Breakout. Atari's Breakout was developed in 1976 and it was a moderate success, spawning multiple clones, updates and re-releases. It is particularly notable because the two co-founders of Apple, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, both designed and implemented the first versions of this game. This in turn influenced the design of the Apple II computer later on in the industry.

Breakout. Breakout is a modification of Pong, where the playing field has been rotated 90 degrees, and multiple rows of blocks line the top of the screen. The goal for the player is to remove all of these blocks by hitting them with the ball, which bounces off of the paddle, as well as the top and two sides of the screen.

Breakout. Due to its success, Breakout was ported to the Atari 2600, and later spawned Super Breakout, an enhanced version with three separate game modes

Breakout

Breakout

Colossal Cave Adventure (Adventure, ADVENT). Colossal Cave Adventure, known by its filename ADVENT, was developed between 1975 and 1977 by Will Crowther, on the PDP-10 mainframe system. The game was intended to help Crowther connect with his daughters more after his divorce.

Computer Space. Computer Space is essentially a fork of Spacewar!, re-engineered for the arcade. It was designed by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney in 1970-1971, and changes the gameplay such that a single player fights against two flying saucers as a space ship.

Computer Space. The goal of Computer Space is to score more hits than the saucers within a set time period, and completing this goal awards the player with a free round of gameplay. Otherwise, more coins had to be inserted into the machine to start a new game.. Media Credits: Nolan Bushnell image from Flickr by Tech Cocktail: https://www.flickr.com/photos/20935403@N05/10710080943

Computer Space. While not the runaway success expected by Bushnell, Computer Space was a successful arcade video game and it marked the initial start ofthe commercial video game industry.

Computer Space

Pac-Man. Pac-Man was created in 1955 by Toru Iwatanai, and was published as PUCKMAN in Japan.

Pac-Man. The game made its way over to the US by publisher Midway Games, and it quickly became a hit, grossing more than $2.5 billion US quarters by the 1990s. From there, it became a social phenomenom and was re-incarnated multiple times in television, spin-offs and re-releases.

Pac-Man. The game has complex graphics and sounds, compared to earlier games in this list, matched only in graphics by Space Invaders.

Pac-Man. In addition, Pac-Pan was a completely different genre to popular arcade games at the time, which were usually space-themed shooters. Pac-Pan was instead the start of a new genre, the 'maze chaser' genre.

Pac-Man

Pitfall!. Pitfall!, developed in 1982 by David Crane, was Activision's first release, and it quickly became one of the best-selling games for the Atari 2600, topping the video game billboard charts for more than a year. It spawned multiple sequels, ports and re-releases, and it helped define the side-scrolling platform genre.

Pitfall!. The single-player game's goal is for the player to collect all treasures hidden in a maze-like jungle within 20 minutes, avoiding obstacles and hazards. Each treasure adds a different amount to the player's score, and getting caught in an obstacle or hazard will deduct points based on how long the player was in contact with the hazard.

Pitfall!. The game was notable because it was an extremely smooth-running game, with no flickering and lots of multi-colored animated sprites on a system with extremely primitive hardware, and also because many different programming techniques were used to keep the code small, to fit within the Atari 2600's maximum available size for program code.

Pong. Pong, released in 1972, is based on the slightly earlier tennis game on the Magnavox Odyssey, and involves one or two players playing a game of table tennis. In single player mode, the player plays against the computer, while in two-player mode, the players play against each other.

Pong. The game operates in a top-down fashion, where players bounce the ball off of the paddle on their side, in attempt to have the ball reach behind the other player or computer's paddle. If this is achieved, a point is awarded to the player. The original arcade machine and home console release had a maximum score of 11.

Pong. When it hit the markets in its arcade machine format in 1972, Pong quickly became a success, with clones from Ramtek and Nutting Associates being produced. Because little could be done for these clones, as Atari did not file for patents initially, Atari decide to produce more innovative games and concepts.

