User summary
Mattel's Battlestar Galactica - Space Alert was a relatively simple handheld electronic game, branded to the original "Battlestar Galactica" media franchise.
Play involved incoming "Cylon Raiders" at the top of the screen moving down the screen to attack the "Battlestar Galactica" at the bottom of the screen. Cylons were indicated by LEDs; the Galactica's presence was indicated by a printed icon. Cylons could move in one of three space "lanes" (rows of LEDs). The player would fire "laser torpedoes" which originated in the center lane but could be moved from lane to lane by using the "guidance system" (a three-position slider switch). The goal was to intercept incoming Cylons with laser torpedoes, destroying them. Cylons that reached the bottom of the screen in the central lane would intercept the Galactica, destroying it.
Play proceeded in "waves" of twenty Cylons, with each succeeding wave becoming more difficult (faster, with more lateral movement). Play continued until the Galactica was destroyed.
Curiously, the game's primitive sound effects are prominently featured in the song Dive (1980) by Bauhaus.