American pinball manufacturer Stern Electronics releases a video game licensed from Japanese game maker Konami Industries, Scramble. Though it earns a small but loyal following among arcade gamers, Scramble‘s true claim to history will be in setting a legal precedent: it later becomes the first video game whose code is copyrighted as a literary work in its own right as Stern seeks to take down bootleggers who copy the game’s program and brazenly market it under the same name. 
Created by Japanese video game manufacturer Konami (which has yet to establish a corporate foothold in North America), Frogger is introduced to the United States by Sega, and becomes an instant arcade hit whose cute graphics make it a natural for Pac-Man fans. In time, Frogger inspires a rock song, a cartoon, and numerous home video game cartridges.
Konami introduces the arcade game Loco Motion in the United States, one of its earliest self-released coin-ops (most titles had previously been licensed through Stern).
Konami introduces the arcade game Tutankham in the United States through licensee Stern. A running firefight through a maze, Tutankham tasks players on a deadly treasure hunting mission with a rarity for an arcade game – a definite end goal.
Konami introduces the arcade game Pooyan in the United States, turning the story of the three little pigs and the big bad wolf into a life-or-death video game struggle.
Konami introduces the arcade game Time Pilot in the United States, where it becomes one of the company’s more prominent sleeper hits. Time Pilot is also licensed to Atari in some regions.
Konami introduces the arcade game Gyruss in the United States, a space shooter with a vaguely 3-D perspective and a thumping Bach-by-way-of-techno soundtrack.
Konami introduces the arcade game Track & Field in the United States, a multi-event game built around a summer Olympic theme. Due to the nature of the game’s control scheme, the Track & Field coin-ops take a huge amount of abuse as players pound the action buttons to determine the “intensity” of their on-screen athletes’ movement.
Konami introduces the arcade game Circus Charlie in the United States. Patterned after the Olympic-themed Track & Field, Circus Charlie is a “multi-event” game based on circus tricks.
Konami introduces the arcade game Time Pilot ’84 in the United States, dragging the popular Time Pilot style of game play two years into the future. (In many respects, it’s the same game with a new graphics set.)
Scitron Digital releases the album Konami Game Music Volume 1, featuring sound and music recorded from the company’s early arcade hits.