''Invasion of the Space Invaders: An Addict's Guide to Battle Tactics, Big Scores and the Best Machines'' is a 1982 non-fiction book on

video games Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device to gener ...

by the British author

Martin Amis Martin Louis Amis (born 25 August 1949) is a British novelist, essayist, memoirist, and screenwriter. He is best known for his novels ''Money'' (1984) and ''London Fields'' (1989). He received the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for his memoir '' ...

. The foreword is written by American filmmaker

Steven Spielberg Steven Allan Spielberg (; born December 18, 1946) is an American director, writer, and producer. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, he is the most commercially successful director of all time. Spie ...

, also an

arcade game An arcade game or coin-op game is a coin-operated entertainment machine typically installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are presented as primarily games of skill and include arcade v ...

enthusiast. Writing in ''

The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the crea ...

'', U.S. author Paul Collins described the book as "completely endearing in its utter dorkiness", while English writer and videogame enthusiast

Simon Parkin Simon Parkin is an English writer. He is a contributing writer for ''The New Yorker,'' a critic for ''The Observer,'' and the author of three non-fiction books. His work has appeared in ''The New York Times'', the ''New Statesman'', ''1843'', and ...

in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' described it as "a valuable snapshot of early critical thinking about video games". Written during what has been called the

golden age of arcade video games The golden age of arcade video games was the period of rapid growth, technological development and cultural influence of arcade video games, from the late 1970s to the early 1980s. The period began with the release of ''Space Invaders'' in 1978, ...

, the book comprises three parts: a survey of the 1980s arcade scene in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

and elsewhere, with Amis's musings on video games as a phenomenon; cheat sheets with tips and tricks for 20 prominent games, including ''

Space Invaders is a 1978 shoot 'em up arcade game developed by Tomohiro Nishikado. It was manufactured and sold by Taito in Japan, and licensed to the Midway division of Bally for overseas distribution. ''Space Invaders'' was the first fixed shooter and set ...

'', '' Defender'' and ''

Pac-Man originally called ''Puck Man'' in Japan, is a 1980 maze action video game developed and released by Namco for arcades. In North America, the game was released by Midway Manufacturing as part of its licensing agreement with Namco America. Th ...

''; and a look to the future with the impending arrival of home gaming. Amis's fascination and enthusiasm for his subject are apparent, but he does strike an admonishing tone at times, even going so far as to say that video gaming is "morally ambiguous". Contrary to some claims, Amis never "disowned" the book, despite its great dissimilarity to the rest of his oeuvre. Amis wrote ''Invasion'' concurrently with ''

Money Money is any item or verifiable record that is generally accepted as payment for goods and services and repayment of debts, such as taxes, in a particular country or socio-economic context. The primary functions which distinguish money are as ...

''. Originally published by Hutchinson, it was allowed to go out of print; as a result, second-hand copies were able to command "stratospheric" prices until

Jonathan Cape Jonathan Cape is a London publishing firm founded in 1921 by Herbert Jonathan Cape, who was head of the firm until his death in 1960. Cape and his business partner Wren Howard set up the publishing house in 1921. They established a reputation ...

republished it in 2018.

References

External links

Amis's tactical tips for ''Space Invaders''
Excerpt on martinamisweb.com.
"Vidkids"
Review by

Tom Shippey Thomas Alan Shippey (born 9 September 1943) is a British medievalist, a retired scholar of Middle and Old English literature as well as of modern fantasy and science fiction. He is considered one of the world's leading academic experts on the ...

in the ''

London Review of Books The ''London Review of Books'' (''LRB'') is a British literary magazine published twice monthly that features articles and essays on fiction and non-fiction subjects, which are usually structured as book reviews. History The ''London Review of ...

'', 30 December 1982.
''Invasion of the Space Invaders''
Review in ''

Edge Edge or EDGE may refer to: Technology Computing * Edge computing, a network load-balancing system * Edge device, an entry point to a computer network * Adobe Edge, a graphical development application * Microsoft Edge, a web browser developed by ...

'' magazine, No. 157.
"The Arcades Project: Martin Amis's Guide to Classic Video Games"
An appreciation by Mark O'Connell published in ''The Millions'', 16 February 2012. * (1982: Hutchinson); (2018: Jonathan Cape). {{Martin Amis 1982 non-fiction books Books about video games