Ex-Shiny boss David Perry has put a rare two-player 'Green Sparkle' Computer Space arcade cabinet up for public auction, offering collectors and museums a chance to acquire a 1973 revision of a machine often credited as the first commercial arcade video game.
The listing accompanies a broader renewed interest in early arcade hardware and the origins of interactive entertainment.
Computer Space was originally released in 1971 by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney under the name Syzygy Engineering and manufactured by Nutting Associates.
The cabinet was inspired by the 1962 computer game Spacewar! and featured space combat gameplay.
Due to its unfamiliar controls at the time, the one-player 1971 release proved a difficult sell, prompting Nutting Associates to introduce a two-player revision in 1973 that replaced rotational controls with joysticks.
The machine being offered by Perry is that 1973 two-player revision, referred to in the listing as a 'Green Sparkle' cabinet.
Perry, best known as the founder of Shiny Entertainment — the studio behind Earthworm Jim and MDK — told prospective buyers he is selling the arcade unit to clear space from his collection and described the cabinet as among the rarest arcade machines typically found in museum collections.
The auction listing notes that the cabinet is generally in fine condition with some light scuffing and scratching, that the machine powers up and the screen is functional, and that the example retains original parts.
The auction reportedly began at the end of last month and is scheduled to conclude on August 21, 2026; at the time of the listing the highest bid stood at $6,748.
The listing also references past sales activity for Computer Space cabinets on the same auction platform, including a previously sold blue single-player unit that changed hands for $69,000.
The current listing emphasizes the rarity of original working two-player Computer Space machines and highlights its intact cabinet and original components.
Collectors and historians point to Computer Space and the early arcade era as foundational to the later emergence of home consoles and platforms.
While cabinets like this predate systems such as Nintendo Switch, the preservation and sale of such artifacts remain of keen interest across the games community and to institutions that curate video game history.
The listing accompanies a broader renewed interest in early arcade hardware and the origins of interactive entertainment.
Computer Space was originally released in 1971 by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney under the name Syzygy Engineering and manufactured by Nutting Associates.
The cabinet was inspired by the 1962 computer game Spacewar! and featured space combat gameplay.
Due to its unfamiliar controls at the time, the one-player 1971 release proved a difficult sell, prompting Nutting Associates to introduce a two-player revision in 1973 that replaced rotational controls with joysticks.
The machine being offered by Perry is that 1973 two-player revision, referred to in the listing as a 'Green Sparkle' cabinet.
Perry, best known as the founder of Shiny Entertainment — the studio behind Earthworm Jim and MDK — told prospective buyers he is selling the arcade unit to clear space from his collection and described the cabinet as among the rarest arcade machines typically found in museum collections.
The auction listing notes that the cabinet is generally in fine condition with some light scuffing and scratching, that the machine powers up and the screen is functional, and that the example retains original parts.
The auction reportedly began at the end of last month and is scheduled to conclude on August 21, 2026; at the time of the listing the highest bid stood at $6,748.
The listing also references past sales activity for Computer Space cabinets on the same auction platform, including a previously sold blue single-player unit that changed hands for $69,000.
The current listing emphasizes the rarity of original working two-player Computer Space machines and highlights its intact cabinet and original components.
Collectors and historians point to Computer Space and the early arcade era as foundational to the later emergence of home consoles and platforms.
While cabinets like this predate systems such as Nintendo Switch, the preservation and sale of such artifacts remain of keen interest across the games community and to institutions that curate video game history.
