Inside the Space Invaders Cabinet
TL;DR: Shoot down the descending alien formation before it reaches your cannon. Expect rhythm game in disguise at a pace that's the fewer aliens left, the faster they march.
Space Invaders is the game that taught the world to duck. Five rows of eleven aliens shuffle across the screen, drop a step, and shuffle back - And every one you shoot makes the survivors march faster, until the last invader is a sprinting panic attack.
You get one cannon, four crumbling shields, and a laser that fires a single shot at a time, so every miss costs real seconds. Up top, a mystery UFO drifts by with bonus points for anyone confident enough to chase it.
Our version keeps the 1978 rhythm intact and adds the modern comforts: crisp keyboard and touch controls, a daily seeded run where every player faces the exact same invasion, and leaderboards to prove you held the line longest. It plays less like a shooter and more like a drumbeat you are trying to survive. Steady hands clear the wave. Greedy hands feed the aliens.
Cabinet Specs
| Mission | Shoot down the descending alien formation before it reaches your cannon. |
|---|---|
| Row | Space Shooters |
| Skill curve | Rhythm game in disguise |
| Tempo | The fewer aliens left, the faster they march |
| Lineage | 1978 (Taito) |
| Original | Space Invaders - Taito, 1978 (full history) |
| Daily run | Seeded challenge, resets midnight UTC |
| Scoreboard | Global top 50, score-ranked |
Learn Space Invaders in Five Moves
Slide the cannon along the floor
Use the left and right arrow keys, or drag on mobile, to move your cannon across the bottom of the screen. You can keep moving while your shot is still in the air.
Fire one laser at a time
Press Space or tap to shoot. Only one of your shots can be on screen at once, so a miss means waiting for it to travel all the way up - Make every squeeze count.
Duck behind the four shields
The bunkers above you soak up alien bombs, but they crumble a little with every hit - Including your own shots from below. They are cover, not walls, and they will not last the wave.
Pick off the mystery UFO
Every so often a red saucer glides across the top of the screen. Hit it for a surprise bonus - But only when no alien bomb is falling toward the lane you are standing in.
Never let them land
If the formation reaches the bottom of the screen, the invasion succeeds and the run ends no matter how many lives you have left. Clear all 55 aliens and a fresh, faster wave takes their place.
Score Higher at Space Invaders
Shoot the edge columns first. The formation only drops a row when its outer edge touches the side of the screen, so trimming the outside columns gives the swarm a longer walk - And gives you more time before it descends.
- Learn the march rhythm. The aliens step on a beat that quickens as they die; aim at the tile a target is about to step into, not the one it is standing on.
- Ration your one laser. A missed shot travels the full screen before you can fire again, and that dead second is when bombs find you. Skip low-percentage shots at the top rows early in the wave.
- Carve a firing slit. Shoot a small notch through one of your own shields, then snipe through the gap while the rest of the bunker still blocks incoming fire.
- Treat the UFO as a bonus, not a mission. Chasing the saucer across open floor while bombs fall is how strong runs end - Take the shot only when your lane is clean.
- Meet the last invader mid-screen. The final alien moves at a flat sprint, and camping in a corner leaves you nowhere to dodge when it dives past your level.
- Take the safe points when the swarm is low. Top-row aliens pay the most, but a destroyed cannon collects nothing - When only a handful remain, kill whatever is closest to landing.
House Rules & Spin-Offs
Space Invaders Part II (1979)
Taito's fast sequel added color, flashing bonus UFOs, invaders that split when shot, and the first-ever intermission scenes between waves.
The Galaxian lineage
Namco's 1979 answer let aliens break formation and dive-bomb in color; its 1981 sequel Galaga added the famous tractor beam and dual-ship rescue.
Cocktail-table rules
Sit-down two-player cabinets, standard in Japanese cafes, alternated turns and flipped the whole screen so player two could face the invasion from the opposite seat.
Space Invaders Extreme (2008)
Taito's 30th-anniversary reboot turned the march into a rhythm game, with pulsing music, score chains, and boss saucers on handheld consoles.
Invaders Questions, Answered
Why do the aliens speed up as I shoot them?
How many aliens are in each wave?
What is the UFO worth?
Can my shields be destroyed?
What happens if the invaders reach the bottom?
How does Space Invaders scoring work?
Is the daily Space Invaders run the same for everyone?
Can I play Space Invaders on my phone?
More where Space Invaders came from: work through the space shooters row, brush up in the arcade glossary, or settle score questions in the player FAQ. Guide last tuned 2026-07-06.
