Released in November 1979 by Atari, Inc., Asteroids is a popular space-themed multidirectional shooter arcade video game developed by Lyle Rains and Ed Logg. Players pilot a spaceship through an asteroid field, aiming to eliminate asteroids and flying saucers without getting hit. The game gets progressively more difficult with each new wave of asteroids.

Asteroids was born from a meeting between Logg and Rains, who decided to utilise hardware from Howard Delman's Lunar Lander. The game was inspired by an unfinished project called Cosmos and drew elements from Spacewar!, Computer Space, and Space Invaders. The two-dimensional view of the game is rendered on a vector display that wraps around both screen axes.

Asteroids was a standout success during the golden age of arcade games, selling 47,840 upright cabinets and 8,725 cocktail cabinets. It was, and still is loved, by players and had a big impact on game developers.

In Asteroids, the goal is to eliminate asteroids and saucers. The player manoeuvres a triangular ship that has the ability to rotate, shoot, and thrust forward. Once the ship is set in motion, it will keep moving until the player changes its direction. By using hyperspace, the ship can vanish and reappear in a different spot on the screen, but there's a chance of self-destruction or collision with an asteroid.

Each level begins with a few large asteroids floating around in different directions on the screen. These objects will wrap around the edges of the screen, so if an asteroid goes off the top, it will reappear at the bottom and keep moving in the same direction. When you shoot an asteroid, it breaks into smaller, faster-moving pieces that are harder to hit but worth more points. Flying saucers will also show up from time to time - the big saucer shoots randomly and not very accurately, while the small saucer takes aim more frequently at your ship. Once you reach a score of 40,000, only the small saucer will appear. As your score goes up, the small saucer's shots become more precise until it's firing with extreme accuracy. After you clear the screen of all asteroids and saucers, a new set of large asteroids will appear, signaling the start of the next level. The game becomes more challenging as the number of asteroids increases, especially once your score hits between 40,000 and 60,000. You'll begin the game with 3-5 lives and earn an extra life for every 10,000 points you score. The game will continue until you lose your last ship, at which point it will end. If you manage to reach 99,990 points, the machine will "turn over," marking the highest possible score you can achieve.

The example we have in at Square Eye is the gorgeous little cabaret cabinet.