I started with just arcades but then got carried away with other interesting releases and facts of the later half of the 70s. This is the time I became more interested in games.

1976

Breakout was the top selling arcade cabinet in the U.S. and remained huge in '77. Since last year, I've become a real block-breaker aficionado.

Sea Wolf was the top popular game this year and remained in the top 10 in '77. I enjoyed it but I find it less interesting today.

Indy 800 was in the top 5 and was my first memory of playing a video arcade game.

War at Sea was a board game I had and played a lot. It centered on the Atlantic sea battles of WWII. I still remember the various ships' names.

1977

Electronics Boutique opens at the King of Prussia Mall in Pennsylvania. This was my mall, the mall I biked to on weekends with my buddy Phil to play in the arcades in the 80s. Electronics Boutique became EB Games and competed with Babbage's in the 80s. Babbage's launched GameStop in '99 and then GameStop acquired EB Games in 2005. It all came down to GameStop where I spent a lot of time from 2000 to about 2015 when things started moving online. I've since returned to the independent game stores but not GameStop.

Squad Leader board game released by Avalon Hill. I became a great fan of this game and played it through the 80s, mostly solo. It had many rules and each turn required a lot of reading and following a list of actions and checks. I loved reading, so it was a perfect game for me.

Apple II released. Go read Steve Wozniak's I, Woz autobio. The engineer's perspective is, to me, much better than the salesman, Jobs. I had one in '84.

AVCS is out. I had one in '80.

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons appears. I was probably too young for '74's D&D but I was just right for AD&D. I played it throughout the 80s but mostly with just one friend of mine and solo.

1978

Space Invaders is tops in Japan. Comes to America but, I guess, late in the year and doesn't top the charts until '79.

Gee Bee is NAMCO's first arcade game, a block breaker/pinball hybrid. They would soon be the biggest player in the game.

Super Breakout in arcades. Home ports come soon after.

Cross of Iron a Squad Leader board game gamette. You would call this an expansion if it was a video game. Squad Leader had three gamette's that I used to own. I'm not getting them again though because they go for $150 each these days.

1979

Space Invaders invades the U.S. charts. A worldwide mega seller in these years. It's port to AVCS in '80 hugely boosted AVCS sales. Arcade ports were a big deal in the 80s but that's for another blog.

Galaxian by NAMCO is out. Already they are hitting home runs. Space Invaders is barely only out a year and it's being improved upon. Enemies now break from formation and swoop towards you.

Lunar Lander is an Atari vector graphics simulation of the moon landing. I think it might have been the first game I played where the screen changes as you play, zooming in as you get closer to the landing site.

Asteroids tops Space Invaders in sales. Quite amazing. I remember it was, as well as Space Invaders, in every single arcade I went to this year and in the 80s.

IBM PC seems to have become a thing this year. I experienced one maybe a year or two later at my aunt's house on a holiday visit. Pop-eyed "wows" abounded seeing this running BASIC and Zork on a green-screen monitor.

Activision and Capcom founded this year. What big names they still are to this day some 40+ years later.

Akalabeth by Richard Garriott self released in plastic baggies for Apple II. Soon sequels would be called Ultima and a PC gaming franchise be popular for at least the next 20 years.

And that's some fun stuff going on the late 70s. Next week and through the month of October I'll be studying the 80s in various media. I can't wait to riff on 80s video games for a whole month. There's plenty to discuss.