The Grandstand Astro Wars was released in 1981 by Grandstand, Great Britain. It was a tabletop electronic arcade-style game involving a spacecraft dodging alien missiles. The game was sold in Japan as the Super Galaxian and in the U.S. as the “GalaxyII”. The handheld and desktop mini arcade game industry boomed in the early eighties, with Tomy Toys Japan taking the lead with their Tomytronic 3D. Many of these games can still be picked up on E-bay and other secondhand sites, with a pricetag collectors only pay off course.

The Grandstand Astro Wars packaging

First version in red

The game can be powered with a power adaptor or C type batteries. There were two versions released, with the difference being seen in the color of the “Astro Wars”. The first version was done in red and the later version in white.

Second version in white

The game had four levels of difficulty. The movement of the spaceship was made possible via a digital joystick. The screen was magnified to enhance gameplay. The elements in the gameplay were fixed in place on a preformed screen, being lit as the game progressed. This meant the objects could never overlap.

Reference

Wikipedia. 2021. Astro Wars. [ONLINE] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astro_Wars. [Accessed 16 January 2021].