Computer Space is an arcade game released in 1971. It is considered to be the first commercially-produced arcade video game, though it was not a success due to the game being rather complicated to grasp at the time it was released. It is an adaptation of the Spacewar computer games that were designed in colleges during the 1960s. A much later arcade game called Space Wars would become more successful.
The player controls a rocket ship using a thruster and a pair of rotational buttons. During game play, the player must evade enemy fire from a pair of flying saucers moving in tandem. The player fires back to destroy the flying saucers by firing missiles at them from the rocket ship. Today, the game would be considered a multi-directional shooter.
If the player's score is higher than that of the saucers at the end of 90 seconds, the player will get another 90 seconds of play, and the colors of the screen would switch in "Hyperspace" (it would switch like a photo negative, from black to white and white to black). If at the end of this 90 seconds the player's score is still higher than that of the saucers, the player received another 90 seconds and the colors will revert to normal. This sequence is repeated indefinitely.