Video Games Replacing Pinball Machines (1980)

Cut 12 Aliens. Step right up, slide a quarter in the slot and help defend the earth against invaders from outer space. The alien fleet is approaching fast, trying to pin you down in a barrage of deadly laser beams. Only nerves of steel and skill at the controls can save your rocket ship from enemy fire. One wrong move means an explosion of light and sound, along with an invitation to spend another quarter and start over again. The alien spacecraft are really electronic blips controlled by a computer. The battleground is a special video screen. The game itself might be called Space Invaders, Space Wars, Asteroids or Galaxian. They're all part of a new breed of sophisticated video games, which are rapidly replacing old -fashioned pinball machines all across the U .S. The Conquest began in 1978 when midway manufacturing marketed Space Invaders. Since then, the unit has become the most successful coin -operated game ever sold in America. Other companies were quick to counterattack with similar models. In a prime location, such video

games can earn up to $1 ,000 a day. And at colleges where an earlier generation battled police and campus demonstrations, some students today seem to prefer fighting space creatures instead. I'm Dave Dunbar of the Christian Science Monitor News Service. Cut