1980 · Bally
Space Invaders
Known for Horseshoe, Mystery Ship, Red Invaders and Clone Chamber. Black outer space starfield with scattered stars and coloured nebula wisps, circuit-board-like panel graphics in the side borders and rows of incandescent bulb lights framing the edges.
- Year
- 1980
- Maker
- Bally
- Type
- Solid state
- Display
- Alphanumeric
- Players
- 4
Known for
- loop
Horseshoe
- Drop target
Mystery Ship
- Target
Red Invaders
- Captive ball
Clone Chamber
- extra flipper
Upper mini-flippers
On the playfield
Orbit 1
- Horseshoe loop
Captive ball 1
- Clone Chamber
Bumper 1
- Passive bumpers
Drop targets 2
- Mystery Ship
- Left drop targets
Target 1
- Red Invaders
Lanes 2
- Blue Invaders
- Star rollovers rollovers
Flipper 1
- Upper mini-flippers extra flipper
On the backglass
Who and what
- alien One huge symmetrical biomechanical creature centred on the glass, head at top third, tapering abdomen to bottom; golden horned skull with two long swept horns, blank glowing white eye sockets, snarling mouth of layered needle teeth, gold and bronze plated limbs, purple-bone segmented ribcage, two huge three-fingered clawed hands with long talons at mid-left and mid-right, and clawed feet at bottom left and right
- other Painted red seven-segment digit clusters at four positions (upper-left, upper-right, lower-left, lower-right) each showing 00, plus one smaller red numeric cluster mid-right
Setting
- Black outer space starfield with scattered stars and coloured nebula wisps
- Circuit-board-like panel graphics in the side borders
- Rows of incandescent bulb lights framing the edges
Text on it
- SPACE INVADERS
- Bally
- BALL REPLAY
- GAME OVER
- 00
- 38
- pinside.com
How it plays
-
Goals 1
- Recovery
Made by
- Design
- Jim Patla
- Art
- Paul Faris
Reference
Linked terms
- Horseshoe also called Center horseshoe
- Mystery Ship also called Mystery Ship target
- Clone Chamber also called Clone Chamber Value
- Left drop targets also called left bank
- Upper mini-flippers also called Mini-flipper transfer
Backglass vision analysis
Written by a machine from the photos, so details may be off.
Backglass
- black
- gold
- orange
- purple
Fingerprint: SPACE INVADERS: Gigantic biomechanical alien creature filling centre of glass with horned helmet-like skull, golden swept-back horns, glowing white eyes, rows of needle teeth, segmented ribcage, two enormous three-fingered clawed hands, black starfield.
The single most memorable element is a gigantic golden horned biomechanical alien head, grinning with rows of needle teeth, whose segmented skeletal torso runs down the whole centre of the glass. Two enormous clawed hands with three fingers and long talons reach in from either side of it. The title SPACE INVADERS is set in huge chunky yellow-to-orange block capitals across a black starfield top banner, with a cursive script logo tucked into the upper left corner. Four corner red seven-segment score readouts glow out of the darkness, framed by a border of round bulb lights.
Setting
- Black outer space starfield with scattered stars and coloured nebula wisps
- Circuit-board-like panel graphics in the side borders
- Rows of incandescent bulb lights framing the edges
Symbols
- Stars
- Circuit-board panel outlines
- Incandescent bulb border
- Seven-segment led numerals
- Horns
- Claws and talons
- Exoskeleton ribs
Lettering
- Main title in very wide squared-off block capitals with a yellow-to-orange vertical gradient and dark outline, arced slightly across the top banner; a small flowing cursive script logo above left of it; small block-capital sans-serif legends such as ball replay and game over on plain rectangular panels
Themes
- Space
- Extraterrestrial
- Monster
- Biomechanical
- Sci-fi horror
- Invasion
Title on it
- Space invaders
Text on it
- SPACE INVADERS
- Bally
- BALL REPLAY
- GAME OVER
- 00
- 38
- pinside.com
| Kind | Description |
|---|---|
| Alien | One huge symmetrical biomechanical creature centred on the glass, head at top third, tapering abdomen to bottom; golden horned skull with two long swept horns, blank glowing white eye sockets, snarling mouth of layered needle teeth, gold and bronze plated limbs, purple-bone segmented ribcage, two huge three-fingered clawed hands with long talons at mid-left and mid-right, and clawed feet at bottom left and right |
| Other | Painted red seven-segment digit clusters at four positions (upper-left, upper-right, lower-left, lower-right) each showing 00, plus one smaller red numeric cluster mid-right |
A backlit, glossy backglass whose entire surface is one symmetrical composition: a colossal biomechanical alien creature fills the centre from top to bottom against a dark black starfield. The creature has a broad horned helmet-like skull with two long swept-back golden horns, blank pale glowing white eyes, and a snarling mouth packed with rows of needle teeth; below the jaw a segmented purple-and-bone ribbed chest exoskeleton tapers into a long pointed abdomen. Two huge arms descend on either side, ending in three-fingered clawed hands with long talons, plated in gold and bronze armour segments. Across the top a title band reads SPACE INVADERS in wide squared yellow-to-orange gradient block letters, with a cursive script company logo above and left of it. Rows of round incandescent bulbs run around the black border and down both sides. Four pairs of red seven-segment score displays glow at the upper-left, upper-right, lower-left and lower-right, plus a small red counter mid-right. Bordered instruction and label panels sit mid-left and mid-right. A white 'GAME OVER' legend is centred along the bottom, and a small website watermark sits at bottom right.