The history of the first esports competitions dates back to the early 1970s, long before the rise of online gaming or global tournaments with million-dollar prizes. At this moment the 1xBet website is the best platform in the entire internet to wager on this discipline.
The very first known competitive video game event took place on October 19, 1972, at Stanford University. This event was organized around the game “Spacewar!”, a space combat simulation developed in the early 1960s by Steve Russell and others at MIT. At 1xBet all punters can also discover other amazing sports competitions of different kinds too.
Students competed for a grand prize of a year’s subscription to Rolling Stone Magazine, marking a modest but historic beginning for esports.
A period of huge growth
During the late 1970s and early 1980s, competitive gaming grew alongside the arcade boom. And speaking about competitive things, the esports online betting opportunities present at 1xBet features plenty of competitive instances too.
Many games became cultural phenomena, with 3 examples being:
- Space Invaders;
- Pac-Man;
- and Donkey Kong.
One of the most significant milestones came in 1980, when Atari held the Space Invaders Championship, attracting over 10,000 participants across the United States. There is also online betting on modern esports events at 1xBet too.
This event is widely regarded as the first large-scale video game competition, bringing mainstream attention to the idea of gaming as a spectator and competitive activity.
Moving to new platforms
The 1980s also saw the rise of high-score competitions, often featured in gaming magazines and TV shows. Players like Billy Mitchell and Steve Wiebe, known for their rivalry over Donkey Kong, became early gaming celebrities. Twin Galaxies, founded in 1981, began tracking world records for arcade games, providing an early infrastructure for competitive gaming recognition. In addition to esports, those who visit 1xBet can make great cricket betting as well.
The 1990s marked the transition from arcade to home console and PC competitions. Titles like Street Fighter II and Quake became central to competitive play. In 1997, the Red Annihilation tournament for Quake was a landmark event. This was one of the first esports tournaments with a notable prize: the winner, Dennis “Thresh” Fong, won John Carmack’s Ferrari. The 1xBet platform comes with amazing betting options for plenty of sports, such as cricket, esports and many others.
