Grandstand Astro Wars

Astro Wars was an electronic table top game made in Great Britain in 1981 by Grandstand under license from Epoch Co., who sold the game in Japan under the title Super Galaxian (スーパーギャラクシアン), and in the United States as "Galaxy II" There were two versions of Astro Wars - an earlier version had the Astro Wars motif printed in red and a later version printed in white (as shown in the photograph). Astro Wars was a shoot 'em up, with play involving four phases of dodging enemy missiles and firing back at the squadrons of alien command ships, warships and attacking fighters as well as a docking challenge for additional bonus points. The Astro Wars game runs on six volts DC and can be powered by four 'C' type batteries or alternatively via a low voltage mains adapter (not supplied with the game). As the display is based on VFD technology, it allows bright, multicoloured in-game elements to be rendered but at the cost of a relatively small screen size. The VFD display is manufactured with the pre-formed, immutable in-game objects effectively fixed in place onto a dark background. Each element can be individually lit or unlit during play, giving the illusion of animation and movement. In-game objects cannot touch or superimpose on one another. The screen was slightly magnified to improve gameplay. This electronic table-top game console requires the player to dodge missiles fired by alien ships, destroy the attackers, and launch and recover their space capsule. Four different skill levels are provided with automatic scoring and electronic sound effects.