👾 Space Invaders

How to play Space Invaders

Space Invaders is the alien-shooting cabinet that defined the shoot-em-up genre. A grid of aliens marches sideways and slowly descends; you fire from a cannon at the bottom, protected by a shield that soaks up a few hits. Clear the wave before they reach the ground.

Controls

• ← → or A D — move your cannon
• Space — fire (up to two shots)
• R — restart

Tips & strategy

• Pick off the edges. Killing the leftmost or rightmost column shrinks the formation and gives the wave less ground to descend before reaching you.
• Mind your shield. The shield bar soaks up incoming fire, but only a few hits — it recharges a little after each wave, so don't lean on it.
• Watch the speed. Fewer aliens means each remaining alien moves faster. The last few are the hardest.
• Snipe the mystery UFO. The flying saucer that crosses the top is worth bonus points — lead the shot.

About Space Invaders

Space Invaders launched in 1978 from Taito, designed by Tomohiro Nishikado. It was a cultural phenomenon in Japan and the West, blamed at one point for a national coin shortage in Japan. The accelerating speed wasn't a design choice — Nishikado discovered that as more aliens were destroyed the CPU could update each one faster, so he kept the bug.

Frequently asked

How do I play Space Invaders? Use the arrow keys to move your cannon left and right, and Space to fire. Destroy every alien before they reach the bottom.

Is Space Invaders free? Yes — no signup, no downloads, no installs.

Why do the aliens speed up? It's part of the original 1978 design: each destroyed alien gives the others more CPU time per frame, so they accelerate as you thin the wave.

Does my high score save? Yes — your best Space Invaders score is stored locally in your browser.

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