Video games were first introduced commercially in 1971 with the Galaxy Game, the first coin-operated video game, installed at Stanford University. Early computer games were developed as a hobby and ran on university mainframes, with limited accessibility. The video game industry began emerging as a commercial entertainment medium in the late 1970s and early 1980s in the United States, Japan, and Europe.

1. The history of the video
games

2. • Video games were introduced as a commercial
entertainment medium in 1971, becoming the basis for a
new entertainment industry in the late 1970s/early 1980s
in the United States, Japan, and Europe. The majority of
early computer games ran on university
mainframe computers in the United States and were
developed by individuals as a hobby. The limited
accessibility of early computer hardware meant that
these games were small in number and forgotten by
posterity. In September 1971, the Galaxy Game was
installed at a student union at Stanford University. Based
on Spacewar!, this was the first coin-operated video
game. Only one was built, using a DEC PDP-11/20 and
vector display terminals. In 1972 it was expanded to be
able to handle four to eight consoles.