Space Race (video game)

Space Race
Advertising flyer
Developer(s)	Atari, Inc.
Publisher(s)	NA/EU: Atari, Inc.[1] JP: Namco
Designer(s)	Ted Dabney
Platform(s)	Arcade
Release	NA: July 16, 1973 EU: 1973[1] JP: July 1974
Genre(s)	Racing
Mode(s)	Multiplayer

Space Race is an arcade game developed by Atari, Inc. and released on July 16, 1973. It was the second game by the company, after Pong (1972), which marked the beginning of the commercial video game industry along with the Magnavox Odyssey. In the game, two players each control a rocket ship, with the goal of being the first to move their ship from the bottom of the screen to the top. Along the way are asteroids, which the players must avoid. Space Race was the first racing arcade video game and the first game with a goal of crossing the screen while avoiding obstacles.

Development of Space Race began in Summer 1972 under the name Asteroid by Atari co-founder Nolan Bushnell, based on ideas by him and co-founder Ted Dabney. The final design was done by Dabney, possibly with assistance by Bushnell and Pong designer Allan Alcorn. The game was planned to be quick to create to fulfill an earlier contract with Midway Manufacturing. The engineering and prototyping was done by Alcorn; after it was completed and the design given to Midway to be released as Asteroid, Atari produced its own nearly identical version as Space Race. Fifty Space Race cabinets were produced using a fiberglass design by George Faraco before the rest of the production was switched to a cheaper standard cabinet.

Space Race was not commercially successful; Bushnell said that it was much less popular than Pong. Midway held that the release of Space Race violated Atari's contract with them for Asteroid, and the companies agreed for Atari to forfeit royalty payments for the game.