Electronic Games was the first dedicated video game magazine published in the United States and ran from October 15, 1981, to 1997 under different titles. It was co-founded by Bill Kunkel, Joyce Worley, and Arnie Katz.
History The history of Electronic Games originates in the consumer electronics magazine, Video. Initially video games were covered sporadically in Deeny Kaplan's regular "VideoTest Reports" column. In the summer of 1979, Video decided to launch a new column to focus on video games. Arcade Alley became a regular column and would represent a journalistic first. Written by Bill Kunkel, Arnie Katz (initially pseudonymously writing as Frank T. Laney II), and Joyce Worley, the three writers became close friends and in 1981 they founded Electronic Games magazine. The magazine was active from Winter 1981, during the golden age of arcade video games and the second generation of consoles, up until 1985, following the video game crash of 1983. The magazine was briefly revived during the 16-bit era in the early 1990s, but ended in 1995 and was renamed to Fusion.Katz, Arnie. "Power On: The End of an Era—Hooray!" Electronic Games. Pg. 6. July 1995. ISSN 0730-6687.
Initially, the release of the first issue was scheduled for October 15, 1981.Video. Volume 5, No. 6. Pg. 88. ISSN 0147-8907. September 1981. However, the release was postponed to October 29, 1981Video. Volume 5, No. 9. Pg. 65. ISSN 0147-8907. December 1981. and featured a slightly different cover than initially advertised.
1st Run Title Start Cover Date End Cover Date Electronic Games October 29, 1981 April 1985 Computer Entertainment May 1985 August 1985
2nd Run Title Start Cover Date End Cover Date Electronic Games October 1992 July 1995 Fusion August 1995 February 1996 Intelligent Gamer's Fusion March 1996 May 1996 Intelligent Gamer June 1996 January 1997
Arcade Express & Electronic Games Hotline
In August 1982, the editing staff at Electronic Games began a biweekly newsletter titled Arcade Express to supplement the magazine. The newsletter contained news updates, reviews, and high score compilations. In the August 15, 1983 issue, the newsletter's name was changed to Electronic Games Hotline. Arcade Express and Electronic Games Hotline ran for a total of 53 issues with its last issue dated to August 14, 1984.
Arcade Awards
Electronic Games hosted the Arcade Awards, or Arkie Awards, the first "Game of the Year" award ceremonyWeston, D.B. "Greatest Moments in Video Game History" Page 47. Published 2011 simultaneously running in Videos "Arcade Alley" column. The following games are the winners of the magazine's annual Arcade Awards. The awards for each year took place in the January of the following year. No single game was allowed to win more than one award in the same year.
1980 Arcade Awards (1979) According to the Winter 1981 issue of Electronic Games, the 1980 Arcade Awards (i.e., the first set of "Arkies") were announced in February 1980 and covered all hardware and software produced prior to January 1, 1980.The Arcade Awards – 1980 – Electronic Games Winter 1981, pages 38-9
Award Winner Platform Game of the Year Space Invaders Arcade Best Pong Variant Video Olympics Atari VCS Best Sports Game Football Bally Professional Arcade Best Target Game Air-Sea Battle Atari VCS Best S.F. Game Cosmic Conflict Odyssey² Best Solitaire Game Golf Odyssey² Most Innovative Game Basketball Atari VCS Best Audio and Visual Effects Bally Arcade/Bally
1981 Arcade Awards (1980) The 1981 edition of the awards reflects accomplishments during the 12 months of the preceding year.The Arcade Awards – 1981 – Electronic Games Winter 1981, page 39.
Award Winner Platform Arcade Best Coin-Op Electronic Game Asteroids Arcade Console Game of the Year Superman Atari VCS Best Target/WarGame Armored Battle Intellivision Best Pong Variant Volleyball Odyssey² Best S.F. Game Space Battle Intellivision Best Audio-Visual Effects Fishing Derby Atari VCS Best Solitaire Game Skiing Atari VCS Best Sports Game NASL Soccer Intellivision Most Innovative Game Adventure Atari VCS
1982 Arcade Awards (1981) The third annual Arcade Awards were sponsored jointly by Video and Electronic Games and honored outstanding achievements in the field of video games of the year 1981. The 1982 Arcade Awards were published in the March 1982 issue of Electronic Games.1981 Arcade Awards – Electronic Games March 1982, pages 46–49.
