In Atari’s 1981 arcade game Centipede, the spider-like bonus enemy is called the Spider.
The Spider moves through the lower part of the playfield and can collide with the player’s shooter, making it dangerous despite its bonus value. Shooting it awards points, with the score depending on the player’s distance from the Spider when it is hit. This creates a risk-and-reward decision: moving close can produce a higher score but leaves less time to react.
Centipede was designed by Dona Bailey and Ed Logg and released by Atari in 1981. Its enemies include the Centipede, Spider, Flea, and Scorpion, each with different movement or mushroom-related behavior. The Spider is often confused with the Flea because both appear in the lower area, but the Flea is a smaller enemy that drops mushrooms when few mushrooms remain in a column. The Spider is the unmistakable large, eight-legged creature that awards distance-based points.