About

Space Invaders is one of the most influential games ever made. Rows of alien invaders march back and forth across the screen, descending one step each time they reach a wall. You control a laser cannon at the bottom, shooting upward to eliminate them all before they reach the ground — or you.

The genius of Space Invaders is its dynamic difficulty. As aliens are destroyed, the remaining ones move faster. What starts as a manageable threat accelerates into a panicked scramble as fewer and faster aliens bear down on you. The game creates pressure through its own mechanics, not external timers.

Four destructible bunkers provide brief shelter from alien fire, but they're gradually whittled down by both sides. Managing your shelter while systematically clearing the alien grid is the strategic layer underneath the reflexive shooting.

How to Play

• Move your cannon left and right with arrow keys.
• Press spacebar to fire upward at the alien invaders.
• Shoot all the aliens before they reach the bottom of the screen.
• Use the bunkers for cover, but know they erode with each shot.
• Watch for the mystery ship that occasionally crosses the top for bonus points.

Tips

• Clear aliens from the bottom rows first — they're worth fewer points but free your escape routes.
• Focus fire down a single column to reduce the alien mass and slow their descent.
• The mystery ship appears on a fixed cycle — position for an easy shot.

History

Space Invaders was created by Tomohiro Nishikado and published by Taito in 1978. It was the first game to use a continuous high score table, encouraging repeated play. The game was so popular in Japan that it caused a temporary coin shortage. When Atari licensed it for the 2600, it quadrupled the console's installed base and established the home video game market. Space Invaders is consistently ranked among the most important games in history.