Another one bites the dust.

No, I'm not talking about another of my ilk kicking the bucket, it's about space invaders.

But, lets think about the word ilk for a moment.....

ok.

When I was spending a lot of my precious time learning the last bit of my Higher National Certificate, HNC, at Wigan and District Mining College, I was also spending every last ten penny piece on a game called Space Invaders.

Until Galaxian came along.

1980 was a year, that's for sure, with the end of my education, the destruction of my drafting career at the mining company Gullick Dobson (despite Arthur Scargills later win) and of course, no more job and no more money for the pub games.

At Gullicks, I'd slip out at lunch time and play a game at the arcade called Lunar Lander, there was a big throttle lever, a pair of massive stereo speakers and a big vector graphics screen. It was an Atari game I think, and it was the cat's ass.

Not the Bee's Knee's as that was a pub up the road in Wigan town centre.

If I could go back and play one of the hundreds of games over the last (almost) 30 years, it would still be Space Invaders, and the venue would be Bluto's night club (upstairs) in Wigan, circa 1979. If ever there was "a kind of" magic, it would be that little night club, Space Invaders on the wall and a little known group called "The Police" walking on the moon in the background.

Oh, and a pint, don't forget the pint.