Asteroids introduced the bonus life awarded after the player collects 10,000 points.
Atari released Asteroids in 1979, and its extra-life threshold became one of the most recognizable scoring conventions in arcade games. Reaching 10,000 points grants the player an additional ship, although later settings and versions can alter scoring behavior.
The game was designed by Lyle Rains and Ed Logg. Players rotate and thrust a triangular spacecraft through an asteroid field, firing bullets while avoiding collisions and flying saucers. Destroyed large asteroids split into smaller ones, creating a cascading scoring system.
The 10,000-point extra life is often remembered as a general arcade rule, but it is specifically associated with Asteroids. Defender, Centipede, and Galaga also use score-based extra lives, but their thresholds and rules are different.