Award Winner Platform(s) Honorable Mention Coin-Op Division (Arcade) Best Commercial Arcade Game Pac-Man Namco Pac-Man Defender, Battlezone Console Videogame of the Year Asteroids Atari VCS Quest for the Rings (Odyssey²), Missile Command (Atari VCS), UFO! (Odyssey²) Most Innovative Game Quest for the Rings Odyssey² Freeway (Atari VCS), Asteroids (Atari VCS) Best Competitive Game Tennis Atari VCS Best Solitaire Game Missile Command Atari VCS Dodge 'Em (Atari) Best S.F game UFO! Odyssey² Laser Blast (Activision) Best Sports Game Auto Racing Intellivision Tennis (Atari VCS) Best Pong Variant Warlords Atari VCS Best Audio-Visual Effects Kaboom! Atari VCS Computer Computer Game of the Year Star Raiders Atari 8-bit Best Computer Action Game Jawbreaker Atari 8-bit, Apple II, Commodore 64 Best Computer Sports Game Computer Baseball Apple II
1983 Arcade Awards (1982) The 4th "Arkies" cover games published between October 1, 1981, and October 1, 1982, and were published in the January 1983 issue of Electronic Games.
Award Winner Certificate of Merit Coin-Op Game Awards (Arcade) Coin-Op Game of the Year Tron Ms. Pac-ManDonkey Kong Best Science Fiction/Fantasy Coin-Op Game Bosconian ZaxxonGravitar Best Coin-Op Game Audio/Visual Effects Turbo Most Innovative Coin-Op Game Tempest Lady BugQix Videogame Awards (Console) Videogame of the Year Demon Attack (Atari VCS) Best Solitaire Videogame Donkey Kong (ColecoVision) Best Arcade-to-Home Videogame Translation Frogger (Atari VCS) Galactic Invasion (Bally Astrocade) Best Action Videogame Chopper Command (Atari VCS) Best Adventure Videogame Pitfall! (Atari VCS) Computer Game Division Computer Game of the Year David's Midnight Magic (Apple II) Bandits (Apple II) Best Computer Adventure Deadline (Apple II) Kabul Spy (Apple II) Best Arcade/Action Computer Game K-Razy Shoot-Out (Atari 400/800) Star Blazer (Apple II) Best Solitaire Computer Game Snack Attack (Apple II) Neptune (Apple II) Stand-Alone Game Awards (Dedicated) Stand-Alone Game of the Year Galaxian (Coleco Mini-Arcade) Scramble (Tomytronic)Super Cobra (Entex) Best Mini-Arcade Game Cartridge Scramble (Vectrex)
1984 Arcade Awards (1983) The 5th "Arkies" were published in the January 1984 issue of Electronic Games.1984 Arcade Awards – Electronic Games January 1984, pages 68–81.
Award Winner Certificate of MeritElectronic Game of the Year (Overall)Electronic Game of the YearMiner 2049erCoin-Op Games Division (Arcade) Coin-Op Game of the Year Pole Position Front LineSuper Pac-Man Best Science Fiction/Fantasy Coin-Op Game Xevious Jungle HuntStar Trek Most Innovative Coin-Op Game Q*bert Baby Pac-Man Best Coin-Op Game Audio/Visual Effects Dragon's Lair BurgerTimePopeye Videogame Division (Console) Videogame of the Year () Ms. Pac-Man (Atari 2600) BurgerTime (Intellivision) Videogame of the Year (16K or more ROM memory) Lady Bug (ColecoVision) Zaxxon (ColecoVision) Best Science Fiction/Fantasy Videogame Vanguard (Atari 5200) Moon Patrol (Atari 2600) Best Videogame Audio/Visual Effects Donkey Kong Jr. (ColecoVision) Qix (Atari 5200) Best Action Videogame River Raid (Atari 2600) Polaris (Atari 2600)Super Cobra (Atari 2600) Best Adventure Game Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (Intellivision) Jungle Hunt (Atari 2600)Tutankham (Atari 2600, ColecoVision, Intellivision, Odyssey²) Best Arcade-to-Home Videogame Translation Kangaroo (Atari 5200) Turtles (Odyssey²) Computer Game Division Computer Game of the Year Lode Runner (Apple II) Repton (Apple II, Atari 8-bit) Electronic Game of the Year (Players Pick) Miner 2049er (Apple II, Atari 8-bit) Best Computer Adventure Witness (Apple II, Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64, IBM PC) Aztec (Apple II)The Dark Crystal (Apple II, Atari 8-bit)Wizardry II: The Knight of Diamonds (Apple II) Best Computer Action Game Centipede (Atari 8-bit) Jumpman (Atari 8-bit) Most Humorous