How to play Space Raiders
Space Raiders is the 1978 arcade classic recreated pixel for pixel: fifty-five
invaders in five rows, four crumbling shields, a mystery saucer crossing the top of the screen and
the heartbeat that quickens as the rack thins out. One cannon, one shot on screen at a time, three
lives. Clear the rack and the next wave starts lower down.
Pick a mode on the start screen. Arcade is the default and the easier game: a quicker
cannon, fewer and slower bombs, the aimed bomb only hunts a cannon that stands still, and the rack creeps
down one notch per wave. 1978 is the original cabinet's rules, brutal and unchanged. Both
modes share one leaderboard.
How to play
- On a phone, hold ◀ and ▶ to move the cannon and
tap FIRE — or tap anywhere on the playfield — to shoot. You can keep one thumb on a
direction while the other fires.
- On a keyboard, move with the arrow keys or A / D and fire with Space.
A click on the playfield fires too.
- Only one shot can be in the air at once, and the fire button does not repeat: press it for every shot,
exactly like the cabinet.
- Squids on the top row score 30, crabs 20, the octopuses on the bottom two rows 10. The saucer is worth
50 to 300.
- In Arcade mode you earn an extra cannon every time you clear a wave, one at 1000 points and another
every 3000 after that (4000, 7000 and so on), up to six in reserve. 1978 mode is the cabinet's own rule:
a single extra cannon at 1500 and nothing for clearing a wave. The game ends when you lose your last
cannon or the invaders reach the ground.
- P pauses, M mutes.
Tips
- Pick off the columns at the edges first. The rack only drops when an invader touches the side of the
screen, so a narrower rack travels further before each drop.
- Shoot a slit through one of your own shields and fire up through it. Bombs that land on the shield
still cannot reach you.
- The saucer is worth 300 on your 23rd shot and every 15th shot after that. Count your shots and hold
fire until it appears.
- The last invader moves faster to the right than to the left. Wait for it on the left side of the screen,
where it is slower.