Popular games during the late seventies and early eighties included Space Invaders, Asteroids,Defender and Pac-Man.
VOA: special.2011.02.23
The games were Space Invaders, Asteroids, Missile Command, Pac-Man, Robotron, Tempest, Centipede, Defender, Joust, and Galaga, which I did become passably proficient at and which, if I see it now, in a pizzeria or an airport, still inspires me to hunt for change.