Play Spacewar!
Spacewar! is the first computer game ever made. It came out in 1962, and could be played on the PDP-1 computer. The game is a two player space shooter, where each player controls a spaceship. In the middle of the map is a star, whose gravity pulls both ships towards it. Each player has a limited amount of fuel to boost away from the star and torpedoes to fire at the other ship. The player who shoots down the other player first wins.
Try out this re-creation of the original Spacewar! Like the original game, the re-creation requires two players. | |
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| Player 1's ship ("the Wedge") spawns in the top corner of the screen. To control it: a -- turn counter-clockwise d -- turn clockwise s -- activate thrust boost (uses fuel) w -- fire a torpedo | Player 2's ship ("the Needle") spawns in the bottom corner of the screen. To control it: j -- turn counter-clockwise l -- turn clockwise k -- activate thrust boost (uses fuel) i -- fire a torpedo |
Spacewar! was conceived in 1961 by Martin Graetz, Stephen Russell, and Wayne Wiitanen. It was first realized on the PDP-1 in 1962 by Stephen Russell, Peter Samson, Dan Edwards, and Martin Graetz, together with Alan Kotok, Steve Piner, and Robert A Saunders. Spacewar! is in the public domain, but this credit paragraph must accompany all distributed versions of the program.