Centipede
1980 · Shooter · Arcade
Overview
Centipede is a 1980 Atari arcade shooter in which players move a shooter at the bottom of the screen to blast a multicolored centipede that winds down through a field of mushrooms toward the player. Each segment hit becomes an additional mushroom obstacle, gradually filling the playfield and making the centipede's descent more chaotic. The game was notable for being co-designed by Dona Bailey, one of the first women to design a major arcade game. Centipede was one of the most widely distributed arcade games in history and attracted an unusually large female player base, helping broaden the demographics of arcade gaming.
Deep Dive
Centipede was designed by Ed Logg and Dona Bailey, who came to Atari from General Motors. The trackball controller used in the arcade cabinet gave the game a unique feel — the shooter moved fluidly rather than in discrete steps, allowing skilled players to dodge and aim with precision. The mushroom field created a persistent, evolving landscape where damage from missed shots accumulated across rounds. Enemies like the spider, flea, and scorpion added variety: the spider bounced unpredictably eating mushrooms, the flea dropped new mushrooms rapidly, and the scorpion poisoned mushrooms it crossed, sending the centipede on a straight-line charge when it touched one. Centipede sold over 55,000 arcade cabinets and became one of Atari's most successful games. The home Atari 2600 version was the best-selling third-party title for that system.
Developer Story
Centipede was designed by Ed Logg and Dona Bailey at Atari in 1980. Bailey was one of the very few women working in the arcade game industry and brought a different sensibility to the design — she favoured bright colours and a mushroom garden aesthetic over the militaristic themes common at the time. The game was explicitly designed to be accessible to non-gamers and became one of the most popular arcade games ever made.
Did You Know?
- Dona Bailey was one of the first women to design a major commercial arcade game, bringing the colourful mushroom garden aesthetic to what could have been a military shooter.
- The trackball controller made the game accessible to players who struggled with joysticks — it translated directly to casual arcade visitors.
- Centipede was the second-best-selling Atari arcade game after Asteroids, with over 55,000 units sold.
- The spider's movement was randomised in a way that made it genuinely difficult to predict — experienced players often considered it more dangerous than the centipede itself.
- A sequel, Millipede, was released in 1982 with additional enemy types and power-ups but never achieved Centipede's commercial success.
