 The game was developed by Dave Kaufman for computers in 1973, and its BASIC source code was printed in the January 1974 issue of the "People's Computer Company Newsletter".It was reprinted in the 1977 book "What to Do After You Hit Return".The game was the inspiration for the multiplayer "Trade Wars" series, beginning in 1984, and is through that series the antecedent to much of the space trading genre.