Spacewar!

Created originally at MIT on the PDP-1 in 1962, Spacewar! is a competitive shooting game where two players in spaceships do battle in a segment of space. It is considered one of the most influential video games ever created, being a direct inspiration for seminal games such as Computer Space and Asteroids as well as introducing a plethora of features to real-time video games.

History[edit]

Name[edit]

Articles of the time period variously spelled the title of the game and its variants as Spacewar, Space-War, or Space War. The game did not have a title screen. Martin Graetz's original article on the game titled it Spacewar as did Steve Russell's listing of the game for the Digital Equipment User's Society (DECUS).

In 1981, Graetz's article The Origin of Spacewar uses a form of the name with an exclamation point which is used bolded and separated throughout the text. This solidified the common spelling of the game as Spacewar!.

Versions and Variants[edit]

After the initial PDP-1 game was disseminated, many programmers desired to create their own versions of Spacewar directly based on the original. Many of these variants are discussed in the paper SPACE ODYSSEY: THE LONG JOURNEY OF SPACEWAR! FROM MIT TO COMPUTER LABS AROUND THE WORLD by Devin Monnens and Marty Goldberg.

A PDP-4 version at the University of Michigan.
A DDP-224 version at the University of Michigan.
An IBM System/360 Model 65 version created at MIT's Computation Center.
A PDP-6 version created at Stanford University by Steve Russell.
A PDP-7 version at Cambridge University by M. S. Peterson and John C. Viner.
A version for the CDC-3100 at the University of Minnesota by A. W. Kuhfeld.
A LINC-8 ersion distributed in DECUS by E. Duffin.
A Data General NOVA version shown at the Fall Joint Computer Conference in 1968.
A version for the SEL 816A graphics terminal shown at the 1969 Joint Computer Conference.
The PDP-10 version at the Stanford Artificial Intelligence Laboratory.
An IBM 1620 version created by Jim Burroughs.
A version for the Imlac PDS-1 computer monitor.
A PDP-7 version at the University of Pittsburgh by Russell Randshaw.
A PDP-8 version distributed in DECUS by Evan Suits.
Galaxy Game by Mini-Computer Applications.

Additional games which took direct inspiration from Spacewar include:

Spacewar on the PLATO III system by Rick Blomme. Despite the identical the game plays quite differently than the other versions.
Computer Space released for coin-operated locations by Nutting Associates.

Preview[edit]

The Tech
🇺🇸 April 25, 1962

An article from MIT's local newspaper describing Spacewar in anticipation of its debut at the university's open house. The game's conception and features are described.

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Articles[edit]

Fort Lauderdale News
🇺🇸 June 1, 1969

A demo of Spacewar being shown at the Joint Computer Conference by the company Systems Engineering Laboratories for their SEL 816A graphical monitor.

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Rolling Stone
🇺🇸 December 7, 1972

The famous article by Stewart Brand covering technological and cultural developments in Silicon Valley, centered around the Intergalactic Spacewar Olympics at the Stanford Artificial Intelligence Laboratory.

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Photos[edit]

MIT Technology Review
🇺🇸 March 1964

Photo of two people observing Spacewar on the PDP-1 at MIT.

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Art[edit]

MIT Technology Review
🇺🇸 June 1967

An artistic depiction of Spacewar running on the PDP-1 as a demonstration of technological and warfare at the end of the 1960s for the MIT Technology Review's front cover.

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Histories[edit]

https://archive.org/details/creativecomputing-1981-08/page/n59/ The Origin of Spacewar by J. Martin Graetz. A telling of the creation of the game from the perspective of original participant Martin Graetz.
https://videogamehistorian.wordpress.com/2021/03/17/worldly-wednesdays-a-timeline-of-spacewar/ Worldly Wednesdays: A Timeline of Spacewar! by Alex Smith. A historical reconciliation of how Spacewar was developed.

Interviews[edit]

https://amhistory.si.edu/archives/AC1498_Transcript_StephenRussell.pdf — Stephen Russell oral history conducted by Christopher Weaver, working with the Smithsonian Institution's Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation (January 8th, 2017).
https://amhistory.si.edu/archives/AC1498_Transcript_PeterSamson.pdf — Peter Samson oral history conducted by Christopher Weaver, working with the Smithsonian Institution's Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation (January 9th, 2017).
https://www.si.edu/media/NMAH/NMAH-AC1498_Transcript_RobertSaunders.pdf — Robert Alan Saunders oral history conducted by Christopher Weaver, working with the Smithsonian Institution's Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation (November 29th, 2018).
https://www.si.edu/media/NMAH/NMAH-AC1498_Transcript_StephenPiner.pdf — Steve Piner oral history conducted by Christopher Weaver, working with the Smithsonian Institution's Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation (November 29th, 2018).
https://www.si.edu/media/NMAH/NMAH-AC1498_Transcript_MartinGraetz.pdf — Martin J Graetz oral history conducted by Christopher Weaver, working with the Smithsonian Institution's Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation (November 30th, 2018).
https://www.si.edu/media/NMAH/NMAH-AC1498_Transcript_WayneWiitanen.pdf — Wayne Alfred Wiitanen oral history conducted by Christopher Weaver, working with the Smithsonian Institution's Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation (November 30th, 2018).
https://www.si.edu/media/NMAH/NMAH-AC1498_Transcript_DanielEdwards.pdf — Daniel Edwards oral history conducted by Christopher Weaver, working with the Smithsonian Institution's Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation (November 30th, 2018).

Books[edit]

Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution by Steven Levy