👾 How to play Space Invaders

By Miguel Arechaga

Space Invaders is the classic of classics: a formation of aliens advancing relentlessly and your ship, alone, firing upward. The more waves you clear, the faster and more numerous they become. Here are the rules and how to keep your 3 lives for as long as possible.

What is Space Invaders?

You control a ship at the bottom of the screen and must destroy every alien in the wave before they reach the ground or hit you with their shots. Each cleared wave gives way to a harder one.

How to play step by step

1. Move your ship with the ← → keys on desktop or the on-screen buttons on mobile.
2. Press spacebar or the 🔫 button to fire upward.
3. Destroy all the aliens in the wave to score points and move to the next.
4. Dodge enemy shots: getting hit costs you a life.
5. The game ends if the aliens reach the ground or you lose your 3 lives.

Strategy: clear the sides first

The enemy formation moves as a block from side to side, dropping a little each time it touches the edge of the screen. The more aliens remain alive on the outer edges, the longer the formation takes to change direction, and the faster it descends toward you. That's why it pays to clear the side columns first: you shrink the width of the formation and buy yourself more time before it reaches the bottom.

Also, fire from a position you can leave quickly: don't stay fixed under a gap in the formation, since that's the spot most likely to take an enemy shot.

Quick tips

• Keep moving constantly, even while firing: a stationary ship is an easy target.
• Prioritize the aliens that are lowest; they're the ones closest to reaching the ground.
• In advanced waves, don't try to clear the whole board in one go: open gaps in turns and fall back if several enemy shots pile up nearby.

With patience and good management of the side columns, you'll survive far more waves than you'd expect.

🏆 Score ranking

Space Invaders has its own global ranking: your best score is saved. Go to Ranking, the 🕹️ 1 Player tab, choose "Space Invaders" from the dropdown, and compare your score with other players, synced to your account. For your result to count you need a free account on MundoSudoku (just a username and password, no email required): you can play without one, but without logging in your score won't be saved to the ranking.