Some Game Facts:
Asteroids is a popular vector-based video arcade game released in 1979 by Atari. The object of the game is for the player to shoot and destroy asteroids without being hit by the fragments.

The game was conceived by Lyle Rains and programmed by Ed Logg. Asteroids was a hit in the United States and became one of Atari's best selling games of all time. It was so popular that video arcade owners usually had to install new larger coin boxes to hold all the tokens this machine raked in.

One of the innovative features of the game was the ability for players to record their initials with their high scores, an innovation which is standard feature for arcade games to this day.

In March 2004, Portland, Oregon resident Bill Carlton attempted to break the world record for playing an arcade version of Asteroids, playing over 27 hours before his machine malfuntioned, ending his record run. He scored 12.7 million points, putting him in 5th place in the all-time Asteroids rankings. In November 1982 Scott Safran set the still unbroken record of 41 million-points.