There was a time when walking into an arcade felt like stepping into the future. The noise was deafening, the carpets were questionable, and somewhere in the darkness was a machine you had never seen before that was about to relieve you of every last bit of pocket money.
For those of us who grew up feeding 10 pence pieces into Space Invaders, Out Run, Defender, and countless other arcade cabinets, those memories never really disappear. Now, retro gaming publisher Bitmap Books has released a substantial new hardback dedicated to the people who made those experiences possible.
The Arcade 1971–1999: The Stories Behind Classic Coin-Ops, Told by Their Creators is a 408-page journey through almost three decades of arcade gaming, featuring 120 classic games and the stories behind their development, told by the people who actually worked on them.
Written by veteran games journalist Paul Drury, whose work has appeared in Retro Gamer and Edge, the book draws on more than 20 years of interviews with developers, programmers, artists, and musicians. Rather than simply revisiting games we already know, it explores how they came into existence, including the occasional happy accident that helped create something extraordinary.
The stories behind the arcade machinesAnyone can put together a book of arcade screenshots, although finding decent-quality original material is becoming increasingly difficult. What makes this particular release interesting is the attention given to the people responsible for the games themselves.
Among the stories explored are how Ms. Pac-Man evolved from a character originally called Otto, the complicated history behind the creation of Donkey Kong, how Qbert* acquired its distinctive swearing, and what actually happened when the first Pong cabinet was installed at Andy Capp’s Tavern in California.
The book covers everything from the earliest coin-operated experiments through the golden age of Atari and Namco to the fighting game explosion of the 1990s.
There are contributions from some enormous names in gaming history, including Space Invaders creator Tomohiro Nishikado, Pac-Man designer Toru Iwatani, and Atari veteran Ed Logg, whose credits include Asteroids, Centipede, and Gauntlet.
Other featured developers include Dave Theurer, responsible for Missile Command and Tempest, and Masanobu Endō, whose work on Xevious and The Tower of Druaga helped influence Japanese game design for years afterwards.
The physical book also contains personal photographs, original development sketches, programming notes, and other behind-the-scenes material. Concept artwork licensed from The Strong National Museum of Play includes early designs for Atari favourites such as Star Wars, Paperboy, and Gauntlet.
Atari co-founder Nolan Bushnell provides the foreword, while Defender and Robotron: 2084 creator Eugene Jarvis contributes the afterword. That is quite a collection of arcade royalty between two covers.
Bitmap Books continues its mission to preserve gaming historyEarlier this year, I spoke exclusively to Bitmap Books founder Sam Dyer about how his passion for retro gaming and graphic design developed into a publishing company whose releases have become sought-after collector’s items.
During that conversation, Dyer explained why the publisher places such importance on original research, historical materials, and speaking directly to developers whose experiences might otherwise be lost.
“With our books, we also try to talk about things that aren’t online,” Dyer told The Escapist.
He explained that some of the developers interviewed for previous Bitmap releases had never shared their stories publicly in such detail.
That philosophy is particularly relevant to The Arcade 1971–1999. As the earliest generations of game developers grow older, capturing their memories becomes increasingly important. Original artwork can disappear, development documents can end up in skips, and stories that were common knowledge inside a studio can vanish when the people involved are no longer around to tell them.
Dyer also spoke about the importance of the books themselves as physical objects. From the quality of the printing and paper to the packaging used to protect them, every element is considered part of the experience.
For this latest release, Bitmap has produced a premium hardback with foil-blocked cover artwork, thread-sewn binding, and arcade cabinet illustrations by artist Adam Rufino.
It is very much the sort of book designed to be repeatedly taken off the shelf rather than read once and forgotten.
The Arcade 1971–1999 is available nowThe Arcade 1971–1999 became available to order through Bitmap Books on October 1, 2026, priced at £34.99 in the UK. Purchases directly from the publisher also include a digital PDF edition.
You can find it on the official Bitmap Books website.
There is something particularly appealing about seeing the history of arcade gaming documented this way. These machines weren’t simply games we played before consoles became powerful enough to replicate them. For decades, the arcade was where the industry pushed its technology, established entire genres, and introduced ideas that still influence games being made today.
And while most of us remember what it felt like to play those games, the people who made them have rather different stories to tell.
That’s what makes this book very much worth your time and effort.
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