Computer Game Free Fall (Apple II) Preppie! II (Atari 8-bit) Best Arcade-to-Home Computer Game Translation Frogger (Atari 8-bit) Best Multi-Player Computer Game M.U.L.E. (Atari 8-bit) Oil Barons (Apple II) Best Educational Computer Game Learning With the Leeper (Apple II) Most Innovative Computer Game Archon: The Light and the Dark (Atari 8-bit) Moondust (Commodore 64) Stand-Alone Games Division Stand-Alone Game of the Year Q*bert (Parker Brothers) Donkey Kong Jr. (Coleco Mini-ArcadeMs. Pac-Man (Coleco Mini-Arcade) Mini-Arcade Game of the Year 3-D Sky Attack (Tomytronic 3D) Emergency (Hattori)Space Invaders (Tiger)
1985 Arkie Awards (1984) The 6th "Arkies" were printed in the January 1985 issue of Electronic Games.1985 Arcade Awards – Electronic Games January 1985, pages 22–28.
Award WinnerElectronic Game of the Year (Overall)Electronic Game of the YearOne on One: Dr. J vs. Larry Bird Coin-Op Game Division (Arcade) Coin-Op of the Year Star Wars Most Innovative Coin-Op Game Punch-Out Best Coin-Op Audio-Visual Effects TX-1 Certificates of Merit Crystal Castles Elevator Action M.A.C.H. 3 Tag Team Wrestling Track & Field Videogame Division (Console) Videogame of the Year Space Shuttle (Atari 2600) Best Action Videogame Buck Rogers (Atari 2600/5200, ColecoVision, Intellivision, SG-1000) Best Adventure Videogame Pitfall II (Atari 2600) Best Videogame Audio-Visual Effects Congo Bongo (ColecoVision, Atari 5200, Intellivision) Certificates of Merit Battlezone (Atari 2600) Bump 'n' Jump (Atari 2600, Intellivision, ColecoVision) Frogger II (Atari 2600/5200, ColecoVision) Montezuma's Revenge (Atari 2600/5200, ColecoVision) Robotron (Atari 5200) Computer Game Division Computer Game of the Year Ultima III: Exodus (Apple II, Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64) Electronic Game of the Year (Players Pick) One on One (Apple II, Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64) Best Computer Adventure Game Gateway to Apshai (Atari 400/800, Commodore 64) Most Humorous Video Computer Game Quest for Tires (Apple II, Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64, IBM PC, MSX) Best Arcade-to-Home Translation Joust (Commodore 64) Electronic Educational Game of the Year Agent USA (Apple II, Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64) Certificates of Merit Beyond Castle Wolfenstein (Apple II, Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64) Bruce Lee (Amstrad CPC, Apple II, Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64, PC-88, Spectrum) Drol (Apple II, Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64) Infidel (Apple II, Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64, IBM PC, Macintosh, TRS-80) Parthian Kings (Apple II) Pharaoh's Pyramid (Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64) Pole Position (Atari 8-bit, BBC Micro, Commodore 64, Spectrum, TI-99/4A, VIC-20) Seven Cities of Gold (Apple IIe, Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64) Wizardry III: Legacy of Llylgamyn (Apple II) Zaxxon (Apple II, Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64, TRS-80) Stand-Alone Games Division Stand-Alone Game of the Year Zaxxon (Coleco Mini-Arcade) Mini-Arcade Game of the Year Miner 2049er (Tiger) Certificates of Merit Donkey Kong II (Game & Watch) Mario's Cement Factory (Game & Watch) Reversi Master (VTech)
1992 (7th) Following the magazine's revival in 1992, it published the Electronic Gaming Awards in March 1993, where editors nominated several games for each category and the readers would vote which games win. The following were the winners and nominees for 1992.
Award Winner Platform(s) Honorable Mention(s) Video Game of the Year Street Fighter II SNES Sonic the Hedgehog 2 Computer Game of the Year Wing Commander II MS-DOS Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis Multimedia Game of the Year Night Trap Sega CDDragon Slayer: The Legend of Heroes