Atari's 1980 Centipede was the first arcade game regularly played by females, according to urban legend. It was also one of the first developed by a woman, Dona Baily.
As in the Space Invaders scenario, a gnome placed at the bottom of the screen shot at a centipede as it raced down from the top. You could hide the gnome under the mushrooms but had to watch out for fleas, spiders and scorpions.
The average screen size of the upright console was 19 inches, and the "cocktail version" was 13 inches. (In most hometowns, this was more like a "pizza version.") A giant grasshopper on the side of the arcade console was later removed from the game itself.
A table version of Centipede sells for $1,695 on Quarterarcade.com.
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Photo by Quarterarcade.com
