Although the exact years differ, most sources agree the period lasted from about the late 1970s to early 1980s.
Technology journalist Jason Whittaker, in The Cyberspace Handbook, places the beginning of the See more

The golden age was a time of great technical and design creativity in arcade games. The era saw the rapid spread of video arcades across … See more

Arcades catering to video games began to gain momentum in the late 1970s, with Space Invaders (1978) followed by games such as Asteroids (1979) and Galaxian (1979). Arcades … See more

Space Invaders (1978) established the "multiple life, progressively difficult level paradigm" used by many classic arcade games. Designed by See more

Some games of this era were so widely played that they entered popular culture. The first was Space Invaders, released in 1978. A widely … See more

The period saw the emergence of a gaming media, publications dedicated to video games, in the form of video game journalism and strategy guides. The enormous … See more

For arcade games, success was usually judged by either the number of arcade hardware units sold to operators, or the amount of revenue … See more