In late-1970s Japan, an urban legend claimed the 100 yen coin was vanishing from circulation because every one of them had been swallowed by Space Invaders. It was a myth, but the fact that people believed it captures the frenzy this episode explores: the brief window from 1978 to 1983 when arcade games rewired global pop culture and accelerated computing. In 1982 alone the US arcade industry pulled in 8 billion dollars in quarters, more than the pop music industry and Hollywood box office combined, twice the revenue of every casino in Nevada, and more than baseball, basketball, and football together. Cabinets turned up in supermarkets, gas stations, dentist waiting rooms, and funeral home basements.

The hosts explain the technology that river of quarters funded: Galaxian's tile-based graphics that used up to 64 times less memory than a fra ...