Invasion of the Space Invaders

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{{Short description|1982 nonfiction book by Martin Amis}}

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| image = File:Invasion_of_the_Space_Invaders.jpg

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| author = Martin Amis

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| country = United Kingdom

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| subject = Video gaming

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| publisher = Hutchinson

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| pub_date = September 1982

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| pages = 128

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| isbn = 978-0-09-147841-4

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Invasion of the Space Invaders: An Addict's Guide to Battle Tactics, Big Scores and the Best Machines is a 1982 non-fiction book on video games by the British author Martin Amis. The foreword is written by American filmmaker Steven Spielberg, also an arcade game enthusiast. Writing in The Village Voice, U.S. author Paul Collins described the book as "completely endearing in its utter dorkiness",{{cite news |last1=Collins |first1=Paul |title=Their Back Pages |url=https://www.villagevoice.com/2005/09/20/their-back-pages/ |author-link=Paul Collins (American writer) |newspaper=The Village Voice |access-date=19 June 2023 |date=20 September 2005 }} while English writer and videogame enthusiast Simon Parkin in The Guardian described it as "a valuable snapshot of early critical thinking about video games".

Written during what has been called the golden age of arcade video games, the book comprises three parts: a survey of the 1980s arcade scene in New York City, London, Paris and elsewhere, with Amis's musings on video games as a phenomenon; cheat sheets with tips and tricks for 20 prominent games, including Space Invaders, Defender and Pac-Man; and a look to the future with the impending arrival of home gaming. Amis's fascination and enthusiasm for his subject are apparent, but he does strike an admonishing tone at times, even going so far as to say that video gaming is "morally ambiguous". Contrary to some claims, Amis never "disowned" the book, despite its great dissimilarity to the rest of his oeuvre.{{Cite news |last1=Parkin |first1=Simon |date=5 November 2018 |title=Martin Amis on Space Invaders: how games criticism was born |url=http://www.theguardian.com/games/2018/nov/05/martin-amis-invasion-of-the-space-invaders-1982-gaming-book-republished |author-link=Simon Parkin |access-date=22 June 2022 |newspaper=The Guardian |language=en}}

Amis wrote Invasion concurrently with Money.{{Cite web |last1=Gill |first1=Sean |title=The Abyss Munches Back: On Martin Amis' Invasion of the Space Invaders|url=https://epiphanyzine.com/features/2019/10/15/the-abyss-munches-back-on-martin-amis-invasion-of-the-space-invaders |author-link=Sean Gill |date=15 October 2019| access-date=22 June 2022 |website=Epiphany Magazine |language=en-US}} Originally published by Hutchinson, it was allowed to go out of print; as a result, second-hand copies were able to command "stratospheric" prices until Jonathan Cape republished it in 2018.