Galaxy Game – Interim Computer Museum

This recounts the origin and significance of Galaxy Game, one of the first coin-operated video games, tracing its roots to Spacewar! on MIT’s PDP-1 in 1962 and contrasting two 1971 commercialization efforts. Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney produced Computer Space using dedicated TTL logic and a repurposed GE television, which succeeded commercially. Bill Pitts and Hugh Tuck instead built a high-fidelity installation at Stanford’s Tresidder Union in September 1971: a PDP-11/20 with 8K core, a Ted Panofsky point-plotting display interface, and HP 1300A electrostatic X-Y CRTs running a PDP-11 implementation of SAIL’s PDP-10 Spacewar. Billed as the “Cadillac of Spacewars,” it drew hour-long lines, was revised in 1972 to drive multiple consoles, ran until 1979 when the display processor failed, and was revived in 1997.

Galaxy Game is now undergoing a fresh restoration at the Interim Computer Museum driven by Bill Pitts, Josh Dersch, and Robert Schmuck. The PDP-11’s power supply has been rebuilt and the system runs; the pressing work focuses on refurbishing the HP 1300A displays - 20 kV electrostatic-deflection tubes with diode-ladder high-voltage supplies that have grown dim and unfocused after fifty years. Restoration requires servicing deflection amplifiers, the HV multiplier, and focus circuitry to restore sharp, bright vectors. Cabinets are staged for display, the game is playable under MAME, and donations are solicited to support completing the physical restoration.