Pong. When it hit the markets in its arcade machine format in 1972, Pong quickly became a success, with clones from Ramtek and Nutting Associates being produced. Because little could be done for these clones, as Atari did not file for patents initially, Atari decide to produce more innovative games and concepts.

Space Invaders. Space Invaders was a revolutionary videogame when it was released, using Intel's 8080 microprocessor, a precursor to all 'x86' processors.

Space Invaders. Players controlled a small laser turret and had to defeat multiple waves of aliens in order to earn points. The aliens move from side to side on the screen, and then down, and letting them reach the bottom of the screen causes the game to be lost.

Space Invaders. Space invaders defined the 'Shoot 'Em Up' genre, and is a massive influence for more modern games such as Doom, Quake and Halo.

Spacewar!. Like Tennis for Two, Spacewar! is a two-player game, which pits the players against each other in two space ships, maneuvering in the gravity well of a star while fighting to destroy the other player.. Media Credits: Images by Joi at https://www.flickr.com/photos/35034362831@N01/494431001, modified to increase the brightness.

Spacewar!. Spacewar! was initially controlled with switches on the PDP-1, but a controller was later developed to reduce the difficulty and awkwardness of controlling the game. It is also one of the first video games to be played at multiple computer installations, as it was spread to many of the few dozen PDP-1s in existence.

Spacewar!. Like Tennis for Two, Spacewar! is a two-player game, which pits the players against each other in two space ships, maneuvering in the gravity well of a star while fighting to destroy the other player.

Tank. Tank was developed in 1974 by Kee Games, a subsidiary of Atari used to sell clones of Atari games, marking the first and only original title developed solely by Kee Games, as it was merged into Atari just months after its announcement.

Tank. The game is a multiplayer game, where two players navigate tanks through a maze while trying to destroy the other player's tank, and avoiding mines placed in the maze.

Tank. When a player's tank gets destroyed, either by a land mine or a shell, the other player is awarded a point and cannot fire until the tank is replaced. The ultimate goal of Tank is to get the most amount of points within the time period set by the arcade operator.

Tank. When released, Tank was one of the only original games, as a majority of the market at the time consisted of Pong clones.

Tennis for Two. Tennis for Two was designed in 1958 by William Higinbotham, a physicist at the Brookhaven National Laboratory. It is a two-player sports game, using an oscilloscope for a display.

Tennis for Two. Designed in three weeks, Tennis for Two was a huge success in its first three-day exhibit in the laboratory, with lines of people queued up up to play it, particularly those in high school. It was exhibited again the year after, with a larger oscilloscope display and more options, such as being able to change gravity on the fly.

Tennis for Two. The game was controlled using two aluminium controllers, each containing a knob and a button. The knob was used to control the angle of the player's shot, and the button was used to swing at the tennis ball as it came over, launching it into the other player's side.

Tetris. Tetris was developed in 1984 by Russian game designer Alexey Pajitnov, and like Pac-Man, became a huge part of videogame culture very quicky. Due to its simplicity, many ports to other devices were made, including graphing calculators, mobile phones, PDAs and even portable music players. It can even be found as an easter egg on some oscilloscopes!

Tetris. The game works by having five different shapes which fit together, and the goal is for the player to complete as many lines as possible by fitting these shapes together. The pieces are randomly selected by the game, and placed at the top of the screen, where they slowly fall to the bottom of the screen.

Tetris. The player can rotate the pieces or accelerate the fall, as well as translate the piece left and right. If the pieces stack and fill up the usable game space so no more tetrominos can be placed, the game ends and the player loses. When a line is formed, the player's score is increased and the line is removed, and the pieces above it fall down to fill the new gap.

Tetris. It took until the release of the handheld version of Tetris on the Game Boy for the game to really become successful, being named one of the most popular video games ever.

Tetris. It took until the release of the handheld version of Tetris on the Game Boy for the game to really become successful, being named one of the most popular video games ever.

Tetris