Fun (Social) 3.65
Fun (Solo) 4.15
Collector Desire 4.21

Technical Rating: 3.96

Gameplay 4.37
Graphics 3.89
Originality 4.50
Sound/Music 3.48

Personal Impressions and Technical Impressions each account for half of the total score. Within the Personal Impressions category, Like carries a little more weight than the other factors.

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Cheats, Tricks, Bugs, and Easter Eggs

The original version of the game had a feature that allowed the player to hide their ship in the score field indefinitely without being hit by flying asteroids.

More pictures

Trivia

After its release in the US, many arcade operators had to make larger coin boxes for the games so they could hold all of the quarters that these machines collected.

Cabinet Information

The first Asteroids cabinets used a different coin-door. The quarters were placed through one of two round openings large enough for the quarter to fit through. The quarter is placed flat against a wall just inside the opening and released. The quarter drops down for a credit. The display showing the cost of a credit is labeled between the two coin openings. The lettering describing the game play is also in yellow instead of white on the monitor overlay. The picture of the Asteroids cabinet at the top of this page is one of these first machines.

Miscellaneous

VAPS Arcade/Coin-Op Asteroids Census

There are 14,717 members of the Video Arcade Preservation Society / Vintage Arcade Preservation Society, 9,455 whom participate in our arcade census project of games owned, wanted, or for sale. Census data currently includes 164,291 machines (6,886 unique titles).

Very Common - There are 1,179 known instances of this machine owned by Asteroids collectors who are active members. Of these, 1,088 of them are original dedicated machines. 7 of them are conversions in which game circuit boards (and possibly cabinet graphics) have been placed in (and on) another game cabinet. 80 of them are only circuit boards which a collector could put into a generic case if desired.

For Sale - There are 47 active VAPS members with a Asteroids machines for sale. There are 4 active VAPS members with a Asteroids circuit boards for sale.

Wanted - Very Popular - There are 37 active VAPS members currently looking for Asteroids. There is one active VAPS member looking for a Asteroids circuit board set.

This game ranks a 96 on a scale out of 100 (100 = most often seen, 1=least common) in popularity based on census ownership records.

This game ranks a 53 on a scale out of 100 (100 = most often seen, 1=least common) in popularity based on census want list records.

Rarity and Popularity independently are not necessarily indications of value. [More Information]

Flyers

Technical

The Wells-Gardner 19V2000 black and white vector monitor is a direct plug-in replacement monitor for an Asteroids machine. The pinout is almost identical to Asteroids Deluxe.

Legacy

  1. Asteroids
  2. Asteroids Deluxe
  3. Space Duel
  4. Blasteroids

Manuals

Foto-Finder® (Books)

  1. Arcade Treasures Kurtz (ISBN 088740619X) Page: 103; Color photo
  2. The Encyclopedia of Arcade Video Games Kurtz (ISBN 0764319256) Page: 75; Color photo Price guide: No
  3. Arcade Fever Sellers (ISBN 0762409371) Page: 38; Color photo
  4. Encyclopedia of Arcade Video Games Kurtz (ISBN 0764319256) Page: 75; Color photo

Additional References (logged in members often see more)

  1. 3D Model (External): Cocktail
  2. 3D Model (External): Upright

See the game at:

This game is available at the following public arcades, bars or museums:

Name Location State Country Details Check-ins
8-Bit Beans 100 Brock St South, Whitby Ontario Canada 0
Level One Bar + Arcade 130 Hutchinson Ave, Columbus Ohio United States 0
The Very Best Arcade (The Very Best Weiner Shop) 252 E High St, Pottstown Pennsylvania United States Arcade (Classic Videogame)
Status: Verified

Children: Allowed
Focus: Classic Games
Food: Yes
Alcohol: No
Payment Method: Coins
1

eBay Listings

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TOP WATCHED LISTINGS FOR: Asteroids

Ebay Compatible Application

New Wave Toys Replicade “Asteroids” Arcade Game & Bonus Neon Mat

Auction ends in: 3 days, 4 hours

Auction
$227.50

Asteroids Deluxe Atari Arcade Game

Auction ends in: 4 weeks, 22 hours

FixedPrice
$1,500.00

Asteroids 1979 Original Arcade Game

Auction ends in: 1 week, 5 days

FixedPrice
$850.00

New Wave Toys Replicade Asteroids OVERHAUL EDITION - 101 of 500 RARE

Auction ends in: 2 days, 20 hours

FixedPrice
$1,049.00

Auction Results

Logged in members can see all related auctions.

Auctions Recap

Year Count Median $ Average $
2015 5 575.00 601.50
2016 5 460.00 448.50
2017 3 632.50 661.25
2018 5 354.00 519.20
2019 1 472.00 472.00
2020 6 1,194.50 1,088.17
2021 5 1,265.00 1,570.60
2022 3 1,265.00 1,380.00
All Years 33 690.00 873.45

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