In the late 1970s, a programmer writing code for Cadillac cruise control and digital dashboard displays walked into a bar, saw a Space Invaders cabinet, and realized it ran on the same MOS Technology 6502 chip she used every day. This episode follows Dona Bailey, born in Little Rock in 1955, who finished a psychology degree with three minors by 19, earned a master's in math, joined General Motors in 1978, and then left for Atari's coin-op division in 1980 as its only woman designing stand-up arcade machines.

We trace how she passed over a notebook full of laser and spaceship concepts to pick a bug winding down the screen, partnered with Ed Logg on Centipede, chose a trackball over a joystick to lower cognitive load, and kept a technician's accidental CRT miscalibration as the game's signature pastel palette. Centipede became Atari's second  ...