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Spacewar!

A space combat game written in 1962 for the PDP-1 at MIT, the first video game played at many computer sites.

Steve Russell wrote Spacewar! in 1962 with Martin Graetz, Wayne Wiitanen, Bob Saunders, Steve Piner and others. They wrote it for the newly installed DEC PDP-1 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Players first used console switches. Bob Saunders soon built an early gamepad. The game spread to many of the few dozen PDP-1 sites, so it was the first video game played at multiple computer installations.

Why it matters

Spacewar! directly inspired the first commercial arcade games, Galaxy Game and Computer Space, both from 1971, and later games such as Asteroids in 1979.

Key facts

  • Written in 1962 by Steve Russell and others.
  • Ran on the DEC PDP-1 at MIT.
  • First video game played at multiple computer installations.
  • Bob Saunders built an early gamepad for it.
  • Inspired Computer Space and Galaxy Game in 1971.

Sources

  1. Wikipedia, "Spacewar!", en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spacewar!, accessed October 14, 2026.
  2. Wikipedia, "Steve Russell (computer scientist)", en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Russell_(computer_scientist), background reading, accessed October 14, 2026.