What you’re about to glance through, gentle reader, is nothing less than a chronology of a remarkable three decades in cultural history. Well, this list could also be categorised as a harmless bit of nostalgia, and some of the entries have been designed specifically to provide a brief, geeky rush of recognition.

But also, this list of 25-or-so videogame cameos documents the medium’s irresistible rise, from the dingy arcades of the early 80s, via the bedrooms of young boys of the later years of the decade, and into the general population’s living rooms a further ten years on.

This list charts not only the evolution of graphics, sound and hardware, but also the changing perception of games from filmmakers – and how these once exotic yet simple distractions gradually filtered into our consciousness. And since we’ve restricted this list to the past 30 years (to prevent it from getting too long, if nothing else), we need to head off into the wastes of Antarctica, where our first videogame cameo lurks…

Asteroids Deluxe The Thing (1982)

MacCready and his friends may be stuck in the middle of nowhere with an unknowable alien threat lurking out in the snow, but at least their facility’s well stocked with entertainment. Mac himself has a computer chess program to lock intellectual horns with (it’s Sargon II, fact fans); there are video players on which to watch old game shows, while the recreation room has a pool table, a Williams pinball machine (called Heat Wave), and best of all, Atari’s classic coin-op, Asteroids Deluxe.