Do you happen to be in Las Vegas this weekend, August 1-2, 2010, and do you like classic games?
Check out the Classic Gaming Expo 2010 show. Also in Vegas (permenantly) is the Las Vegas Pinball Hall of Fame.

Space Wars

Manufacturer: Cinematronics
Year: 1977
Class: Wide Release
Genre: Space
Type: Videogame

Monitor:

Orientation: Horizontal
Type: Vector
CRT: Black and White

Conversion Class: unique
Number of Simultaneous Players: 2
Maximum number of Players: 2
Gameplay: Competitive
Control Panel Layout: Multiple Player
Controls:

Buttons: Rotational (left, right)
Buttons: 3 [Thrust|Fire|Hyperspace]
10-digit keypad

Sound: Amplified Mono (one channel)

Click here to contribute another image.

Space Wars Description

Two player only game where each player flies around space and tries to shoot each other. Features include partial damage, modifying gravity and inertia. Controls are fire, thrust, rotate left and right, hyperspace and reset.

Cabinet Information

There were three different cabinet styles for this game. The Cinematronic upright cabinets have two lighted marquees one on the top of the game and one below the monitor and above the control panel white text on a black background with red trim. Lots of text for instructions. The side art was simply a blue vertical strip that said SPACE WARS.PThe Vectorbeam upright was slightly smaller and did not have a lighted marquee, but it did have the graphic images of each of the ships on the marquee. The side art consisted of a two foot square sticker with a graphic showing one ship blasting another.PThe table version had fake woodgrain surfaces, with a monitor bezel that showed ships fighting.

Game Play

Timed play. The player with the largest number of kills wins. After a kill, the victorious player will wait for 5 seconds before the next round begins. During that time he can kill himself and give the other kill for the other guy. Hitting the reset button will start the next round of battle.

Miscellaneous

WWW httpwww.multigame.comspacewar.htmlPThis game was the first graphic, animated computer game. In 1961 DEC shipped their first computer, the PDP1, to MIT. There, a small group of friends at MIT decided to write some demoware for the machine that would use the supplied vector monitor. The game was released as Spacewar in 1962, becoming an instant hit. It was later distributed by DEC with all PDP1s and found itself installed at universities around the world. The result was a huge number of modified versions, many of these modifications can be found as user options in the Cinematronics version. Nuttings IComputer SpaceI and Ataris IOrbitI were based on the same concept, but these games were raster implementations instead of vector.PThe Vectorbeam version of this game is called ISpace WarI, not ISpace WarsI.

CAPS/VAPS Arcade Census

There are 6,862 members of the Classic Arcade Preservation Society / Video Arcade Preservation Society, 3,937 whom participate in our arcade census project of games owned, wanted, or for sale. Census data currently includes 64,459 machines (3,753 unique titles).

Common - There are 38 known instances of this machine owned by Space Wars collectors. Of these, 36 of them are original dedicated machines, and 2 of them are only circuit boards which a collector could put into a generic case if desired.

This game ranks a 23 on a scale out of 100 (100 = most commonly seen, 1=least common) in popularity based on census ownership records.

Wanted - There are 4 VAPS members currently looking for Space Wars.

This game ranks a 11 on a scale out of 100 (100 = most commonly seen, 1=least common) in popularity based on census want list records.

For Sale - There are 4 VAPS members with Space Wars machines for sale. VAPS members are totally independent of VAPS and the International Arcade Museum, and we are unable to recommend, endorce, or guarantee any person or company selling games or game parts.

Rarity is NOT necessarily an indication of value. [More Information]

Technical

Cinematronics used a custom vector monitor. The monitor had a parallel interface and had digital to analog converters in the monitor cage.

Trivia

This game has the honor of being the first Black and White Vector arcade game. The designer of the game saw ISpace WarsI in a research lab running on a minicomputer and felt that he had to have one of his own. So over the period of a few years he built the prototype of the game out of easily available parts. He did not use a microprocessor because he could not afford it, so he built his own. He eventually teamed up with others to form Cinematronics, and the basic design of ISpace WarsI was used in about a dozen other games including ISolar QuestI, ITail GunnerI and IStar CastleI.

Foto-Finder™ (books)

The Encyclpedia of Arcade Video Games, Kurtz (ISBN 0764319256): Page: 60; Color photo;
Arcade Fever, Sellers (ISBN 0762409371): Page: 28; Color photo; Price guide:
Encyclopedia of Arcade Video Games, Kurtz (ISBN 0764319256): Page: 60; Color photo; Price guide:

Contribute Links

eBay Listings

Click to search eBay for Space Wars Videogame machines and related items.

Click to search eBay for machines and parts made by Cinematronics .

Check out the IAM/KLOV report of the hottest coin-op machines on eBay, powered by Ace.com.

Click here to contribute another image.

Return to the index | Return to the Main Page

If you wish to use material from our web sites, please take a look at our Acceptable Use, Copyright, and Trademark Page. Except as described on that page, any use of the information found here may not be copied or reprinted on any medium, either physical or electronic, without the express written permission of The International Arcade Museum.