1. Spacewar. In 1972, students at Stanford University competed for a year's subscription of Rolling Stone in what is known as the "earliest known digital game."
2. Space Invaders. In 1980, over 10,000 participants competed in Space Invaders. It was the largest gaming competition back then.
3. Street Fighter. Not the first fighting game by any means, but the iconic franchise was created in 1987 and helped birth the fighting game community we know today.
4. Nintendo World Championships 1990. This was a custom game designed for an event of the same name by Nintendo and over 29 cities in the USA competed in it.
5. DOOM. In 1993, DOOM revolutionized the video game industry and brought in the era of competitive first-person shooters.
6. Quake. In 1996 Quake was born and the Red Annihilation online event set the stage for a competitive Quake scene for years to come.
7. Starcraft. Created by Blizzard Entertainment in 1999, this real-time strategy game brought in an era of televised esports in the early 2000s.